What Has Become Of Western Society?
LONDON, U.K. – A British television network conducted an experiment to see what would happen if they recorded people’s reactions to seeing a lost little girl in a train station. You might be surprised at what happened next.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) collaborated with the Independent Television Network to conduct the social experiment at Victoria Place shopping centre in London’s Victoria Station. Two little girls pretended to be lost, looking scared and vulnerable while cameras filmed shoppers meandering by, most clearly seeing her and doing nothing.
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Out of 616 people who walked by, only one woman stopped to ask if the little girl was alright. Pearl Pitcher at first walked past the girl, but then turned around to ask her if she was waiting for someone.
“She had stood too long by herself and no parent or friend came up to see her. I was very hesitant to come and ask her, and I walked past but I thought I must come back – just in case. I think the older generation would stop, but very cautiously, a bit like I was. I don’t know about the younger generation. A lot of people walked by and didn’t take any notice at all,” Pitcher said.
The NSPCC claims that so few people stopped perhaps because they were busy, but partially because men in particular have a fear of their intentions being misinterpreted. “We have got to get a message out to adults that they have a responsibility to protect children and that must supersede any concern you have for other people’s perception of why you are reaching out to help that child,” said a spokesperson from the child welfare group.
Still, any concern for a child’s welfare is likely outweighed by a man’s fear for his own. There have been multiple reported cases in recent years of men who have been harassed and threatened even for being in a public park with their own children, so strong is the stigma of men being near little girls. The men in this situation are only acting in what they perceive to be their own rational self-interest.
The group also speculates that the fear of “stranger danger” has made it so that children are too afraid to ask adults for help if they need it. “We have got to get a message out to adults that they have a responsibility to protect children and that must supersede any concern you have for other people’s perception of why you are reaching out to help that child,” the NSPCC spokesperson said.
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