Shameless apathy

Up to two dozen people watched a girl get gang raped and did nothing. Apathy is America's dry rot.

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Did you read or hear about the  15-year-old girl who was gang raped while she was walking across school grounds to where her father waited to pick her up from a dance?

Police believe up to 24 people saw the rape and/or heard her cries and did nothing to help her. Didn't even call police, much less intervene.

Here's a link to the Associated Press story about this tragic and humiliating episode.

 Apparently, Richmond, Calif., where the rape occurred, has a reputation for violence and criminal activity. But, still, you wonder where else this could happen. 

Neil Smelser, a professor emeritus of sociology at the University of California-Berkeley, called the witnesses' reaction "bystander indifference." He speculated to the AP that the people who heard or saw the incident failed to intervene because they "didn't have any emotional or social ties to the victim."

We see other less-appalling but still-troubling examples of "bystander indifference" all the time:

• The plight of the needy  and hungry and destitute in our world.

• The social institutions—community organizations, schools, local and state government—that languish for lack of volunteer support.

• Ongoing examples of unchecked racism, sexism and other forms of bigotry.


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We fail to intervene because of "bystander indifference." Too often, Americans just don't care.

And lest we feel smug, that's a plight of our churches and denomination. Apathy. 

One of the great heroes of Jesus' parables is the Good Samaritan. But more and more, Americans act like the priest and the Levite.


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