2. To panic by Clarke’s definition means to let go of all “social responsibilities to reveal raw selfishness” (Clarke 35). Clarke also uses many other examples to prove that during natural disasters, the likelihood of a human panicking is very low and humans are prone to help each other. For example, he uses America Airlines Flight 1420 to show that humans helped each other. First, Clarke dispels the panic myth using Germany and Japan as an example to showcase in times of strife that panic is very rare. He also acknowledges that 1 and 75 people are prone to panicking. Clarke mentions that even in life threatening situations, people are more prone to helping strangers and saving lives while following societal norms that showcases that human
The Chaos by Nalo Hopkinson is about boy crazy sixteen year old Sojourner, known as Scotch to her friends becuase of her "hot" dancing, living in Toronto, Canada. She had to switch school a couple times due to bullying and people calling her a "slut", but now her life seemed to be going quite well . Her mother, who is a psycologist, is black, and her strict father is white, which always bothered Scotch because she never felt like she was black nor white. However her brother, who is a rapper, always considered himself as black and is a lot darker than Scotch. Scotch had a skin condition, although it was never serious, where black stuff grew on her skin; she tryed to not let this bother her.
People have a tendency, known as social proof, to believe that others' interpretation of the ambiguous situation is more accurate than their own. Hence, a lack of response by others leads them to conclude that the situation is not an emergency and that response is not warranted. Finally, empirical evidence has shown that the bystander effect is negated when the situation is clearly recognized as an emergency. In a 1976 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Lance Shotland and Margaret Straw illustrated that when people witnessed a fight between a man and a woman that they believed to be strangers to each other, they intervened 65 percent of the time. Thus, people often do not respond appropriately to an emergency situation because the situation is unclear to them and as a result, they have misinterpreted it as a non-emergency based on their own past experience or social cues taken from others.
Cornelius Eady is a Black American writer who focuses and writes widely on the topics of race and society. His poetry is usually centered on jazz and blues, violence, home life, family life and societal problems arising from questions of race and socioeconomics. Eady has written over twelve books but the most popular include Brutal Imagination, Hardheaded Weather, Don’t Miss Your Water, The Gathering of My Name, and The Autobiography of a Jukebox. From this list, I chose to explore the content of Brutal Imagination, The Gathering of My Name and Hardheaded Weather.
Should you find yourself in a disaster, helping others is most likely not your first thought. The more rational probe for a way to survive safely, they usually worry about themselves first, and others second. In the Novel Hiroshima by John Hersey, even though many of the main characters are hurt, run to assist others. Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto, and Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, who were in the thick of it lacked any authentic reason to help others, yet they still made the effort to try. The disaster that befell Hiroshima was an atrocity, however, it did bring the community closer. Compassion in all forms, enthralls those who have nothing to gain to help others, regardless of the repercussions or sacrifices.
Panic and It’s Discourse Constructing Panic: The Discourse of Agoraphobia, written by psychologist Lisa Capps and linguistic anthropologist Elinor Ochs , is a book that shows the lifelong struggles of one patient experiences of agoraphobia. The book focuses merely on the examination of agoraphobia from a psychological and linguistic perspective. The research is based on someone who has this fear which is Meg Logan. Both writers go into deep research to find extraordinary discoveries such as symbolic thought and the effects they have with the creation of agoraphobia.
First ‘The Bystander Effect’, states ‘that individuals are less likely to intervene in emergency situations when other people are present’. Latne & Darley, (1970) cited in Byford J.( 2014 pp 232). Simply put, where emergency situations arise, if more than one person is present the likelihood of someone in distress being helped reduces. This is the ‘diffusion of responsibility’ effect were each bystander feels less obliged to help because the responsibility seems to be divided with others present’. (Byford J., 2014 pp233) An example of Bystander Apathy shown within a video (The Open University 2016).
If you find yourself in a disaster, helping others is most likely not your first thought. The more rational look for a way to make it safely, worrying about themselves first, and others second. In the Novel Hiroshima by John Hersey even though many of the main characters are hurt, run to assist others. These people who were in the thick of it lacked any real reason to help others, yet they still made the effort to try. The disaster that befell Hiroshima was an atrocity, however, it did bring the community closer. Compassion in all forms enthralls those who have nothing to gain to help others, regardless of the repercussions or sacrifices.
36). They also characterized moral panics using the following five features: “Concern”, “Hostility”, “Consensus”, “Disproportionality”, and “Volatility”, which typically occur sequentially. Moral panic itself is defined by Cohen as when “a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests” (Burns and Crawford, 1999, p. 148). The subject and duration of a moral panic varies. It may be new or it can be something that has existed for a while but only for a certain time is it seen to be problematic. It can suddenly appear then quickly disappear or it may produce noticeable differences in law or in society (Burns and Crawford, 1999, p. 148). It can be proven both, the Burns and Crawford article entitled “School Shootings, the Media and Public Fear: Ingredients for a Moral Panic,” and the Brezina and Phipps article entitled “False News Reports, Folk Devils and the Role of Public Officials: Notes on the Social Construction of Law and Order in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.” fully demonstrate the social reaction to the event they are describing meets the definition of a “moral panic” according to the definition by Cohen (Burns and Crawford, 1999, p. 148) and Goode and Ben-Yehuda’s five features (Steeves and Milford,
According to previous moral panic research (Cohen 1972; Cohen 2011; Critcher 2003; Hall et al. 1978; Krinsky 2013:1; Lull & Hinerman 1997) a moral panic may be defined as a widespread incident often triggered by alarming media stories and reinforced by reactive laws and public policy, of exaggerated or misdirected public concern, anxiety, fear, or anger over a perceived threat to social order. Additionally, other studies on moral panic (Critcher 2003; Goode & Ben-Yehuda 2009; Ungar 2001) have shown that social panics arise because of a socially perceived or real threat to certain taken for granted ideologies, values and interests. Evidently, there can be many interpretations of what can constitute a moral panic and that is why Critcher (2003) illustrates that moral panic discourse has developed rather divergent meanings in British and American
Kluger’s analysis of human actions during evacuation of a crisis exemplifies the chaotic and unpredictable nature of human beings when under pressure. This chaotic nature is shown by people gravitating towards groups when not necessary as well as Kluger calling human beings nonsensical.
A moral panic can be defined as the common characteristics of social problems that suddenly emerge, cause problems for
Michael Tonry in his book “Thinking About Crime” brings up the subject of moral panics (pg 86). A moral panic as defined by Stuart Hall is as follows
A moral panic is the public’s response to problems that seem threatening to the society. Moral panics are used by the media, however people are likely to panic out of proportion due the way it is upheld.
They assured us, they would be among the first to help [in a real emergency]” (Darley and Latane 770). Then Darley and Latane explained why bystanders act the way they do, with their final example. [It involved an individual in a room and a tape recorder playing simulating an individual having major speech difficulties. More individuals, that thought they were alone, came out to help the person having difficulties (the tape recorder). Every time the individual listening to the tape recorder thought that there were more people with them, they were less likely to respond.]
According to Aronson, Wilson, and Akert (2013) prosocial behavior is defined as an act performed for the benefit of another person. Altruism is referred to as the want to help another individual even if it means no benefits, or possibly a cost, for the helper (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2013). One particular factor, the bystander effect, has a profound impact on whether or not people help others. The bystander effect states that as the number of people who witness an emergency increases, the likelihood that any of those people will help decreases (Aronson et al., 2013). Processes associated with the bystander effect such as pluralistic ignorance, diffusion of responsibility, and victim effect all impact the likelihood of prosocial