To think people are losing compassion?

[Tennis82]

There is a video circulating in Facebook where a man in a powered wheelchair is getting off a train. The station staff bring a ramp, don't seem to secure it properly and as the man gets onto the ramp it slips and falls, the man falls heavily out of his wheelchair onto the concrete platform.

There are so many people commenting who are saying how hilarious this is. As a wheelchair user this is my worst nightmare, I use a manual chair, not a power chair but still rely heavily on people if I want to use public transport.

A power chair user often has limited upper body movement, strength and coordination, so he doesn't have the ability to use his arms to cushion the fall so could sustain very serious injuries which could exacerbate his current disabilities.

I understand people have different senses of humor, but seriously, how can people find the serious accident of a person with complex disabilities so hilarious? Not one comment that I read asks if the man is OK.

That's horrible. I think social media has brought out the worst of people. People are too interested in the popularity contest to care for the welfare of others anymore. It's pathetic.

People have laughed at others falling over for all time

Its hardly new

It's horrible. I notice this in day to day life too about a range of topics.

People are so worn down from their busy lifes that they feel aren't getting anywhere. I think it makes it easier in their minds to justify why they shouldn't have compassion for others.

I don't get this either, it's horrible.

Although I'm not sure people are necessarily any worse than they've always been.

That isn't funny at all.

However I do find other peoples mishaps funny like this vid taken at an airport.

araiwa I understand that and I remember laughing when they showed funny home videos on tv, but to laugh at someone with a disability and/or multiple health problems; someone who is relying on a member of staff to get off a train is just not right.

I have treated an able bodied person who I saw fall as they were getting off a train (a man in his 20's who was otherwise fit and well). Other people were laughing when they saw him trip, the poor guy ended up being taken to hospital and I suspect the significant wound on his leg would have been washed out and stitched.

For that to happen to someone who is able to break their fall, can you imagine what sort of injuries someone might sustain if they can't cushion their fall?

I think the internet has given people a forum to anonymously air their true feelings. The video you referenced appeared on the Hold My Feeding Tube page on Reddit a few weeks ago.

@Mileysmiley that is funny, I bet airport staff see that quite a lot. The poor guy must have been embarrassed but he wasn't at risk of serious injury.

Hopefully the guy can use the video as evidence of negligence!

Sadly people have always laughed at other's misfortune. I don't think it is ok to watch videos of anyone hurting themself, why is that funny? Unless of course they are doing something stupid then its fair game.

I remember a thread here a couple of years back where a poster said she had fallen and hurt herself in public and the man next to her, instead of helping, had just stood and laughed quite openly. Loads and loads of posters said that they always laugh when they see someone fall over, and they can't possibly help because they're too busy laughing. And they all claimed that they simply couldn't help it and that anyone who thought they were unpleasant didn't understand and was nasty and judgemental. It was depressing.

@isabellerossignol it's awful the attitudes of some people these days. They are more interested in their own amusement / getting video footage they might be able to sell to the media than actually helping a person in need.

I think YABU and YANBU simultaneously.

The situation you referenced is absolutely awful and actually heartbreaking to hear about.

On the other hand, people are definitely experiencing compassion fatigue. More and more people are becoming too demanding, too entitled, expecting others to accommodate them and their (sometimes exaggerated) needs. I'm not talking about disabled people wanting adjustments here - this should be a given. But take, for example, people who claim to be 'triggered' by any random thing when they are actually just a bit upset/see or hear something they don't like. Or people with self-diagnosed 'anxiety' using it as an excuse for their controlling behaviour. Or basically people who want everyone around them to adjust their behaviour, be sympathetic to any old thing a grown adult should be able to deal with, and baby them at their own emotional expense. It's tiring. Many of us have had quite enough of it when we all have our own shit to deal with. So yes, in that sense, I feel that I've personally lost a lot of compassion and I no longer do much emotional labour for others.

Then again, I am aghast that one can see a clearly vulnerable person struggling (like the man in the wheelchair) and do nothing. Surely the natural reaction would be to swoop in and help, if at all possible?!

You are so right. It’s horrible, people seem incapable of using their imagination to empathise with other people. If something doesn’t affect them directly then they’re not interested. I have two disabled family members and we see it getting worse.

There are lots of lovely people who will offer help and are very thoughtful but when you are a vulnerable person as this gentleman clearly is, it is a constant risk, you never know if you will encounter the nice people or the ones who are careless/callous in their attitude and there can be very serious consequences when you encounter the latter.

This is anecdotal. I think on the whole people are becoming more compassionate, there's more tolerance for difference, people are learning more often about self compassion, etc. People have always been assholes, and in the past I think this was more frequent, not less.

That video came up on my feed, I felt sick watching it

Some people are arseholes but I don't think they're any worse than they used to be. You probably just see more of it because of social media, but I don't think social media has made people less compassionate.

It wasn't that long ago that people were still going to Bedlam to laugh at the mentally ill inmates as entertainment, let's face it.

I saw it - didn’t find it funny, but also wondered if it was real and not staged? Why was someone filming a wheelchair user leaving a train anyway - unless they expected that to happen? I take everything like that on FB with a pinch of salt tbh because more often than not it’s fake.

@PixieLumos you'd be surprised what people film. Someone once openly filmed me putting my wheelchair into my car. I had to ask them to stop as I hadn't given permission and was seriously uncomfortable with them filming me.

That’s terrible! Sorry to hear that happened to you, some people are strange