Few years old.

[Dreamstalker]

Bystander effect (also known as Genovese syndrome). I never, ever understood that. If someone sees nobody helping, then logically they should be the one to jump in as clearly nobody else is.

Wait, that not only makes sense but also assumes humans are logical creatures. Which we all know they are not.

[Rapscallion]

Guy I once knew got involved in a bloke beating up his partner in the street. Both of them turned on him, left him in a heap, and then went back to their private dispute.

Surreal.

Rapscallion

[Dips]

I still hate that people looked at me like I did something wrong

The thing you did "wrong" (in their eyes, not mine ) is make them look and feel like the cowards they are.

Nobody is happy with the guy who makes them look bad.

Funny thing is it's even worse the the guy making them look bad is a girl. When I was much younger, I got glared at for threatening some jerks who were hassling my friend. [She was "little" and the assholes thought it was funny to literally pick her up like a doll. ]

Edited for clarity 8/13/2007

[Seshat]

If someone sees nobody helping, then logically they should be the one to jump in as clearly nobody else is.

Unfortunately, it happens in all sorts of cases. My parents taught me that the moment you think 'somebody should do something about that', you need to follow it up with 'and I'm somebody'. If it's not important enough to YOU for you to do something about it, how can you expect it to be important enough to anyone else?

[AriRashkae]

During the rest of my trip, people kept shaking ther heads at me. One told me that that was stupid and I could have been hurt.

"Better judged by 12 than (in this case, someone else) carried by 6" has been my motto. I don't always live up to it, but I do try.

[Gawdzillers]

The thing you did wrong is make them look and feel like the cowards they are.

Incorrect.
That was not a wrong thing to do.

[JustADude]

Bystander effect (also known as Genovese syndrome). I never, ever understood that. If someone sees nobody helping, then logically they should be the one to jump in as clearly nobody else is.

Wait, that not only makes sense but also assumes humans are logical creatures. Which we all know they are not.

Like I said earlier, it's a concept called Diffusion of Responsibility. Everyone is so sure that someone ELSE will be the one to help out that they don't want to put themselves at risk.

"Better judged by 12 than (in this case, someone else) carried by 6" has been my motto. I don't always live up to it, but I do try.

That would apply only if YOU were being the one attacked. In this case, it would be "Better I be judged by 12 than have someone else carried by 6," which is still a damned true statement.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Don't worry, Plaidman, you were awesome, and any girl who's ever been harassed in public by a psycho with a libido problem will agree.

The protective instinct seems to be stronger in some people than in others. When I was a teenager, walking home from school, a neighbor's dog was out in the yard with their small children and came after me as I passed them on the sidewalk. He bit my t shirt and ripped a big hole in it. I went home upset and my ten year old brother called my mom at work and wanted to know if he could take his baseball bat down the street and 'deal with the dog'. My Mother told him we appreciated the sentiment, but no, he could not 'deal with the dog'. He's still that way to this day. Sweetest little brother in the world, but he's now a 6 foot 2 Marine and would pulverize anyone who looked at me the wrong way.

[Gabrielle Proctor]

You did the right thing, good job. You certainly are above the other people who did nothing. Kudos, women need more men around like you!

[Dips]

Incorrect.
That was not a wrong thing to do.

D'oh. I should have put quotes around "wrong" to denote sarcasm. I'm fixing my post.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

And THIS, brothers and sisters of the congregation, is why I love the SCA (no, it's not a story about a bunch of swordsmen kicking some biker's ass. It's better.) :

http://pennsicindependent.com/node/293

[JustADude]

http://pennsicindependent.com/node/293

Wow, who knew that many SCAdians had emergency medical training.

The phrase "The EMT from [the Barony of] Brendoken" actually had me laughing at the juxtaposition.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

A lot of them do, it's true. There seems to be a lot of nurses and paramedics in that scene, not sure why. And then there are tons of people who keep their CPR/Emegency First Aid training up to date (and whatever other training is required for this office) because they are SCA medics.

Hey, we smash each other in the head with clubs for fun. We kind of need a lot of field medics standing by.

[Bloodsoul]

Come on, his name is Plaidman; isn't it obvious that he's a superhero? ^_^

[RecoveringKinkoid]

BTW, told the husband about this story and he got this look of contempt on his face and said, "What a busload of pansies."

Only it wasn't "pansies" he said, but there was a p, at least two s's, an e and and i in the word he used.

He thinks you did the right thing, too. Considering he once got into a fight in a bar for the same reason you got into one on a bus, I'm not suprised.