"He's everywhere! He's everywhere!"
I have little to add to the tragedy of Walter Vance that can’t be found in the list of 15 Ethics Alarms about failures to rescue that I posted during the recent Penn State discussions. Vance was the shopper who collapsed in a South Charleston, West Virginia Target store during the Black Friday rush and was ignored by dozens of other shoppers, some of whom stepped over his body to seek more bargains. Vance later died.
I do have one little question, though.
I wonder how many of those shoppers who callously reacted to Vance’s peril with indifference told everyone who would listen earlier this month that had they witnessed Jerry Sandusky’s sexual assault on a child in the Penn State showers like Mike McQueary, they would have rushed to the rescue, even if it meant battling Sandusky.
My guess?
Every single one of them.
[More thanks to Rick Jones, who writes about the Vance episode here, and nudged me to comment on it too.]
Ethics Alarms 
Touché.
Good question.
Wow! What a great news story! Man collapses in store! Some people don’t do anything right away! Black Friday! Bargain-crazed shoppers have no humanity! America is doomed because people are so selfish!
Could have happened exactly that way, I suppose, but I’ve seen this story too often to take it at face value from first reports.
Your skepticism is well-grounded, sir.
Oh crap. It’s not even December yet! Put it back! Put it back!
At least I didn’t go to the Christmas colors right after Halloween!
My eyes! They burn!!