Havent posted in a while but I've got a story to share.

I met up with my buddy today and he had a couple black eyes and I asked him how about that went down, he tells me that he was on the bus and a couple guys tell him to give up his wallet and belongings. He obviously refuses and the guys tell him to get off on the next stop. Once again he obviously refuses. This leads to a brawl on the bus where its a 2 on 1 fight against him and they get the better of him but he doesnt lose his wallet but did get his shirt ripped during the interaction.

I ask if anyone stepped in to help at all and he tells me that nobody did anything. There were tons of ppl on the bus but nobody wanted to get involved and the bus driver didn't even do anything. The fact that I wasn't even surprised by this kinda made me realize how sad a society that we live in these days. Its so depressing that most people would rather just stay out of the way and let the chips fall where they may so to speak. I mean in a 1 on 1 fight, I can understand not doing anything. In a gang bang of 5 on 1, sure stepping in probably isnt the best idea if you're by yourself. But a 2 on 1, thats like the easiest situation to actually do something.

The reason that nobody stepped in was due to a bystander effect I would imagine. Most people who've read psychology books will be familiar with the term. Basically, the more people who are around to witness something, the greater the chance that they will not get involved directly.

I would always try and help someone out if they were in need and I could help them out without serious risk to my own health regardless of the fact that strangers would never really be willing to step in to save me from a beating or some event of the like. Always makes me a little sad to see people not really give a shit about others in life as there's been numerous incidents in the news. I remember some guy in the papers who tried to help a woman who got robbed, chased the guy down and ended up getting stabbed by the robber. He was on the streets as people walked by and nobody even called the cops or ambulance and he ended up dying in the streets.

What would you guys do if you saw someone getting jumped on a bus? Would you guys step in? Obviously this post is geared towards actually doing something but I wont hate on you guys if you say that you'd rather be safe and stay outta the altercation.

I promise to post some stuff about poker in my next writings.

Peace for now,
-Jma