Do you stand back and take photos? Or do you help?
Have you ever looked at a photograph of a dying child or a wounded animal and wondered – how did that even get taken? How is it possible for a journalist or a photographer to stand by and take notes- or photographs – of a tragedy and not step in to help?
And now that every person, every where is a potential journalist – carrying a still and video camera around in their pocket in the form of a mobile phone – the line between when you should be allowed to record an event and when you should go to someone’s aid becomes even murkier.
Amateur video footage that has been posted on YouTube (you can view the video here but please be warned it is quite distressing), which shows Melbourne commuters racially abusing a French woman on a bus – is going viral fast.
Three passengers begin yelling at the young woman who is quietly singing in her native tongue. One calls the French woman a bitch, then chants ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie’ and another yells at her to ‘speak English mother f*cker’. Slowly the abuse gets louder and fouler and increasingly out of control.
The video is not just making news here in Australia. It is being watched by horrified viewers all around the world.
The actions of those who were being abusive is unquestionably wrong but talk back radio across the country is buzzing this morning with a different question: What about the guy who filmed the whole incident and then made a YouTube movie out of it? What about the other commuters? What about the bystanders?
Did they have a duty to step in and help? Should they have gone to the woman’s aid? How is it possible that nobody stepped in
One of the commuters on the Melbourne bus.
to try and stop the abuse occurring?
Mamamia writer, Lucy Ormonde wrote about the duty of journalists and non-journalists to go to the aid of someone in trouble earlier this year. Here is what she had to say:
The responsibility of the bystander and the ethics of the amateur journalist: It’s a question that’s front of mind in India at the moment, after two journalists filmed a teenage girl being sexually assaulted by a group of up to 12 men on a busy street outside a bar.
The girl was assaulted for a period of about 45 minutes during which time the journalists (at least one of whom was off duty) continued filming – and did not step in to intervene.
The footage shot by the journalist and the cameraman was aired on news channels and according to The Guardian and it’s prompted a debate over the intended subject of women’s safety in India, but also the subject of whether journalists have an obligation to help.
This from the UK press:
In an interview with Indian media, the victim asked why the journalists did not intervene: “They were only taking pictures. Why could they not help me?”
Police have been criticised over their initial indifference towards the attack, which took place last Monday just minutes from the nearest police station in Guwahati, Assam.
Frustrated at police inaction in the days following the assault, residents put up “wanted” posters of the men caught on camera and circulated the images on social networking sites.
It’s a tough one. It really is. It’s a journalist’s job to report the story, not be the story. And if no one reports sexual assaults, the rest of the population is unaware and unable to act to eradicate. But what about journalistic ethics? But what about compassion? Especially when it comes to ordinary people – who aren’t journalists – with a camera phone? What about the victim of the attack? And what of a basic human instinct to want to help?
These pictures come via The Guardian. They’re from a gallery called ‘The Bystanders’ and they’re the kind of images we’re talking about. They’re from a series of stills taken by photographers who witnessed acts of war, the devastation of famine and acts of domestic violence – and didn’t step in to help.
Mob Attack, by Greg Marinovich. 'I was gutted that I'd been such a coward'
You can find that full gallery – and it really is worth a look because it challenges our notions about journalistic ethics – at The Guardian.
If you had been on the bus in Melbourne, what would you have done? Would you have gone to the French woman’s aid? Would you have called the police? Would you have just minded your own business?
Comments
84 Comments so far
Situations, such as the mentioned incident on the bus, scare the hell out of me and to be honest, I don’t think I would have said anything to these obviously angry people (you just never know what they could have done next if provoked). What does upset me about the general public is that people are not willing to help out others in situations that seem relatively safe. I was walking through my local shopping center the other day (8 1/2 months pregnant, so waddling rather than walking) and there was an elderly man who was struggling to stand up. As I walked closer to this man I saw a dozen people who walked straight past and let him struggle. I know I was really in no state to support the body weight of another person, but I offered some assistance to this man. I’m ashamed that so many people walked by and did not help him.
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What is actually said at one point is “Speak English or die”. Appalling. Too right I would have said something (I am an angry old lady) and I would have called the police, there must have been many mobile phones there and no one called the police. I think if one person had stood up to these idiots others would have joined in.
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On the basis of minimizing the victim count, I would not get involved, but merely record events and then call the police. The sooner that the idea of citizen journalists recording such wrong-doing becomes known to such sad people, the better. Moreover, I do not like the idea of a having a knife stuck in my ribs.
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I would not have intervened in this particular case. Seriously? This guy was supposed to get up and try to stop these thugs, after they’d just yelled at this woman “everyone on this bus wants to kill you”? These people do not strike me as the types who would be above resorting to violence. Anyone who stood up to these guys would be putting themselves at risk.
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I have stuck up for people in situations like this but I probably wouldn’t have intervened in this, at this point.
All that happens on the video is that she gets abused. It’s vile and disgusting but if another passenger, particularly a man, had of stood up and challenged these idiots I am sure it would have escalated into something worse.
I would say most passengers on the bus were waiting to see where this was going before escalating it any further.
But its so hard to say what you would do when you were not there.
I hope this lady gets to enjoy the rest of her time in Australia and doesn’t taint us all with the actions of these pricks.
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As an African, I would say that the guy that took that first pic should not feel ashamed. Just google the ALU 4 and see what you would be up against if you took on an African mob. The photographers that take photos of starving kids and do nothing else are the ones that deserve scorn as there is no danger to you in assisting in anyway you can. Yeah, the kid might die later, but maybe they won’t.
Also, does anyone remember what happend to that guy in Melbourne a couple of years ago when he intervened in the bikie attacking his girlfriend? The poor father died. I think this is what stops a lot of people from stepping in, they don’t know what the crazed psycho is capable of.
In the many times that I have been racially abused, I am ok with people not saying anything to the dickheads dishing out the abuse, but it would be nice if they had said something (nice) to me, otherwise to me it is just silent agreement where they are happy to let someone say what they are thinking but would never have the guts to say. For the people that have stuck up for me, thanks heaps! Thankfully I have lived here long enough that I have grown a thick skin. I feel for those new to the country and those like my mum who still has a heavyish accent. Australia might not be a rascist country but we are very intolerant of people with accents and/or speaking another language. Seeing as tourism is a massive money earner for us, it is quite ironic…
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I do nothing. Unfortunately I don’t trust people around me and I’ve seen too many people being abused and threatened for minor things – I got abused at the train station for looking at the clock and catching the eye of the girl who was standing under the clock.
It sickens me that I don’t do anything and it sickens me that no one else does anything but I can’t blame others for not wanting to get involved.
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It’s rather unfortunate that these things happen still.
I was once on a train and I witnessed this happen to someone else.
I also being of an ethnic background kept my mouth shut and tried to change carriages as soon as possible because the reality is that I didn’t want to be violently attacked.
We’d like to think we live in a country where multiculturalism is embraced, and I do think this is the case a lot of the time.
However, unfortunately there are some people who still still resist embracing cultural diversity and in my head I put it down to them having a lack of social awareness and education.
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I do stick up for people being abused on public transport and it’s terrifying. I’m just so disgusted that no one else does. I’m not a big person and usually have a small child with me, it never ceases to amaze me that no one supports me, they just stare at their laps.
For the record, the abuser has never turned on me, but they have always ceased their actions and usually gotten off the service. The victim has rarely thanked me. I don’t feel good afterwards, probably because I’m scared and feeling a little… hard done by? Writing this I seriously wonder why I bother.
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Anna, I read your comment and all I could think of was the quote – All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. So to you I say thank you and should the situation ever arise I’ve got your back.
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You don’t feel good afterwards because your poor body has just been flooded with adrenaline, the fight or flight mechanism in our bodies, and you chose fight. You will most likely feel super sick for a while after sometimes up to 24 or 48 hours. All your body knows is that it was in danger so it reacts accordingly. Try drinking something calming, hell even a glass of wine to take the edge off, or tea will do. Also try not to revisit the story too often in the first few days as you will just work yourself up again. I’m glad I’m not the only fool out there stepping in when I feel I should. But do take care of yourself in the process too xxxxxx
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Horrendous.
I would love to say I would go to her aid, however I dont want to get bashed or stabbed. Unfortunately thats what it comes to these days. Sure, helping someone in need in an ideal world would be easy. Yet the people who were venting such hideous things likely dont think like the rest of us, and I would be too scared to find out the hard way what weapons they may have and like to use on anyone who dared stand up to them.
Calling the police is the best answer here.
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I’m a bit confused – doesn’t he state in the video that he said something and then they directed anger towards him so he decided to film it instead? What was anybody going to do? Get into a fist fight with someone who had apparently just been handed a knife? Clearly trying to have a rational conversation with these people wouldn’t have helped..
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I watched the you tube video a few days ago and i was disgusted. Unfortunately I’ve witnessed this type of behaviour before and admittely i have sat back stunned and too scared to do anything about it. After the event i wished i hadn’t been such a coward but at the time it felt like i was watching something that wasn’t real and i was a young female. The boy filming the scene does stand up for her at one point but gets abused as well, these people didn’t look like they’d calm down they looked like they would have gotten violent, so i don’t blame him for sitting back. I do think filming it and posting it has been extremely effective in this circumstance, last time i checked there were 200k + views.
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