Sign of the Times: Loss of Social Cohesion

Sunbathers in Italy continued to enjoy the beach despite two children having drowned and the bodies being just left on the sand. From the story:

The bodies of two drowned Roma [often called Gypsies] children lay covered by towels on an Italian beach while holidaymakers carried on, unfazed enjoying the sun. Cristina Ibramovitc, 12, and Viola Ibramovitc, 11, were left on the sand for an hour among “indifferent” holidaymakers after being caught in rough seas...

One eyewitness quoted on Italian TV said: “The water was rough and no-one was in the sea but these four Roma children just rushed into the huge waves.” The beach was packed and people soon realised the four were in trouble because the children started screaming and shouting for help. Some people went in and got two of them but the other two couldn’t be saved and they were pulled from the water dead. “Bodies were left on the beach for an hour before being collected, just covered by a beach towel while people just got back to sunbathing and playing football.

This reminds me of a story out of the Netherlands I recounted in Forced Exit:

Then there is the case of the little girl who fell into a lake and drowned. Normally, that would not be national news. But in this case, “Two hundred people stopped eating sandwiches, playing Frisbee, or walking the dog, and stood. Some moved to the bank and watched the girl drown. No one tried to help.” The little girl’s death, captured on video, shook the Netherlands in much the same way the Rodney King video did in this country, as the Dutch, “in a rare moment of self-examination,” wondered and worried about the decline of their culture. (Cite: Sarah Lambert, “Dutch Stand Idly By as Child Drowns,” San Francisco Examiner, August 28, 1993.)

Nor should we forget the recent case here in the USA caught on video of a man hit by a car and bystanders not rushing to his aid.

At least the Italians tried to save the kids. Question: Are these stories symptoms of a growing disconnect with and from each other or just isolated incidents?

Alas, I believe the former.

HT: Judy Dobson