Panic
The common sense of the general society and the knowledge of experts, such completely contradictory things are never few in this world. It’s the same about a disaster & an accident. Including information of the mass media as well, the common sense of societey has taken root in the old view of a disaster. However, occasionally there is a big contradiction between the common sense of societe and the knowledge of experts, because the knowledge of experts changes daily depending on study and research. For instance,as an example for this let’s pick up the subject of panic.
First a question to the readers. From the following (1) and (2), which do you think is correct?
(1) When getting involved in an earthquake or fire, many people fall into panic.
(2) Even when getting involved in an earthquake or fire, many people don’t fall into panic.
The answer is (2).
Encountering a disaster or an accident, it is difficult to keep your composure. Feeling fear and anxiety is something very natural I suppose. However, this alone is not connected to an ocurring panic, which is given rise to by a large number of people immediately fighting, like enemies who get into each other’s way, trample on each other, squashing killed and injured people. In other words, panic as an unusual behaviour is something that doesn’t really happen during many disasters or accidents. Panic is uncommon, for it is the “common sense” of experts.
(translated excerpt from:hirotada HIROSE: ‘Why people fail to run away in time’ - Shûeisha Paperback)
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I think this really shows the Japanese Way of thinking about such things as panic very well. It's sort of like a glimpse into Japanese society and how they might view certain things differently from our understanding.
First a question to the readers. From the following (1) and (2), which do you think is correct?
(1) When getting involved in an earthquake or fire, many people fall into panic.
(2) Even when getting involved in an earthquake or fire, many people don’t fall into panic.
The answer is (2).
Encountering a disaster or an accident, it is difficult to keep your composure. Feeling fear and anxiety is something very natural I suppose. However, this alone is not connected to an ocurring panic, which is given rise to by a large number of people immediately fighting, like enemies who get into each other’s way, trample on each other, squashing killed and injured people. In other words, panic as an unusual behaviour is something that doesn’t really happen during many disasters or accidents. Panic is uncommon, for it is the “common sense” of experts.
(translated excerpt from:hirotada HIROSE: ‘Why people fail to run away in time’ - Shûeisha Paperback)
________________________________________
I think this really shows the Japanese Way of thinking about such things as panic very well. It's sort of like a glimpse into Japanese society and how they might view certain things differently from our understanding.