{"id":3572,"date":"2010-04-29T22:51:16","date_gmt":"2010-04-30T05:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reallifesuperheroes.org\/?p=3572"},"modified":"2010-04-29T22:51:16","modified_gmt":"2010-04-30T05:51:16","slug":"kick-ass-a-response-to-the-bystander-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/2010\/04\/29\/kick-ass-a-response-to-the-bystander-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"Kick-Ass: A Response to the Bystander Effect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally posted: http:\/\/cchronicle.com\/2010\/04\/kick-ass-a-response-to-the-bystander-effect\/<\/a>
\nBy Cilien Hanna<\/a>
\nKick-Ass<\/a>, a movie currently in theaters directed by Matthew Vaughn<\/a>, speaks of teenager David Lizewski, played by Aaron Johnson<\/a>, who becomes weary of the passive response to the crimes\u00a0he sees around him.\u00a0 His reaction is to order a green, skin-tight leotard, complete with mask, and become a crime-fighting superhero.\u00a0 In the ensuing adventures, which are clearly over his head, he makes some friends, saves some people, and even develops an arch enemy, played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse<\/a>.\u00a0 David wonders in the film why, with all the comic books out there, no one has tried this before? But he\u2019s wrong, there is actually a multitude of people, sans super powers, who have donned masks and capes, and stood guard over their respective cities.\u00a0 In fact, there is even a superhero registry<\/a>, if you can believe it.\u00a0 There are some that work solo, and some that are part of larger guilds or societies, like the\u00a0Black Monday Society who patrol the streets of Salt Lake City, Utah in groups, as reported by the Real Life Superhero Project<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0But they are not just crime fighters<\/a>.\u00a0 There are some, like Terrifica<\/a>, whose purpose is to watch over bars and clubs in\u00a0New York City to ensure that women walking home under the influence are not taken advantage of.\u00a0 According to the New York Post<\/a>, some, as an added bonus to their crime fighting, even clean up graffiti, pick up trash, and hand out food to\u00a0the homeless.\u00a0Though all\u00a0of these\u00a0superheroes have costumes, not all include masks to hide their faces, and some proclaim their real names unconcernedly.\u00a0\u00a0Except for a couple<\/a>, most,\u00a0unlike their comic book counterparts,\u00a0do not have any stated arch enemies.
\nThe film is not all adolescent fantasy angst, and does have a more grisly story line, provided mostly by the father daughter team of Damon and Mindy Macready,\u00a0played by Nicolas Cage<\/a> and Chloe Moretz<\/a>.\u00a0 This duo go on a gruesome vengeful killing spree that uses some more technologically advanced gadgets; more in line with what Batman would use.\u00a0 This does contribute a more interesting twist\u00a0to\u00a0what would be, otherwise, a trite story line; but it isn\u2019t enough to elevate the film above okay status.\u00a0 Overall, it\u2019s moderately entertaining, and deals with the superhero idea in a facetious manner that is more intelligent than most other movies.
\nIt becomes clear in the film that there are a profusion of people who need help, more than one teenager can handle, especially if he has any sort of life.\u00a0 But really, is this necessary?\u00a0 Do we need\u00a0masked strangers jumping from the shadows to taser hooligans and bullies?\u00a0 It seems necessary because there is a rabid passiveness that has developed, especially in urban areas, that has allowed people to simply walk by as crimes are committed and conclude that it is none of their business; not even bothering to call 911.\u00a0 This is usually referred to as the bystander effect,<\/em> and there are several notorious examples of the phenomenon,\u00a0like the rape of a high school girl last year which was marked by several onlookers who not only\u00a0did not do anything, but\u00a0actually filmed, some laughed, and others even participated, according to an article by ABC News<\/a>.\u00a0 In a crowded subway in Philadelphia one rider attacked<\/a> a sleeping passenger with a hammer another.\u00a0 Even when there is no immediate danger, people do not feel compelled to act.\u00a0\u00a0An\u00a0Associated Press article<\/a> expounds how a homeless man was stabbed as he tried to help a woman being assaulted, and ended up dying on the sidewalk as people walked by and even took pictures.
\nThe bystander theory states that the amount of help expect from a bystander is inversely proportional to the number of people there.\u00a0 Meaning, the more onlookers there are,\u00a0the less likely any of them will help.\u00a0 There\u00a0can be two reasons for this,\u00a0as explained in a paper by Peter Prevos<\/a>.\u00a0 One is called diffusion of responsibility, and basically proposes that the more bystanders there are, the less responsible any one of them feels to help.\u00a0 Bystanders believe that someone else will take care of it.\u00a0 The other theory is explained by social norms.\u00a0 When there is a group of people, their behavior is guided by the behavior of those around them.\u00a0 So, in a crowd, everyone looks to everyone else as to what is the acceptable behavior standard . . . if no one else is helping, they\u2019re not\u00a0going to help.\u00a0 The fact that good Samaritans can be sued<\/a> after performing a good deed, as happened in California, doesn\u2019t help excite the feelings of compassion in passersby.\u00a0 Still, the responsibility of protecting neighborhoods shouldn\u2019t rest solely on the shoulders of a few masked crusaders.\u00a0 There should be an intrinsic level of responsibility to, at least, report crimes in progress, if they are afraid to act.\u00a0 Some websites claim that just knowing about the bystander effect will make you less helpless to its effects.\u00a0 Others, like Imagine\u00a0Today<\/a>,\u00a0proclaim that, to break a crowds passiveness, you should shout out specific tasks to specific members.\u00a0 People are more apt to respond to directions given directly to them.\u00a0 You have now been armed with knowledge that should help you make your city safer.\u00a0 And if that doesn\u2019t work, you could always look-up your local superhero for assistance.
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is actually a multitude of people, sans super powers, who have donned masks and capes, and stood guard over their respective cities. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[68,510,525,1417,1624,1845,1857,2182,2289,2630,2987],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3572"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}