Rete

[QUOTE=Manc]I'm sorry, when did the USA deem that we should give a toss about other people?

Rete,
This is a typical BS response.[/quuote]

In your opinion, perhaps, not in mine. The attitude you express above is not limited to the USA but worldwide. I was not speaking as a USA citizen but as a human being. I don't equate my sense of right and wrong or definition of humanity with my citizenship.

Again, why are you saying this is a problem or attitude only in the US. I see it worldwide and not just in this country. I saw it in Germany three weeks ago.

[quote]And I and those thankfully of my friends and family feel as I do and have when the need arises done all we can to help others without thought to our convenience.

Perhaps it is you and others with your mentality who are the armchair quarterbacks who would prefer to wear a hole in the cushion and rub the material off the armrests rather than exert yourself for others.


Just the type of attitude that allows this type of attitude to expand. Why should you help or care because no one else does. Thankfully not the entire population of the world thinks as you do.


Why must you reduce this to political equations? Family is family. Human life is valuable and should be valued. If I saw you drowing I would jump in to save you even though I don't now nor never have thought much of your attitude and/or opinions. It is your right to think and express your thoughts regardless of my disagreement with them. But I still vaule your life and if you needed saving and I was there, I would try my best to save your hide even though I know you might not even pick up your cell phone to call 911 if it were me because you would assume someone else would make the call.

Frankly, Manc, I prefer being my way and hope that with the short amount of time I have left on earth that I never turn as cold and callous as you are.

Manc

Why is someone else to blame?

a nutcase threw her kids off a bridge.

Englishmum

There has just been a horrible case in New Jersey.

A young woman (I think she is only 18) was arrested for throwing a new-born baby down the rubbish chute in the block of flats where she lives - she gave birth to him in the bathroom and was still living with her parents. :scared:

The police were called when someone heard the baby crying; he is alive and currently in the care of social services.

It then turned out that she had previously given birth to another baby some time ago....this poor little mummified mite had been thrown away in the same manner and they found it on a ledge inside the chute....

There were media reports last week that it turns out that the girl's father is already in prison and his daughter has been sent to the very same prison - although they will be kept apart...he fathered those babies... I wonder if the poor little baby who was thrown away now will have some form of congenital health problem or worse (let alone mental health problems if he ever finds out how he came into care).

http://www.hudsonreporter.com/site/n...d=523591&rfi=6

Yorkieabroad may remember this case in Singapore:

Just up the road from the condo where we first lived was the Coronation shopping centre. One of the maids from the Philippines gave birth in the toilets there and dumped the (live) newborn baby in a large rubbish skip behind the shops, but sadly the baby died. Foreign maids employed in Singapore have to have a pregnancy test every six months or they are deported and their employers face a large fine.

Yorkieabroad

Really? I thought it was the opposite - something craps just happened so it must be someone elses fault.....wheres my lawyer?

As for the bystander and whether they should help or not - personally I think the criticism of not intervening or assisting is a bit harsh when none of us know the circumstances of their own ability/age/proximity etc etc.

Personally, if it was me, and I was close enough, I'd probably go in the water if I knew there was someone else to handle the EMS. But then I'm a strong swimmer/diver with (some) training in underwater rescue, and I don't think I could just stand by and wait for the EMS to arrive. But if it was someone say on a rooftop threatening to chuck their kids off the roof, I don't know what use I would be - I am paralysingly scared of heights, so would probably freeze long before I got to them. What I'm trying to say is everyone is different in what they can/cannot handle - it wasn't the bystanders fault, and its tough to pillory them for it...

Yorkieabroad

Yeah, there were a few like that while we were there. Most people had insurance to cover against the maids getting pregnant!!! The high fines also maybe explained why some of the locals wouldn't let the maids have any time off at all - 7 days a week for 2 years with no leave......inhuman!

I remember there was an (I think) american woman tried to set up one of those "babydrop" schemes - can't remember what its called - where newborn babies can be left in a secure location with a certainty of being looked after with no judgement or recourse to the mother. I read about it starting in the US (Boston?) and they reckoned the cases of abandoned babies dying had plumetted - most of the abandoning mothers didn't actually want their babies dead, they just couldn't handle them themselves for whatever reason. Anyway, the scheme couldn't get approval in Singapore so the cases of abandoned babies turning up dead in dumspters continue.............

Hebapotamus42

I heard about that NJ case. I think the baby suffered a skull fracture. It's these type of stories that made me stop watching the news. These type of things are happening way too frequently, the reason why New York state made it legal several years ago to abandon a child at a hospital if the mother can't care for it- or something like that. There was a sensational case a few years ago in the northeast (I forget which state). Two high school idiots got pregnant, gave birth in a motel room then repeatedly smashed the newborn's head against the wall until the baby was dead. I don't remember what their punishment was, but it was too lenient in my opinion.

Manc

Imagine what will happen once the pro-lifers get their way.

Guelder Rose

It's also very unfair to point the finger of blame at the family, as one poster has done.

I don't know how mental health patients are dealt with in the US, but in the UK, the patient often has more rights than the family. I know this from personal experience ... the Doctors make all the decisions, regardless of what the families opinion may be. In my time, I have literally begged those in the position of power not to release a patient into the community because I knew that patient was a danger, not only to himself, but to others ... sadly, my opinion was ignored because I was not considered qualified to speak.

Furthermore, even if the family did want to take custody of the children (and I am not suggesting that it was the families responsibility to do that), it may well have been the case that they could not do so legally. Even when someone does have a diagnosed mental illness, that does not mean that other family members can simply take that persons children from them.

Chorlton

Exactly, now who's inhuman?

fatbrit

Funny that coz I would say Manc's attitudes and opinions are right there within the consensus of the vast majority of those on BritishExpats.

Manc

[QUOTE=Rete] Germany is basically a socialist country and has therefore pledged to help it's citizens in dire straits.

The USA hasn't made a pledge to it's citizens in the same vein.

Don't you get embarrassed that the country just pledged $50 million to Kashmir.
Yet 2 months ago the president made a national address in New Orleans giving out an 800 number to the Red Cross (a charity) because the government couldn't cope with a catastrophe here.

I find it embarrassing, and disappointing that we pick and choose who and when we want to help people, particularly when people oversea's seem to get more aid than people within these shores.

CaliforniaBride

Pro-lifers won't get there way. Not while the lesbians are fighting for pro-choice. Always found that interesting, lesbians being pro-choice. Makes one wonder why they would care?

Manc

I'm no biologist, but I am sure lesbian ovaries still work.

CaliforniaBride

So do gay men's testes but I bet there not pushing for more research on the male pill!

Angry White Pyjamas

Actually I used to be police officer in the UK and now im an EMT here so I help people in difficult situations every day at work. I understand your response but I also know how badly being a have a go hero can go wrong and simply make things harder for EMS more often than not.