Post 3 Why people don't help in a crisis

In the essay “Why People Don’t Help in a Crisis”, the authors’ main argument is that people’s actions are influenced by the actions of the group of people around them. This means that if there is a crowd of people looking up at the sky, then most likely you will look up too. Of course the authors in this particular article discuss the influence this mind set has on emergencies, and the way people react when facing a crisis. The authors use constructive argument by showing studies and examples to arrive at a conclusion, which is also their thesis. When the authors state “It’s a rare traveler who, in picking a roadside restaurant, chooses to stop at one where no other cars appear in the parking lot”, they are trying to say that people are less likely to do something when the majority does not do the same. Therefore, you are not going into a restaurant that has no cars in the parking lot because you assume that is not a good restaurant.
Unfortunately I found an article that supports the essay’s claim. This article is about a man who was run over and left bleeding in the middle of the street. The perpetrator who ran over the man did not stop, but more disturbing, the cars passing the man on the ground did not stop either. The people in the sidewalk just stared as the 78 years-old man lay bleeding on the ground. No one in this situation wanted to take initiative, no one wanted to get involved.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=5013503
I’ve personally witnessed this so called phenomenon, where people become indifferent, afraid to help someone who is in a crisis. When I was nine my cousin, a couple of friends and I, were playing soccer when one of my friends kicked the ball too high and got stuck on a tree. My cousin decided to retrieve the ball by climbing the tree. As he was getting higher and closer to the ball my cousin slipped, fell and broke his arm. As soon as this happened some of my friends took off running. Instead, I told my cousin to stay calm and not move while I went and got help. I called my dad, who got my cousin to the hospital. Maybe my reaction came natural since he was family. Maybe I would have not reacted the same way if it was someone else, but I doubt it. I was raised learning that helping people is the right thing to do, especially when they are seriously injured. I just like to follow the golden rule, “do onto others as you want them do onto you”.