Philosophy of Choice [Monday | Period 1]

[not_in_the_book]

"You're walking down the street," Ronan said, and around the class the Danger Shop took the appearance of a city street. "It's late-ish -- say ten o'clock. You're on your way to a club, or just leaving the theatre. Maybe you're meeting friends for coffee, or you just had dinner with your parents.

"And across the street, you hear someone shout for help. Looking over, you can see something going on in an alley across the street. What do you do?"

Ronan made a small gesture with his hand, and somewhere across the street, behind the crowds walking down the other sidewalk, a small scuffle began in the alleyway; someone screamed.

"If you're like most people," Ronan continued, "the more people who are around, the less likely that you'll help. This is called the 'bystander effect'."

The screams continued. "So," he said, raising an eyebrow at the class. "Are you going to help, or not?"

[Wait for OCD is up!]

Comments

Re: Debrief

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

"I'm not really useful in a situation like this," Sholeh said, squirming a little uncomfortably. "Running in and trying to stop something would probably have just gotten me hurt, on top of whatever else was going on. So I didn't go." She peered up at Ronan. "Was that wrong?"

Re: Debrief

[not_in_the_book]

"There are no wrong choices in this class," Ronan explained. "Not really. And you still tried to help within the constraints of your own abilities. But what if there was no one else around? I saw you trying to stop other people -- what if there was no one to hear you, no one for you to pull in and help you?"

Re: Debrief

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

The honest answer was that she'd let Zeela handle the whole situation. In Tryadnea, Zeela probably would have waded in and started busting heads. Of course, Tryadnea didn't have the kind of weapons this world did.

"I probably would have run to fetch a guard or the like," Sholeh said. "They're more prepared to handle these things, and even if they weren't in time to stop the mugging, they'd be able to help the victim afterwards. Much better than I could, most likely."

If Sholeh tried to fight her way into an alley, the end result would have been two victims instead of one.