# What is wrong with society?



## Carloz (Oct 12, 2016)

I do not have a car and commute to work 14 miles one way daily for the last 15 years or so. In these years I never miss an opportunity to help some stranded bicyclist, which happens a lot.

Yesterday my trip home ended in the emergency room. I crashed pretty badly in the canyon, which is on my way home. I am very grateful to the inventors of the bike helmet otherwise I would probably not be speaking with you now. Too bad they did not come with some rib protection and I got some bone fracture and a dislocated joint.

Anyway while I was on the ground unable to move and even breathe, my bike besides me, some other guy on a bicycle zipped by putting on a rubber smile on his face. Then someone walked by pretending I was not there. :-( . The place is pretty desolated so I did not see anyone else, and it already started getting dark and cold.
Good thing I had a phone and called someone who came to pick me up piece by piece and delivered to ER.


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## MrUnix (May 18, 2012)

Watch this movie - I AM by Tom Shadyac (producer/director/writer of Patch Adams, Nutty Professor, Liar LIar, Evan Almighty, Ace Ventura, and a bunch more). A cool documentary inspired after he had a catastrophic cycling accident, which prompted him to make the film in search of an answer to "what's wrong with our world, and what can I do to make it better?".

Cheers,
Brad


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## Redoak49 (Dec 15, 2012)

Thank God for a cell phone.


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## UncannyValleyWoods (Apr 18, 2013)

Now that a lack of compassion and empathy are considered viable and acceptable modes for running the world, don't expect to find more compassion and empathy in your fellow man. People have always been dicks, but now they have a political mandate to be dicks. I'm actually shocked that no one stopped to ask you where your bootstraps were and dump some fracking fluid on your broken body before they denied you were broken or injured at all, explaining to you that your injuries were "just a matter of your opinion" and their alternate facts suggest that you are just fine.

Glad you are ok though. Had I been there, I would have patched you up, smoked you out, bought you a beer and given you a hug..


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## wormil (Nov 19, 2011)

If people were more involved a lot of problems would fix themselves. Few weeks back the wife and I are driving and pass a guy laying on the side of the road. Hundreds of cars pass this guy without stopping, but we stopped. The guy was fine, said he was waiting on a ride, but he could have been dead for all anyone knew. I considered calling the cops because laying on the side of the road is stupid but then I believe we have a right to be stupid so I left him be. I've also confronted kids I've seen shoplift or otherwise misbehave. I once followed a teenager wearing a trench coat in mid summer and acting strangely, was going to call the police but decided he was just an idiot trying to get a rise.


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## upinflames (Jun 24, 2012)

Compassion and empathy are there…..folks don't get involved because of the threat of being sued for anything the plaintiff can get. Even if they don't win, you as an individual spend your life savings.

There was a day when everyone did help, nothing but pass it along was expected in return. Thanks to the ones looking for a payday for that going to the outhouse.

Hope you heal quick.


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## oldnovice (Mar 7, 2009)

Some people are afraid of getting sued by stopping to help.
But sadly it is also a sign of the times!
And with the vitriol of the last election campaign it will undoubtedly get worse before it gets better.

Most have forgotten and/or ignore the golden rule, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you".


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## wood2woodknot (Dec 30, 2012)

Goes all the way back to the time of Jesus and the parable about the Good Samaritan.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

> Some people are afraid of getting sued by stopping to help.
> But sadly it is also a sign of the times!
> And with the vitriol of the last election campaign it will undoubtedly get worse before it gets better.
> Most have forgotten and/or ignore the golden rule, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you".
> - oldnovice


+10


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## DustyM (May 16, 2016)

If it's any consolation regarding the state of things, one of the most encouraging things I ever witnessed was while driving downtown, an older person in a mobile scooter or wheelchair (foggy on which one it was) managed to tip it over somehow. Immediately the nearest 4-5 people rushed over to help. The whole event happened in passing, and lasted a few seconds, but it kinda made my day.


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## UncannyValleyWoods (Apr 18, 2013)

> Some people are afraid
> 
> - oldnovice


I think we can remove the rest of your statement and find all the truth we need right there at the beginning. A huge, paranoid portion of the American public, has been force fed fear for so long that they now know nothing else.

Yep, someone heard one instance on the nightly news of a good Samaritan being sued, they wrote that into their governing programing and it stuck. They filed it into the same part of their amygdala that holds the other fears that "black people are inherently violent", "Mexicans are rapists", "pot makes people go insane", "zygotes are people" and "The Lord is watching me masturbate".

It's that kind of irrational fear that dissolves compassion and empathy.


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## wormil (Nov 19, 2011)

All 50 States and many countries have Good Samaritan laws that protect you from being sued if you help someone and those laws have been around for a long time now. Some countries have laws where you can be penalized if you ignore someone who needs help. Alaska used to have laws requiring motorists to lend aid to other motorists, since you could easily die if your car broke down on the Alcan or other remote area.


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## oldnovice (Mar 7, 2009)

*Rick M*, you are correct about the Good Samaritan law but do people even know it exists?


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## wormil (Nov 19, 2011)

Yes they do, or should. Yes people have been sued unfairly, that's why we have the laws. Honestly I don't believe the average person ever gives a thought to being sued, if you watch videos of people ignoring someone in trouble they don't call for help, they don't talk to the person, they don't try to enlist others to help, they just look and and keep going. Like the guy on the side of the road, how will anyone get sued for stopping to ask if he is okay, or calling 911? Yet hundreds of cars passed and none of them did anything. "Not my problem," is how most people think.


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## upinflames (Jun 24, 2012)

Here is a brief explanation

https://www.verywell.com/do-all-states-have-good-samaritan-laws-1298836

You have to consider that sometimes you have to hang around and give statements and talk to several real people, nowadays the in thing is text, tweeter, fb, folks don't have time for that, too much to do.

Years ago, south of Wichita ,KS. a car cut a 6 wheel box truck off and both ended up in the water filled ditch, truck on top of the car.

This all happened directly in front of me, grossing 80,000 pounds and luckily got stopped, with no hesitation I bailed off in the water and retrieved 1 survivor out of the truck, the driver didn't make it, the lady in the car underneath was fine also.

As I was working on getting these folks out, EIGHT or TEN people standing on the bank just watching, no offer of help.

Yes, I had to hang around and give a statement, had to talk to 2 or three more investigators, yes I was put behind schedule, but it was the right thing to do.

It's all in how the "everybody gets a trophy" bunch was raised. Pitiful.


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## wormil (Nov 19, 2011)

> It s all in how the "everybody gets a trophy" bunch was raised. Pitiful.
> - upinflames


I remember my dad bitching about young people and their lack of work ethic, how they never learned basic math in school and couldn't count change, how the world was going to hell in a handbasket … those young people were baby boomers. And now the boomers are old and bitching about young people. And those young people will get old and bitch about a different generation. People were the same when you were young as they are now as they were 1,000 years ago. The Good Samaritan story demonstrates that.


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## UncannyValleyWoods (Apr 18, 2013)

> I remember my dad bitching about young people and their lack of work ethic, how they never learned basic math in school and couldn t count change, how the world was going to hell in a handbasket … those young people were baby boomers. And now the boomers are old and bitching about young people. And those young people will get old and bitch about a different generation. People were the same when you were young as they are now as they were 1,000 years ago. The Good Samaritan story demonstrates that.
> 
> - Rick M


I really appreciate you saying this. Please keep repeating this to anyone that will listen. If I hear one more person mention "participation trophies" or "snowflakes" my head is going to explode. It's a false narrative and it needs to stop. It's no better than saying "everyone in the south is a member of the KKK".. The only "snowflakes" I see are the white nationalists that think they are more important than minority groups and the only people seeking participation trophies are the people who won an election without the majority vote and are not butthurt that everyone isn't racing to come aboard their neo-Nazi train.


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

Snowflakes (SJWs) is not a false narrative, Valley. Check you tube, google it. Those people are out there, and they are insanely passionate in their ignorance. It's not everyone, but saying they don't exist is the same as saying (using your example) the KKK doesn't exist. Wackos are on both sides, but winning the presidential election in this nation is about winning the electoral vote, not winning California. It's not a new rule, but one that's been around since the nation's constitutional founding.

And finally, neo-Nazi (name calling) isn't helping the cause. Enforcing borders isn't fascism ("The United States cannot, and should not, admit those who do not support the Constitution, or those who would place violent ideologies over American law. In addition, the United States should not admit those who engage in acts of bigotry or hatred (including "honor" killings, other forms of violence against women, or the persecution of those who practice religions different from their own) or those who would oppress Americans of any race, gender, or sexual orientation…"), specifically.

What happened in UC-Berkley (anarchists destroying property and threatening lives) is a bigger threat to the nation than enhanced screening of immigrants.


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## UncannyValleyWoods (Apr 18, 2013)

> And finally, neo-Nazi (name calling) isn t helping the cause. Enforcing borders isn t fascism ("The United States cannot, and should not, admit those who do not support the Constitution, or those who would place violent ideologies over American law. In addition, the United States should not admit those who engage in acts of bigotry or hatred (including "honor" killings, other forms of violence against women, or the persecution of those who practice religions different from their own) or those who would oppress Americans of any race, gender, or sexual orientation…"), specifically.
> 
> What happened in UC-Berkley (anarchists destroying property and threatening lives) is a bigger threat to the nation than enhanced screening of immigrants.
> 
> - Smitty_Cabinetshop


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

I should have expected that, I guess. Good dialog.


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## wormil (Nov 19, 2011)

> Snowflakes (SJWs) is not a false narrative, Valley. Check you tube, google it.
> - SmittyCabinetshop


Snowflakes is not grown up conversation.



> Enforcing borders isn t fascism
> - SmittyCabinetshop


That isn't happening. Don't listen to what politicians say, watch what they do. Trump blathers a lot about illegals but only blocked legal immigrants and a few refugees and they partly reneged on the latter. To tell the truth they can block all the illegal immigrants and refugees from now until doomsday and not many people are going to get upset but blocking legal immigrants, green card holders, what does that really accomplish? Many of them have lived here for years, own houses, cars, have jobs, and are on their way to citizenship. If Trump wanted to stop illegal immigrants he would stop companies from hiring them. There are already laws on the books to do that but no one enforces them, not even Arizona. Why is that? Because businesses depend on cheap labor. Now here is what is really happening … Trump does this knowing it will appease a few bigots and distract the news away from his awful cabinet picks and awful approval ratings. And when his order is inevitably struck down by the court, he gets to play victim and pretend he tried to do something but those meany butt liberals blocked him. He's a master manipulator of the news. We have to be smarter than the news.


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

> If Trump wanted to stop illegal immigrants he would stop companies from hiring them. There are already laws on the books to do that but no one enforces them, not even Arizona. Why is that? Because businesses depend on cheap labor.
> - Rick M


Trump would not have used them if he really cared. We have an illegal employer problem. That will fix it.

Sorry about your experience Carlos.


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## UncannyValleyWoods (Apr 18, 2013)

> I should have expected that, I guess. Good dialog.
> 
> - Smitty_Cabinetshop


Yeah, sorry, I just can't handle reading a grown MAGA man complain about name calling when his candidate makes name calling a part of his foreign and domestic policy approach. I'm sorry you don't like the fact that your party is full to the brim with Nazis. But as you folks like to point out, the truth is brutal.

Good dialog doesn't start with the regurgitation of the of all the BS you've chosen to eat. There are a great many facts that lay in the middle that any rational person can acknowledge. You should try starting there. Otherwise, you are just reinforcing the characterizations that have already been established for you guys, i.e. extreme gullibility, a strong pull to the Darkside, white supremacy, foaming anger, an almost pathological lack of compassion and empathy…etc…


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## ScottM (Jul 10, 2012)

Wow this thread turned weird pretty quick!

Remember the rules of life conversations. 1) don't bring up politics and 2) don't bring up religion.


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

And you resorted to calling me names and repeating the Nazi line rather than discuss the issues.

The text of the EO is what was presented for you, sorry you chose not to read it. Those are the facts that we could 'acknowledge' and discuss, rather than the MSM's portrayal of half the electorate (that you've decided to place me into, so you could belittle me personally) as all the characterizations you've chosen to repeat.


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## UncannyValleyWoods (Apr 18, 2013)

> And you resorted to calling me names and repeating the Nazi line rather than discuss the issues.
> 
> The text of the EO is what was presented for you, sorry you chose not to read it. Those are the facts that we could acknowledge and discuss, rather than the MSM s portrayal of half the electorate (that you ve decided to place me into, so you could belittle me personally) as all the characterizations you ve chosen to repeat.
> 
> - Smitty_Cabinetshop


Well, first off, I never called you in particular any names. Second, I didn't lump you into "half the electorate" you did that yourself when you supported white-nationalist policies. If you don't like those characterizations, then you should work with your party to cleave out the craziest amongst you instead of giving their voices credence.

As far as the executive orders go, anyone with any experience in matters of foreign policy agree that this executive order will ultimately make Americans less safe than safer. I realize that facts of that nature are like kryptonite for folks on the right, but it doesn't make them any less factual.



> Remember the rules of life conversations. 1) don t bring up politics and 2) don t bring up religion.
> 
> - ScottM


Everything is political now. And religion is at this heart of all of this, especially since the President has made it very clear that he intends to tear down the wall separating church and state.


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## upinflames (Jun 24, 2012)

Holy cow, for everyone who needs it, there are puppies to hug and colors over in the safe space and some powder for that chapped behind.

If your feelings got hurt over the results of the vote…..get over it….you ain't gonna change it.

How does a post go from a question about people not caring to rants about politics.


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## Redoak49 (Dec 15, 2012)

Please this thread is tending toward the general political chaos and that is disturbing. I do not think we need political arguments on this forum. It should be a place where we can discuss woodworking without worrying if you use a plane or hammer in your right or left hand.

Please let's keep politics out of the forum and maintain some civility.

If this thread keeps up in the current direction Cricket will close it.


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## 000 (Dec 9, 2015)

> How does a post go from a question about people not caring to rants about politics.
> 
> - upinflames


UVW blamed Trump for Carloz falling off his Bike. :>/


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

I tried civil, but came off as the sound of one hand clapping. Moving on.

Sorry, Carloz, for your experience. The lack of empathy and folks willing to step up and help is truly sad.


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## UncannyValleyWoods (Apr 18, 2013)

> Holy cow, for everyone who needs it, there are puppies to hug and colors over in the safe space and some powder for that chapped behind.
> 
> If your feelings got hurt over the results of the vote…..get over it….you ain t gonna change it.
> 
> ...





> How does a post go from a question about people not caring to rants about politics.
> 
> - upinflames
> 
> ...


The title of this thread is *"What is wrong with society"*.. It's a question any sane person should be asking themselves right now. I'm not blaming Trump for Carloz falling off of his bike, I'm blaming a dis-compassionate and un-empathetic mindset for the rise of societal callousness. And I'm also pointing out the extreme cognitive dissonance of those who support this white-nationalist political philosophy as the point of exacerbation of the lack of societal compassion.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

*It is definitely The Donald's fault!*


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## ArtMann (Mar 1, 2016)

You didn't say where you live but where I live, almost anyone riding walking or driving by would have at least stopped to inquire. Five years ago, I had a motorcycle wreck that crushed my right foot. Within a minute or two, several people stopped to call for help or see if there was anything they could do. More than one offered to take me to the emergency room, which was 20 miles away. I am thankful that where I live, there are plenty of good people.

Where I live, politics are overwhelmingly conservative. Maybe there is a correlation?


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## UncannyValleyWoods (Apr 18, 2013)

> I am thankful that where I live, there are plenty of good people.
> 
> Where I live, politics are overwhelmingly conservative. Maybe there is a correlation?
> 
> - ArtMann


Ahhh good people who don't care about equality, clean air, clean water, banking regulations that benefit the poorest instead of the richest, other religious beliefs…etc.. But sure, they see another white guy down on his hog and they'll stop to help. Good thing you weren't a minority, otherwise you would have likely just been shot for assaulting the pavement.


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## Cricket (Jan 15, 2014)

Oh for crying out loud…


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## Cricket (Jan 15, 2014)

> I do not have a car and commute to work 14 miles one way daily for the last 15 years or so. In these years I never miss an opportunity to help some stranded bicyclist, which happens a lot.
> 
> Yesterday my trip home ended in the emergency room. I crashed pretty badly in the canyon, which is on my way home. I am very grateful to the inventors of the bike helmet otherwise I would probably not be speaking with you now. Too bad they did not come with some rib protection and I got some bone fracture and a dislocated joint.
> 
> ...


 I am truly sorry you had this experience.

I am also sorry that this thread turned into politics and name calling. We are better than that.

This thread is now closed.


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