Came across this story on Dave's. An excerpt from the AP via MSNBC:
A 78-year-old man is tossed like a rag doll by a hit-and-run driver and lies motionless on a busy city street as car after car goes by.You can find the video on the MSNBC site, on youtube, and elsewhere. Be warned it's extremely disturbing, obviously.
Pedestrians gawk but appear to do nothing. One driver stops briefly but then pulls back into traffic. A man on a scooter slowly circles the victim before zipping away.
The chilling scene — captured on video by a streetlight surveillance camera — has touched off a round of soul-searching in Hartford, with the capital city's biggest newspaper blaring "SO INHUMANE" on the front page and the police chief lamenting: "We no longer have a moral compass."
The police chief went off at a press conference, talking about the hit-and-run and about former Deputy Mayor Nick Carbone, the 71-year-old who now requires brain surgery after being beaten within an inch of his life while taking a morning walk. The "we no longer have a moral compass" line seems to be referring to the beating of Carbone. As reported in the Hartford Courant, via Newsday.com:
"Those are three situations that dehumanize our community," Roberts said, speaking to reporters at an afternoon press briefing. "I'm ashamed to say our city has a toxic relationship with ourselves."
The third story he mentions was about the discovery of a decomposed body in somebody's basement. You see, brutal attacks, reckless driving, and public indifference aren't unique to South Korea, though they capture our interest and our attention. Disgusting to see what my country has become, and disgusting that there isn't more dialogue about our poisoned society. Let's worry a little less about extending our influence to the Middle East and Asia, and a little more about what is permitted in our streets, in our schools, and in our cities. Let's talk a little bit less about the terror we've created in Iraq, and a little more about the terror we've nurtured in our own backyards.
2 comments:
Recall how some commenters at TMH claimed that Koreans are especially prone to looking the other way and not helping a stranger in distress. What a load of BS. The only thing unusual about this hit and run news story forty years after the murder of Kitty Genovese is that it was caught on camera.
Oh man, that really sucks! Sad indeed, but I think it all depends on where you live in the states, can't imagine something like that ever taking place in my hometown.
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