Infinity Lover

(puts on Yoda voice) "Hmmmmm! I sense PAIN and SUFFERING!!"

Whenever there's a traffic accident, they slow down traffic in the other lanes because they can't surpress the urge to take a closer look. Or they get in the way of paramedics or rescue workers. Or go out of their way to go to an area that was struck by some kind of disaster, sometimes even putting themselves or others in danger.

People who insist on taking a closer look wherever the shit hits the fan. Disaster tourists.

The topic came up in some conversation I had rescently, and I thought I'd open up a thread about it to see what others have to say about it.

Is it okay under certain circumstances? Have you ever done it? Is it a part of human curiosity you can sympathize with? Or do you condemn it?

lunachick

To be honest I don't really have a moral stance on it. People are just rubber-necks, I guess, and can't help themselves.

A few years ago Mount Ruapehu (Mt. Doom to most of you) was throwing out a lot of fireworks and causing laha's to run down it's sides. People were warned to stay away, but many couldn't help themselves - they were getting as close as they could with video cameras, etc. Everyone wanted the thrill of seeing 'something big'. It was crazy to watch on television - getting up close and personal just wasn't an option for a hardcore self-preservationist like me - and I still can't fathom why some wanted to get so close to something so volatile as Mt. Doom. Especially considering the ski season had hardly even begun at that time! Weird.

I hear what you're saying, though.

[ December 21, 2002: Message edited by: lunachick ]</p>

Infinity Lover

Yeah, with that sort of thing, the behaviour of others becomes some cockameny justification for others ("I'm no worse than the other people doing it"). Meanwhile they don't respect the wishes of the authorities, and create a situation where a lot of people could and up getting harmed or worse, leaving said authorities with a mess to clean up.

My stance, as you can tell, is not quite so neutral. If we can restrain the urge to piss in our pants, we can restrain ourselves in other ways too.

Amie

Hi Infinity
I think people are just naturally curious. You know I worked as a paramedic for years while working as a nurse and the only time I ever really felt it was annoying was when people would stop their car, roll down their window and yell "what happened!?" as if my partner or I were going to stop what we were doing and go over to give these random passerbys the low down ...
"lookie lous" they're everywhere I guess...
I guess many people are drawn to drama and trauma...

lunachick

Actually, on further thought - you are right to feel/make a moral judgement in this case. By not obeying civil emergency workers, you are endangering their lives because you cannot control your own curiosity or need for excitement.

Those who would not leave the area, made it a morally difficult decision for emergency workers to leave the area, because the 'rubber-neckers' just may need to be saved - not from, in this case, the volcano - but from themselves should the mountain really blow it's top. That is not a fair call, in my opinion - selfishly stupid in the extreme, actually.

Yeah, I hear you even more now that I'm thinking about it, Infinity.

[ December 21, 2002: Message edited by: lunachick ]</p>

catman

[flame removed]

[ December 21, 2002: Message edited by: 99Percent ]</p>

99Percent

I think its natural to be curious when we see something unusual happen in our day to day routines, like a traffic accident.

I admit that I sometimes slow down to look at traffic accidents if only to see what the heck caused me to waste 2 hours of my life by being stuck in the resulting traffic jam.

sweep

one of the worst aspects of disaster situations is, as you posit, the people who stand around slack jawed, with video cameras, and polaroids. These people don't do anything to help.

In one very minor incident, some people were queueing at a bus stop, and, from about thirty metres away I watched a frail old woman fall and crack her head. In the time it took me to get there, no-one offered any support. I could actually do somethings such as cradle her neck, and ask her how she felt, and reassure her that her possessions were safe. (It is funny that people can be most concerned about possessions after an accident) The thing that pissed me off the most was that a woman feebly tried to help by nudging my bag with her foot along the greasy pavement, as support for the old womans leg. I wonder how she turned out.

It seems as though some people don't know how to act 'out of context' other than by disassociating theirself with the situation. In one instance, in Japan, a coach was held up by a 'knife wielding (man)iac'. He was stabbing them, and the people on the bus outnumbered the assailant, yet they did nothing. In some instances, the cliche is true: there are too many sheep and not enough shepherds.

Ab_Normal

I have been caught in too many traffic jams caused by people slowing down because there was an accident on the other side of the freakin' freeway to have any sympathy for "lookie lous". I was once told, but have not confirmed for myself, that there is a law in Oklahoma with large ($500+) fines for slowing down traffic in such a manner.

I can understand slowing down when the accident is on your side of the freeway, for the safety of the victims and the emergency personnel, but when it's on the other side of the jersey barrier there's no excuse.

Ab_Normal

I concur, lunachick. There's some controversy in this area about billing folks for the cost of their rescue if they get lost after leaving posted ski areas. I'm in favor, mainly because I'm not likely to ever be in that circumstance. It's one thing to need rescuing because your car went off the road -- quite another, in my estimation, because you went off in search of thrills.

(Feh, would you believe English is my native language? I'll blame it on this nasty cold virus.)