Reply to: Would you save a stranger? Ch4

[original PM]

as often as I can - there is so much injustice in this world I like to do my bit.

Problem is I can go a bit postal.

Other problem is I often come out on the losing side.

Oh well!

[Cyberman]

Yep. Did it in Phuket just over two years ago when a guy was being beaten up by a drunken crazed Englishman who had already knocked out his ex with a pool queue. I threw myself at the drunken guy with a karate kick and fortunately the shock made him stop and he limped away.

[realityhack]

2 very different occasions:

Once I was in town and Bloke 1 was being attacked by Bloke 2, Bloke 2's mates were watching. When it was clear that Bloke 1 was holding his own and starting to beat the crap out of Bloke 2, the 5 mates got stuck in and it seemed unfair.

At this point for no good reason than it seeming unfair, I waded in to try and break it up. Second later the police blocked off the road and arrested us all.

Down at the station I called our solicitor and he came down and made them replay the tape from cctv. After that they let me and Bloke 1 go without charge, and held onto the others for charging.

Second occasion, I was at Barkingside tube station on the Westbound platform waiting for my train, and a random bloke walked onto the Eastbound platform, looking very upset and bedraggled. He went to the far edge of the platform, and watched the approaching train, standing right on the edge of the platform - it was clear he was thinking of jumping.

So as the train drew near I shouted something like 'What the hell do you think you're doing!!?' at the top of my voice, and it shocked him for long enough for the train to pass by. It could have been innocent, but we reckon he was about to jump.

[Drewster]

For no other reason than Smutty Friday:

I would like to think I would.

Zara - It keeps me awake some nights because:

"I would like to think YOU would"........

[minestrone]

Who blew it up: the crowd or the guy they were beating up? Have you considered they might well have a very good reason for beating him up?

Found out later that the chap had been trying to pull someones girl. Her boyfrend and his man army took exception.

[sasguru]

Pah! Call yourself contractors? Get your butler to save strangers.

[cailin maith]

Now, with two weans - nope. Not if it meant putting myself in danger.

A few years back I helped a girl who was getting a slap from her boyfriend, actually me and another guy (Stranger) pulled him off her. She then proceeds to jump on this other guys back and starts screaming at him to leave her man alone ... go figure!

I remember you telling us that before... It's not long since we had one of these threads.

It's sad really that stuff like that happens but I still like to think I would try to stop someone getting hurt. I think when my sis and I "rescued" that chinese couple, it was adrenalin (sp?) as opposed to anything else.

[snaw]

Now, with two weans - nope. Not if it meant putting myself in danger.

A few years back I helped a girl who was getting a slap from her boyfriend, actually me and another guy (Stranger) pulled him off her. She then proceeds to jump on this other guys back and starts screaming at him to leave her man alone ... go figure!

[landl]

I did, and felt very let down by them afterwards

A few years ago I was walking down the Holloway Road in London in the middle of the day when I saw a drunken guy shouting at and hitting a woman. There were lots of people about, all doing nothing and trying to ignore it. I stepped in and got him to stop, at which point someone else joined in and helped me. The woman was able to get away while we restrained the guy.

It felt good. It felt like the right thing to do, and the risk of getting injured was out weighed by the good deed.

A couple of days later I was out on Upper Street in the evening with my girlfriend and saw the two of them walking hand-in-hand as if nothing had happened. Really p*ssed me off.

And the moral of the story is...

...helping a stranger in trouble is still probably the right thing to do, just don't expect them to have the sense to help themselves when you're not about.

[zara_backdog]

I would like to think I would.

[Drewster]

well, would ya?

I like to save strangers.... just in case I ever need one. I have a collection of about 17 now.....

[jmo21]

that counts BI!

In the documentary, each story was really quite sad, and showed a different variation on the question.

One guy ran in to help and was killed with a knife straight to the heart.

Another managed to chase up the "bad guys" with threats of calling the police which almost certainly saved the victim's life.

Then there was a 12 year old girl who was attacked on a crowded bus, and everyone just looked the other way.

It's quite sad that it's looked on as such a moral dilemma. You WANT to think you would wade in and help, but I don't know if that's straight forward.

Maybe I'm just a sh!te bag

[BrowneIssue]

well, would ya?

I have a scar on the palm of my right hand from when I was about 19. I got it saving a stranger.

Some lads were beating up a disabled kid - I chased them off. Who wouldn't?

But that was because they were doing to him what I had had done to me about 5 years earlier. Myself & two mates were set upon by a gang of older lads - we knew none of them; they were out looking for some smaller kids to practice on. I was hospitalised by that - the fat one laughing when he kicked me in the face I can still see quite clearly.

So when I saw the same done to someone else I didn't even think; I acted first. So does it still count? I suspect it shouldn't, really.

[Incidentally, I still have the scar on my lip from the beating; it still cracks and bleeds every winter. I still have the occasional bad dreams. I still think about it at the dead of night when something 'unfair' happened during the previous day. It still affects my behaviour when out and about. It is part of the reason I am so cynical. And it was 30 years ago. Four years for killing a stranger on demand for pushing in? Pathetic.]

[threaded]

When I was in Bali there was about 40 local guys beating the tulip out of local one guy outside a pub. Glassing him in the face and stuff like that. Eventually 4 OZ chaps ran in with their belts and got the guy into a taxi, when it drove off the mob dragged him out and start on him again, the Oz chaps ran in and pushed them off and got the boy into the taxi again. Bravest thing I have ever seen.

5 years later they blew the pub up.

I have stood up for folk in fights but would not have the guts to go 10 to 1.

Who blew it up: the crowd or the guy they were beating up? Have you considered they might well have a very good reason for beating him up?

[minestrone]

When I was in Bali there was about 40 local guys beating the tulip out of local one guy outside a pub. Glassing him in the face and stuff like that. Eventually 4 OZ chaps ran in with their belts and got the guy into a taxi, when it drove off the mob dragged him out and start on him again, the Oz chaps ran in and pushed them off and got the boy into the taxi again. Bravest thing I have ever seen.

5 years later they blew the pub up.

I have stood up for folk in fights but would not have the guts to go 10 to 1.