Murder of Kitty Genovese

While there was no question that the attack occurred and that some neighbors ignored cries for help, the portrayal of 38 witnesses as fully aware and unresponsive was erroneous. The article grossly exaggerated the number of witnesses and what they had perceived. None saw the attack in its entirety. Only a few had glimpsed parts of it or recognized the cries for help. Many thought they had heard lovers or drunks quarreling. There were two attacks, not three. And afterward, two people did call the police. A 70-year-old woman ventured out and cradled the dying victim in her arms until they arrived. Ms. Genovese died on the way to a hospital.

–
The New York Times

One of my relatives shared a story of how nobody on the road helped him when he met with an accident where he was severely injured. Coincidently I was reading about “Murder of Kitty Genovese”, an American woman who was stabbed to death outside her apartment in the New York City, on March 13, 1964. There were 38 witnesses who saw or heard her cry but none of them called 911(the emergency number in the US).

There is a reason why 38 people behaved in that way, there is a reason why nobody helped my relative when he met with an accident. It is not that we all have forgotten humanity. Not at all. Tough it may seem like it and many believe that overall humanity level has been decreasing and I can’t argue with that.

When we are in a group, we think differently, we think it’s not our responsibility, we think someone else would take care of it. On the other hand when we are alone or when we are in a group of a few, the responsibility is divided equally and we end up doing the right thing instead of procrastinating it for the others.

Richard Wiseman suggests that if you collapse on a busy road ask for help directly to any friendly face. By doing that you are much more likely to get a help than by just waiting for someone to help you.

Filed under: Book learning, Daily posts Tagged: anideaaday, Richard wiseman

Doing Nothing

Want to come up with something artistic.?  Well, who doesn’t.! 

Want to enhance your thinking skills?

Lying down flat on the floor helps in thinking.

Doing nothing, absolutely nothing doesn’t mean that brain stops functioning. In fact the brain waves are seen to be much more active when we are awake and we do nothing.

Putting a plant and staring at it helps in thinking. Looking at a masterpiece i.e. a painting or a sculpture also helps in the thinking process.

The book, “59 Seconds” is great so far I am learning and sharing so much from this book.

Filed under: Book learning, Daily posts Tagged: 59 seconds, anideaaday

Eating Slowly

We eat much more than usual if eat in front of a TV or more generally put a distraction. It’s true that eating while watching is much more fun but it’s not good for health. In the book “59 Seconds” the author also suggested eating slowly.

The communication between the brain and stomach is little slower than the other organs. The brain doesn’t immediately register that the stomach is full, it surprisingly takes whopping 20 minutes for the brain to fully comprehend that it is full. It gets worse if we eat with a distraction meaning a movie.

 

 

 

Filed under: Book learning, Daily posts Tagged: 59 seconds, anideaaday, booklearning

Donating Money to Wikipedia

This was the first time I have ever donated money to Wikipedia. Though it was a small one but I felt really good about it. While talking to one of my friends I got to know how he donate money to the podcast he listens to and how good he feels after each donation.

I barely knew anyone in my personal life who ever donated money to these online organizations and I always assumed that there are plenty of people taking care of such organizations. But if they are asking for donations there must be a reason for it and it’s worth finding.

Imagine if Wikipedia started to charge us like every other encyclopedia before it. Things won’t be that easy if that would be the case. We no longer could say to our younger ones that knowledge is free and it would be a horrible future.

This article was to let you know that common person like us should also take part in such donation.

 

Filed under: Daily posts Tagged: anideaaday, wikipedia

Doublethink for Productivity

In the last post I shared about Doublethink, it was one of the craziest ideas which came into existence in the novel “1984” by George Orwell and although it sounded completely fictional I shared how we employ Doublethink in our life as well.

That said, the author Richard Wiseman in his book, “59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot” shared how we can even employ Doublethink for productivity.

Talk about crazy ideas.

Employing Doublethink is actually easy and you may have done it in the past without realizing it (I know because I have done it unknowingly, though). It basically involves enlisting and describing the pros and cons of achieving a particular goal. By looking at both pros and cons our mind makes a better judgment out of it and we end up achieving our goal much faster.

Filed under: Book learning, Daily posts Tagged: anideaaday, booklearning

Doublethink

The ability to hold two contradictory thoughts at the same time is called doublethink. I first came across this word when I was reading the book, “1984” by George Orwell. The concept is tricky to understand and it means that a person can hold a thought where two plus two equal four and two plus two equal five. And the person will not have any difficulty believing it.

You might say that if one knows that two plus two is equal to four how can one say that it can be anything but four and that was the trick I was mentioning earlier.

Pretty intense stuff.

You must be thinking that concept like doublethink may only appear in the dystopian universe but they actually exist in real life too.

“You must stand out BUT you must fit in”

“You must follow your dreams AND find a secure job”

“Don’t lie BUT don’t say anything that’s rude”

sources

Filed under: Book learning, Daily posts Tagged: 1984, anideaaday