(no subject)
I heard about this shortly after it happened and my thoughts at the time were pretty similar to what I thought after reading the news article.
The part of me which is interested in psychology thought "Wow, sounds like a classic example of deindividuation".
The rest of me thought, "Bloody hell, what kind of freak taunts a complete stranger into suicide and then texts his mates a picture of their dead body?". Then again I know exactly what sort of freak it would be. I see people like this every day, in fact some of them would probably have also stolen his wallet after he hit the ground.
I have no idea what I'd do in a situation like that. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't be screaming at the guy to top himself, but at the same time I'm not sure that I'd have the guts to stop someone who did. I guess that if there were police trying to talk him down then the best thing to do would be to walk by and hope that he'd be safe but I can understand why people would stand around watching. Where is the line between hanging around, not knowing quite what to do and assisting a suicide?
The part of me which is interested in psychology thought "Wow, sounds like a classic example of deindividuation".
The rest of me thought, "Bloody hell, what kind of freak taunts a complete stranger into suicide and then texts his mates a picture of their dead body?". Then again I know exactly what sort of freak it would be. I see people like this every day, in fact some of them would probably have also stolen his wallet after he hit the ground.
I have no idea what I'd do in a situation like that. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't be screaming at the guy to top himself, but at the same time I'm not sure that I'd have the guts to stop someone who did. I guess that if there were police trying to talk him down then the best thing to do would be to walk by and hope that he'd be safe but I can understand why people would stand around watching. Where is the line between hanging around, not knowing quite what to do and assisting a suicide?