Fascinating and Infuriating - What would you do?

I just watched a fascinating documentary on Channel 4 On Demand. Would you save a stranger? An hour long documentary recounting the stories of people who have been victim to violence, and those who have watched others being subject to violence and their consequent response.

In a week that has seen a local man randomly stabbed to death just round the corner from my home here in Manchester this documentary raises realistic and timely questions about the way in which we both as individuals and a society address violence when exposed to it in this often shocking and brutal way.

Very often we read in the media about somebody taking a beating or even being killed. Yet we can distance oursleves from it and, very often we cannot envisage or may not even consider what our own reaction would be in that situation.

For most of us, the violence that we encounter comes through a televsion screen. A re-enactment, actors working through a sequence, jerky black and white CCTV images. By now we are used to seeing this kind of content on a regular basis. However, for those unfortunate enough to encounter this king of violence in real life, our reaction is often exactly the same as the one we provide from the couch when watching TV. We sit still and we gawp.

When I lived in North East London, I read an article in the Guardian written by a woman who had been on a bus in Islington when another passenger was stabbed on his way home from work. On a bus full of people, she was the only one who went to his aid. As he died in her arms, she asked another passenger for his coat so she could wrap it around the victim because he was shivvering. He said no because he didnt want to get blood on it. No one offered any support even after the attack was over and the attacker was long gone.

As far as I can tell there are two reasons why someone would not go to the aid of someone in immediate distress:

1. They have a serious concern for their own safety
2. They believe someone else will - or is already - dealing with the problem

I think it is entirely reasonable that a lone female should not try to tackle ten men beating someone up. She should certainly try and get someone's attention and call the police. However, for a bus full of grown men to sit and watch a 13 year old girl get her head stamped on is pitiful, and to watch this documentary was at times totally infuriating.

Similarly, there were two men featured on the programme who had gone to the aid of an attack victim. One died of a stab wound to the heart and another was stabbed five times but survived. The beauty of this documentary was that it was objective. It didnt judge those who did or did not intervene, and it highlighted the contradictory elements of the "Should I?, Shouldn't I?" question.

I once taught a man in prison who had stamped on someones head until they were dead. I asked him why he kept going, why he didn't stop. He said if only someone had pulled him away he knows he would have left the man alone. He infact blamed the lack of action of others for the mans death.

Would I help a stranger? Yes, I think I would, because I would look to others for help if I found myself in a situation where I could no longer defend myself.

Potty Protests, Pink Parrots and Zip Lines

Every now and again I tune into a web based alternative news portal called LiveLeak.com. It is a viral collection of videos from around the world. usually captured on handheld cameras and mobile phones, they are typically the things that dont make it onto the mainstream news, or are an alternative viewpoint of the issues that do.

The thing about LiveLeak is that its raw and often unedited. Feeds are often placed on the site directly from personal cameras and are not subject to censure. You can be right in the action with British troops in Afghanistan or in the crowd at a Barack Obama pep rally.

I love the psychology of bandwagons and, this past few weeks has seen almost every former hippy, powerliberal, and bandwagoner get on the Gaza Strip boat. Please don't assume that I condone Israel and its actions, a lot of people have died and some of the scenes have been truly shocking. I am not talking about Israel and the Gaza Strip today. I am talking about ineffective protesters.

I tuned into LiveLeak.com this week and came across a video that was taken from within a pro-Arab protest in London. It essentially involved a gang of young British asian men leading a "protest". By protest I mean they were marching on the police with such force that they could not be contained, they were goading the Police to fight with them, shouting racist insults, throwing traffic cones, bricks, bottles, anything they could get their hands on. For the several minutes that the video lasted, I couldn't help but wonder what they were aiming to achieve. Normally you would expect that a protest would strive to get a message across, to get people on board, to win some exposure. Yet by being so aggressive, hurling bricks and generally acting yobbish, whilst at the same time yelling "Allahu Akbar", I can only assume that their cause wasn't inundated with new recruits.

I wear a Palestine scarf, I'm no political activist, Im just fashionable. I also wear some geek chic glasses and a flat cap, but it doesn't mean I'm a chimney sweep, even though I do talk a bit like the legend that was Fred Dibnah. My selection of scarf however, has made me the target of pro gaza campaigners. They think I'm all on board, one dreadlocked student even tried to recruit me to stand behind his desk on Market Street in Manchester. He was called "Snoops" and he couldn't tell me anything about the history of the Arab/Israeli conflict. His awkwardness and the "you're a numpty" look on my face was enough to cement my release.

Similarly on the protest front, the "highly criticised" third runway at Heathrow airport seems to be getting nothing but bad press. A whole village will be destroyed and Joe Bloggs was even on the radio complaining about having to move house after 30 years. He didnt mention how much compensation he will get though, and if h has been there 30 years he could probably do with a change. We are in a recession and we seem distraught by a new runway despite the fact that it will create 65,000 new jobs, not to mention the money spending visitors it will facilitate and aircraft carbon emmissions are a third less than they were ten years ago, and they are still going down.

The point I am trying to make is that there are plenty of ineffective protesters about these days. If you stand in the street shouting "Free Gaza" what are you actually going to achieve? I often wonder if protesters actually think that the powers that be will notice and say "oh look, we've annoyed those people outside the BBC in Manchester, do you think we should tame it down a bit and just let Hamas fire rockets at us and hope for the best?". In this age of modern technology, surely there is no need to stand out in the cold and wave banners. Surely things have moved on and well placed emails and letters to MP's, MEP's and Newspapers are going to have more effect. Some of the Heathrow Airport protesters were pretty clever this week and actually bought a piece of land that the new runway will cover, and they are outright refusing to sell it. Good for them, it wil truly throw a spanner in the works. That's how you do it.

In other news, in 16 hours America will inaugrate its first black President. A rather cool pilot became the first in history to ditch a fully loaded aircraft in water and have everyone survive. The Royal Bank of Scotland reported a 90% drop in profits and I couldnt help but think "it serves you right for charging me £38 for exceeding my overdraft, you fatcat muppets". There are 3 bright red Australian parrots vacationing on Whalley Range in Manchester. The other night (and armed with a very large pepper grinder) I chased a robber out of my back garden at 1:30am, and yesterday a 12 year old zip lined into my front garden with the use of some dodgy old rope and the tree across the street. I can't help but think that they are using our house as a training ground for some high profile Oceans Eleven style robbery.