A Helpless Society.

The certain state of moral bankruptcy recently discussed on the blog is only all the more emphasised by the recent disturbing case of Yueyue, the Chinese toddler that was left, ignored by passers-by on a street after having been run over.

The toddler appears to have been trying to cross the road without parental or guardian supervision when a van hit her. The busy and narrow market streets of the Foshan district where the accident occurred only serve to emphasise how close all pedestrians were at hand that failed to act.

CCTV that has emerged of the incident shows many people walk or cycle past the lifeless body of the two year old; the girl was only at last aided when blocking a cleaner from her routine.

With a certain vivacity and tumultuous uproar, the peoples of nations worldwide have called out against such harsh and seemingly inhumane actions as to abandon the girl in such a fashion. Within China itself opinion on the matter is actually divided: while some praise the cleaner for her actions, others have decided it to be a selfish act, for spotlight and attention and the hope of reward.

Here comes into play the global pandemic of Samaritans worldwide.

More frequently than ever before, these helpful bystanders are targeted themselves: in the streets of metropolitan cities, some accidents are staged so as to rob or abuse the helpful person. Elsewhere, strangers are looked on with suspicion and so their help is refused. At worse, their help is considered to be a declaration of culpable guilt of having harmed the victim in the first place.

From Chuck Asay

Humanity has grown so introverted and self-centred that it is a difficult time to be charitable just for being charitable.

Regarding the instance in China, within hours of the story breaking, it had trended to the top of Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter. Commenters argued that “This society is seriously ill. Even cats and dogs shouldn’t be treated so heartlessly,” whilst another poster, named Johnny Yao wrote to establish the defining paradox of our modern lives: “Everyone is praising the rubbish-collecting granny for helping, but isn’t it normal to help someone who is wounded or dying? This just shows how abnormal is the moral situation in this society!”

Questions regarding the place of helpful citizens remain a key priority: in China particularly, there have been recent cases where the Samaritan is wrongly held accountable for various problems. A bus driver that stopped to help a woman on the street was accused of having run her over, and the story went national. The elderly lady had to make a statement in the defence of her rescuer.

More importantly, a man that took a fallen woman to hospital was brought back and made to pay expenses for her treatment, as he could have been a part of her incident. Mr Peng Yu’s decidedly unjust case has become infamous within the country and due to various coined phrases, Chinese citizens now live in the shadow of the sequel of the Peng Yu case.

If we are to continue to blame, abuse and mistreat our do-gooders, our morally valuable citizens, then we promote and champion a system by which we continue to downgrade and attack each other in the hope of material or worldly gain.

The front cover of a Chinese newspaper, featuring the parents of the toddler.

Mounting disrespect, maltreatment and set-up scenarios have left the number of willing citizens dwindling. 

Who could blame them for doing so? Whilst we all hope that someone would come to our own aid in any such terrible situation as being run over, we all know and fleetingly accept that our own decision as a bystander is often to continue with ignorance.

Hypocritical to the last, a growing number of citizens want help, but do not deliver it themselves.

Other cynics condemn those that help to be merely searching for a spotlight. However, maybe there need be a spotlight on those values that have been lost in an age of technological, medical and lifestyle advancement. Otherwise, humanity will be regressing already.