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Davenit — Indifference
Published: 2004-06-17 18:07:33 +0000 UTC; Views: 97008; Favourites: 3289; Downloads: 32956
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Description
Every see a news broadcast that talkes about someone that got hurt, mugged, murdered, raped and there were tons of people around that did nothing while it went on? That is indifference. I read a while ago about a homeless guy in the streets of NYC that was beaten by some kids. He layed there, in the street, bleeding, while people just walked by... For hours.He died.
I am sure that behavior is not limited to NYC and the same thing can be related to any city or town in the world. Indifference is killing our spirit. It is not just indifference towards each other. It is indifference towards our environment, towards animals and towards anything different than us and our personal belief set.
I wrote this idea down a long time ago and have never been able to shoot it. This is the best I can do. Touchy subject for me.
Why paintballs? Because it doesn't matter. Could have been apples, water balloons, whatever.
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Comments: 991
True, it occurs in many parts of the world, what a solitude in the author.
Es cierto, ocurre en muchos lugares del mundo, menuda soledad en el autor.
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i seem to mostly feel indifference i dont know y really but not all the time
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Apathy to others suffering is one of the greatest of evils
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Google Kitty Genovese and you might cringe at the result.
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This picture is indeed worth a thousand words. Well done.
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The second I saw this, I knew exactly what your purpose in making it was & I've always tried to open peoples eyes & share this same message with them. You've done not only an incredible feat of art but also heroism. I personally am truly grateful that you are brave enough to post this & share it with everyone. It's a message that has long been put on the back burner, something people don't even bother to think about unless it happens to them.
I've always been so sickened & saddened when I hear news about someone who was in trouble, in public & no one did a single thing. I always wish I could have been there, to both help the injured & scream at the indifferent!
Thank you so much for posting this, hopefully this one image will help open the eyes of the indifferent.
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Wow. I guess I was just sort of oblivious to this fact until now. Glad you opened up my eyes to it.
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reminds me of one story i saw in the news, a girl being chased down a busy street at night, she almost got ran over, but she continued going... and the guy finally caught up to her, threw her down the side walk, and shoot her....
and there were sooo many cars that saw the whole thing!! but didnt help her so she ended up dying.. just laying there....
i think sometimes people could be afraid of what could happen to them if they tried to help out... who knows??? maybe there just that.. ignorant...
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Stuff like that angers me to no end...Very recently, a girl was raped and murdered in broad daylight with dozens of witnesses, and everyone just assumed that someone else was calling it in..
I'm glad you've decided to capture that give-a-care laziness. 
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I have featured your work in my recent journal dedicated to Conceptual Photography 
[link]
I hope my little spotlight brings you some new fans!
Warm Regards
Sandi
aka `oibyrd
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I see this problem everywhere, wonderful piece, perfect conveyal. If I had to describe my town with one word, that word would be Apathy. I wish I could find some place where people were more willing to look out for the people they pass by everyday than the mundane jobs we do day in day out, with no view of the rest of the world
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I'm not sure if people helped or not but a few years ago a gang of kids beat up and set alight a homeless person who'd been living peacefuly at this park for years, it just reminded me of that.
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it's true, but i don't believe people walk by because they are heartless, i believe they are either used to that sort of violence or want to help but are too afraid and procrastinate themselves home that night, it takes more than caring to act on something
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i thought they were marbles but wateva anything goes as long as the message is shown
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Ooo...paintballs...
Thought they were green marbles at first. XD
Great concept though, this seriously happens all the time...we should all be nicer to people...
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The Bystander Effect:
The larger the group of people witnessing someone hurt were in danger, the less likely they are to help someone because they feel responsibility is diffused from them, and since the majority of people will not do anything, everyone else will conform to the doing nothing. It is a sick and twisted response, but as psychological studies show, we are all quite capable of reacting despicably given certain situations.
Always hope you're in danger with very few people around, because a good Samaritan is more likely to step up if less people around.
A very powerful photo about a powerful and scary phenomenon.
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Well its cause in psychology of human minds, saving someone would take responsibility, and people are afraid of it.
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(reads comment) i think that is very deep, and so true.
this peace leaves me speechless
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It's true, they had a study where they had two groups. One was a huge group with lost of people mingling, and the other was a small group, 3 or 4. In each group was a person who pretended to have a heart attack. In the large group at first no one responded, they just looked around at each other then finally after some time (because there was no where for them to go really) someone took over. In the small group everyone reacted right away to help the fallen man. Apparently if there are a lot of people around we think "oh, someone else will get it" but if next to no one is around we think "I have to do this"
I love your photographs. beautiful.
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Deindividualization mostly comes from being in large groups. That's what happens in large cities, so no, this wouldn't apply to all cities everywhere. If you want to test this, drop something somewhere busy like a mall and then drop it somewhere with only one person by you. The majority of the time, people won't feel responsible for helping if there are other people around, but will lend a hand in a personal environment. It's creepy sometimes how much environment can dictate our behavior, but this festering trend has more attributes than having too many people around. How unusual is it to see a homeless person passed out on the street? A big part of it is recognition.
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Unnervingly like how i feel...well felt. My beloved grandmother passed about 2 years ago on April 14th. My brother was hit hard by it. My parents would talk to him,hug him,hold him just plain reassure him that it would be ok. The didnt try to help me. It hurt me too. I broke things,cried myself to sleep and they didnt seem to notice or care...
Sorry >.< Wonderful image. Didnt mean to vent....
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Amazing job man. I am a Social Worker and this really speaks to me. Respect to you my fellow humanitarian.
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I featured your work here: [link]
Thank you for your beautiful work!
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That a true tought.. Indifference is horrible..Day by Day this Wordl Gets too Worse...Hats Off to Ur Idea & ur Thinking...U really great..Let me try one DA like this..
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The description brings tears to my eyes. No piece of deviation has ever done that before on dA. Such a deep message in such a simple image.
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I see a lot of that in school... from a lot of the teachers, too.
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Great idea and it really does get the message across.
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love the concept,they say you can draw more attention yelling fire then rape. rape its only you and the rapist, fire they are at danger so they respond. its a pretty messed up world where millions of people live next to each other and someone can't even care about the person lying right next to them
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Hey I love it!
A lot!Really ..amazing picture
it's just the kind of pictures I like to see
because of the simplicity and such deep topic
Congratulations
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Beautiful, especially considering the thought put behind this piece.
As for your description, the effect is what's known as "Diffusion of Responsibility". Whereby people pass their responsibility to the people around them. For example: "It's ok, somebody will help him up."
It also has a large part in people trying to be indifferent (as you say), and not straying from the crowd. It's sad but it's the world we live in.
It might be interesting to read up on "Rodin & Piliavin's" "Subway Samaritans" psychological study, which focuses on this exact effect.
Anyway, I've bored you enough. Great work!
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I agree. indifference is a huge problem, though not as bad as dying, I friend of mine gut beaten to unconsciousness on a crowded train because he had no money to give to a mugger. It kinda makes me sick to think that people can ignore stuff like that...
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like ive said a million times before. humans will be humans...
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my god..
You really couldn't have given this picture a better meaning or a better picture for your message
... Human nature's shit, eh.. sucks to face it, but unless people see the effect of being indifferent on people close to them or to themselves, they wont change.. it is possible to overcome...some of our egoism.
plus, as someone noted; pretty
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I've heard of situations like that happening, also. Indifference is a terrible thing.
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lovely job! fantastic focus and depth of field to it, as well as an awesome concept. very good consistency to the blood
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I'm surprised I didn't fav this the first time I saw it.
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Wow.
Simple, yet it conveys such a powerful theme. Awesome!!
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