This was in my Facebook wall from one of our local TV stations:
The usual display of indignation against those who walked by and did nothing happened in the comment, but I needed to add a dose of reality to the cauldron.
Wait, wait…. all of you condemning those who did not do squat, how many of you know how to treat that kind of injuries? I mean, other than calling 911 and going live in Facebook, what would you be good for?
Let’s face it 99.999% of you would also do nothing.
And, of course, somebody had to do the Virtue Signaling thing:
Thoughts and Prayers does not work well in Social Media so, when a life is at stake, it is fucking useless and it does not place you in a morally superior position from those who walked away who at least they did no harm.
Still somebody else had to come up with the “holding hand” shit but no one even gave a thought of saying: “You know, I am pretty fucking useless. Maybe I should learn some basic first aid, if not for somebody that will get injured, at least for me.”
No one.
But sure as hell they want to show their superiority with their outrage rather than have real superiority and be able to help somebody or themselves if something happens. But that takes time, effort and money. It is easier to do a Facebook profile picture change showing “solidarity.”
Sad that this is America now. I was taught basic first aid in grade school and Boy Scouts. I DO need to upgrade cpr training.
Main thing I noticed: she had to beg for help. If you were there, or any of us trained for such things, she wouldn’t have to say a word. We’d jump into action.
MIguel – do you leave your kit in the car? In the Florida sun, nothing seems to last very long in a locked car, besides steel or cast iron. It’s like my “jump starter” battery. If I leave it in the car, it dies in a year or so. If I take it in and out of the house, I don’t have it half the time.
Does California have a Good Samaritan law?
I do wonder how much of this comes down to not wanting to risk everything on the good will of an ambulance chaser.
Doesn’t every state have a Good Samaritan law? I got that impression in my most recent first aid course. That may be a misinterpretation of what I heard, admittedly.
Re Boy Scouts: same here. But when I got first aid at work (part of signing up for “emergency response team”) I learned that about 90% is different now. Perhaps in part because the training was more focused on dealing with the 15 minutes until the EMTs arrive, rather than stuff such as splinting a broken leg to allow a scout to make it out of the wilderness.
The Good Samaritan laws protect you from liability. But they will not protect you from the lawsuit but it does from a ruling against you IF PROVEN that you did not fuck up brutally.
Oh, lovely. That’s not the impression the first aid instructors gave us. They made it sound like we were protected from frivolous lawsuits. I should have known better, legislators would never permit such a thing to happen since they have to protect their fellow bottom feeders.
You cannot deny somebody to at least present a case in court,. But the idea is that people will get the idea that they will not be successful and stop before trying after a while.
Loom at Lawful Commerce of Firearms. How many times companies have been sued and they sill continue because they want to kill them with lawyer fees.
In a civilized society we’d have life saver training instead of Why America Sucks 101 as a required class in colleges.
… which would include a course on life saving with suitable weapons.
Even a class on Situational Awareness would be beneficial.