Savages
August 30, 2010
I had a real Lord of the Flies moment the other day. I was walking home from work and saw a mob of people gather around the adjacent bicycle lane, spilling onto the road and courting passers-by stopping to enjoy the spectacle. There had seemingly been a traffic accident between a lady in a car and a lady in on a bicycle, not that it was of much interest to the people. One of the ladies, the lady on the bicycle; the poorer of the two as noted by her wrangled hair and lack of front teeth, was hurling obscenities at the other, launching for her arms and clawing at her silk dress. The other lady, tried vigorously to defend herself, but was visibly beaten down by the summer’s heat. Supposedly the poorer lady had stolen money from the lady in the dress, yet the latter lacked the aggressiveness at hand to wrestle it back. Chaos had erupted and the mob had swarmed in to observe the festivities of man’s primal tendencies.
This scene is not uncommon in China. Every time a road accident occurs or people find themselves in physical confrontations, the surrounding patrons simply become immobile in the their walk and flock to watch—not to aid, but to watch.
The crowd surrounding this debarkle had obscured much of the traffic on the narrow pavement and bicycle lane by now, only contributing to the growing number of observers. As the people grew, the tension mounted, the women became visibly more distressed and eventually the lady in the car had to flee for the cotton strap on her dress had been torn, leaving only the plastic support. The poorer lady walked slowly in the opposite direction, breathing deeply through her chest as if to offset a potential anxiety attack. On this confirmation, the crowd dissipated and returned to their regular commute.
I would like to say that such a common event is a symbol of the primitive state of the Chinese mindset, but doing so would be both unfair and incorrect, since I don’t think that such acts are absent or less common in other places of the world either. Perhaps in other countries, like Australia, they are less of a public display, but still prevalent in places, particularly those of squalor. In any case, what sickens me is the silent mob of passers-by who come to observe, lacking basic humanity and accountability in their inaction. Their presence alone asserts that such confrontations are normal and thereby acceptable. It worries me, but I guess such instinctive behaviour is an urge we sometimes can’t resist, after all, it’s not like to tried to break the fight, is it?
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