Apathy and the Media
Apathy and the Media
A person laying on the street homeless begging for money and nobody gives him a nickel; a couple fighting just a little too much while others watch not wanting to get involved; and a parent hitting their child profusely in a store as other customers keep moving their shopping carts forward not wanting to intervene. These are all examples of apathy that happen among our world every single day. Apathy is a problem that has been happening for years. As a result of this we see increased participation of the bystander effect, an effect in which people don’t take action in an emergency situation because nobody else is. This apathetic behavior can lead to many people getting hurt and some even killed. Although we have heard stories of these unfortunate events we still allow them to happen in our society. One might wonder, why has this problem not gone away? Some believe the media is the reason why this is because according to some it reflects a negative impact on the viewers that in return participate in the bystander effect and show apathetic behaviors in everyday life. However, I believe the media, firstly, presents coverage that spreads awareness fast to try to cease apathy from taking place, secondly, that one can learn things about apathy through the media, and thirdly, that the media can also influence a person’s cultural and social values so that one is not apathetic in the first place. The media presents apathy to the world, however, society continues to ignore and exhibit passivity towards these monstrosities.
When talking about apathy one of the stories that seemed to be always mentioned is the murder of Kitty Genovese. In the New York Times article “Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police” (one of the primary sources of this story), Martin Gansberg describes the murder. In the article it talks about how Kitty Genovese was walking home when she was attacked and stabbed by Winston Moseley. According to Gansberg, “For more than
A person laying on the street homeless begging for money and nobody gives him a nickel; a couple fighting just a little too much while others watch not wanting to get involved; and a parent hitting their child profusely in a store as other customers keep moving their shopping carts forward not wanting to intervene. These are all examples of apathy that happen among our world every single day. Apathy is a problem that has been happening for years. As a result of this we see increased participation of the bystander effect, an effect in which people don’t take action in an emergency situation because nobody else is. This apathetic behavior can lead to many people getting hurt and some even killed. Although we have heard stories of these unfortunate events we still allow them to happen in our society. One might wonder, why has this problem not gone away? Some believe the media is the reason why this is because according to some it reflects a negative impact on the viewers that in return participate in the bystander effect and show apathetic behaviors in everyday life. However, I believe the media, firstly, presents coverage that spreads awareness fast to try to cease apathy from taking place, secondly, that one can learn things about apathy through the media, and thirdly, that the media can also influence a person’s cultural and social values so that one is not apathetic in the first place. The media presents apathy to the world, however, society continues to ignore and exhibit passivity towards these monstrosities.
When talking about apathy one of the stories that seemed to be always mentioned is the murder of Kitty Genovese. In the New York Times article “Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police” (one of the primary sources of this story), Martin Gansberg describes the murder. In the article it talks about how Kitty Genovese was walking home when she was attacked and stabbed by Winston Moseley. According to Gansberg, “For more than