Deteriorating Society

There was a time long ago when everyday people would step in and put a stop to it when they saw abuse happening.  There was a time in our society when we had standards to keep and everyone, regardless of race or nationality were expected to live by our standards.

Someone posted a video yesterday of a woman screaming and berating a young girl at Eastgate Mall in Hamilton, Ontario because she, the customer, wasn't happy with her order.  People stood by watching or taking pictures and video of the abuse but not one person stepped up to stop it.  In the comments of the post, their excuse for not trying to intervene was because they feared being shot.  What a complete load of crap!  What they really feared was being drawn into a drama that wasn't their own.

Wonder why our society is deteriorating to the point where we allow people to publicly abuse others?  Well, this is why.  Just how many people does it take to step between the screamer and the young girl who must have been terrified?  Just how many people does it take to make the point that this kind of abuse will not be tolerated in our society?  It might have only taken one person because bullies like the customer will only behave like this if they're given free rein...and this awful woman was given free rein to abuse a helpless young girl in front of countless observers who did nothing but watch and take pictures.

The irate customer's children watched all of this.  There must have been many children in the food court watching it, too.  What message did they receive?  The message was either that uncontrollable anger will be tolerated or that no-one can be counted on to help you when someone is abusing you. 

In our old society, people would have intervened because that kind of behaviour was taboo.  Nowadays it seems that bystanders have lost their empathy for the victim and are just happy it's not them.  One of the Facebook comments was that, well it was only verbal and not physical abuse.  I wonder if that person would have stood by and allowed someone to scream at and berate one of their loved ones without trying to prevent it?  

It angers me so much that anyone could see a young girl being abused like this, frightened and crying, and not try to stop it.  I know our society is not what it once was but this is a disgusting turn of events with no reversal in sight. 

The out-of-control screamer was allowed to walk away with her children.