Monday, April 26, 2010

Hello, Kitty.

A homeless guy intervenes in a mugging, gets shivved for his trouble, and bleeds out on a sidewalk as passers-by do everything but rifle his pockets.



He's probably swapping stories with Kitty Genovese right now.

Every now and again, I am forcefully reminded that the biggest difference between humans and baboons is that we have to paint our butts red.

I hope the guy who just snapped a picture of him and strolled on gets hit by a bus, assuming he doesn't see himself in the video and decide to do the right thing with a length of extension cord and a footstool.

25 comments:

BobG said...

It's not like someone would have had to perform first aid; you'd think at least one of those assholes could have called 911 as an anonymous caller.

Ken said...

There are days when I think (just for a minute -- I have young children, and cannot wish it on them) that it can't collapse fast enough.

JeanC said...

I saw this on the morning show this morning show and I just couldn't believe that not one person at least called 911.

I am also hoping karma seriously bites that picture taker on the as. He could have easily called 911

Joseph said...

This is just sickening.

I just saw Kick-Ass (good movie) and my favorite quote from the "Hero" of the movie after a bad guy asks him what's wrong with him.

"Three assholes layin' in to one guy while everyone else watches and you want to know what's wrong with me?!?"

Grumpyunk said...

New York City. Home of all the compassionate assholes who want to tell all of us how to live.
OK wait, I said that wrong. Not ALL the compassionate assholes, just some.

Come on Meteorite!

Patrick said...

That just ruined my day. I wonder why I even bother any more. I know that many things are better than they were in my grandfather's day but then, people helped others. Nobody would stand by and let this happen. We cared about each other. We got into each others business because doing the right thing was the only thing that mattered.

We need to work to bring that back.

B Smith said...

Reminds me of that old joke:
Q: How do New Yorkers perform first aid?
A: (Pointing at the victim, lying on the sidewalk) "Hey! Get off the ground before you fukkin' die!"

Ken said...

Or Chicago: "Never touch anyone on the street. They'll think you need help, and they'll kill you."

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

Sometimes, I hate people.

Joel said...

I'm gonna start pretending I don't belong to that species now.

Anonymous said...

My grandfather took a header on the subway steps and staggered 4 city blocks bleeding and confused to his apartment in NYC in the 70's.

He had a severe concussion and need a dozen stiches and no one did a thing.

Your on your own.

Gerry

Anonymous said...

Huh.

I actually worked in Midtown manhattan a few years, for my sins.

You know, I can't even imagine that, New Yorkers were brusque and rude as a group, but they weren't uncaring shits.

I saw some surprisingly scenes that would reaffirm your sense of humanity.

Dixie said...

I'm gonna start pretending I don't belong to that species now.

I have been doing that for a long time now. Canis sapiens (the hominid wolf) is a dangerous creature. Too bad it's hard to tell them from real humans.

Paul said...

Not hard. You can tell them from the look in the eyes. I'm waiting on the hunting season myself.

canis sapiens should have a bounty on them.

Robert Langham said...

Pretty easy to punch 911.

Joe in PNG said...

Hey, New York is getting the type of citiz, er, subjects it wants. Passive and dependent on the Government.
It's the Government's job to take care of the sick, right? And see what happens when you try to fight back- let the Government do it!
So no suprise there.

Sigivald said...

The Kitty Genovese story as we know it is mostly myth anyway.

You know why nobody stopped "to help him"?

Because there are drunks passed out on the sidewalk in NYC all the time - and nobody's going to inspect them to make sure this one isn't actually some guy who's been stabbed and is dying.

That's the problem with tolerating being passed out in public, and homelessness in general - you can't tell a passed out drunk from someone who's dying.

Living in Babylon said...

Now that isn't fair.

A baboon will step in to protect other members of this tribe from leopards.

Sarah said...

Karma does tend to get its revenge on us when we least expect it. The picture taker will probably need life-saving help someday, only to find that nobody around him is interested in anything but becoming the latest YouTube or Flickr sensation. Sucks to be him.

One thing that I really like about rural Texas is the fact that people will step in. Not long ago, a PCP-using butt stain crashed a stolen car into Walmart, walked inside, and proceeded to whale on the 80-year-old door greeter...until four giant rednecks heard the commotion and investigated.

They couldn't quite whip the crap out of the guy, seeing as he was on PCP and had that Superman effect going, but they beat his ass good.

Then the old man got up, saw that his assailant was down, and proceeded to kick that sucker in the head.

That's one thing that my community has going for it. We don't have no steenkin' record stores or bookstores, which sucks out loud, but we'll jack you up if you screw with innocent people.

ASM826 said...

That is the quote of the day and will be part of my next post.

Laughingdog said...

I'm with Sigivald on this one. I had to stay in Seattle for work for a couple weeks back in December. Every morning I'd walk from my hotel to the ferry terminal, a 10 minute walk at best. In that time I'd pass 5-10 homeless people sleeping on the sidewalk.

If one of them had been bleeding to death, I'd have never known unless it started pooling up next to them.

Anonymous said...

Your hopes for the photographer remind me of Kevin Carter.

Carter was an award-winning South African photographer, famous for the picture of a vulture overlooking an emaciated Sudanese girl. He waited 20 minutes for the vulture to spread its wings (it never did so). In other words, instead of helping a starving child, he waited for the right moment to snap his prize-winning photo.

He later offed himself with his pickup truck exhaust.

Matt G said...

I have to agree with Sigvald. I have lept to assist what I thought were dying people, only to find that they were passed out drunk in their yard. The better idea would be not to tolerate passed-out drunks in public. That said, *something* looked suspicious, else the cell phone gawker wouldn't have bothered.

Anonymous said...

Matt G:

While I have no great confidence in Yahoo's ability to accurately report things, it says this in its article related to the event: "One even lifted the homeless man's body, exposing what appeared to be blood on the sidewalk underneath him, before walking away."

That is seriously messed up.

Sigivald said...

Okay, the dude who lifted him up and saw red stuff, he should have called a farkin' ambulance or cop.

But the people just walking by? They're off the hook. Guy dying looks just like guy passed out drunk, until the blood seeps out enough to see.