For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term ‘rubbernecker’, it refers to those depraved individuals who, while driving by a car accident, quickly turn their necks back and forth just so they can catch a glimpse of the wreckage. And to top it off, in the process of their gawking, they’re forced to slow down their car which inevitably results in a traffic jam.
I find it very unsympathetic of these schmucks to find some sort of viewing pleasure as they pass by the remains of someone else’s misery.
I can only imagine the frustrations felt by those involved in the accident. Adding insult to the injury caused by the crash, they have to stand there and endure the humiliation of becoming an unreluctant circus act for hundreds of passing viewers.
Why don’t these heartless souls just hand the victims a top hat and cane so they can at least dress for the part?
Sheesh.
And that’s not the worst of it.
You’ve all the heard the quip when someone is caught staring at somebody else, the person will respond, ‘Hey buddy, why don’t you take a picture? It’ll last longer’.
Well, some folks took that suggestion literally.
I’ve seen people here in Saudi Arabia, where I have witnessed more gruesome accidents than I wish to discuss, slow down their cars to the point where they can take out their phone and snap a few quick pics of the shocking scene.
Such an insensitive act is a serious invasion of the victim’s moment of grief and misfortune.
I shared my thoughts with some co-workers and they both felt I was being too sensitive. They reasoned that as long as the pics aren’t of the people involved and aren’t being taken to make light of the situation, it’s no big deal.
Really?! Where is the humanity???
I find such logic lacking in compassion and simple courtesy.
Or am I simply being too sensitive here?
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5 days ago
10 comments:
Asalam alaikum, I totally agree with you - i've been urged at accident scenes before to "take a photo!" to which i always declined because why would i want to capture the memory of someones misfortune? how would i feel if i were in their situation?
instead of snapping photos its better to take a moment to make dua for those concerned...
ma'salama
Isn't that exactly what news reporters do? Put up pictures of people, invading their lives during moments of trauma and publicizing their misery to a vast anonymous audience? Pushing in their noses not just for pictures but interviews and every hairy little detail.
But they do that, and people watch, intrigued.
I did drive by a truck on fire on the highway once and wish I'd taken a picture so people would believe I'd driven past it (after they saw it on the news.) Plus, I drove by while it was still ablaze, and news footage only showed after the fire had gone out.
I don't think you're being "too sensitive" though.
No way are you being too sensitive brother like Kanadiyah stated what happened to making du'a for those afflicted?? It's like instead of showing compassion and empathy towards those in need (not to mention any help we could provide)we all feel the need to become sleazy paparazzi?? This behavior reminds me too much of those photographers callously clicking away at Princess Di as she lay dying...
Salaam 'alaikum. Heh! Too sensitive!
Speaking of accidents, there was a rather horrific one here in S'pore this afternoon involving a city bus that apparently lost its brakes. By the time we were nearing the accident scene the bus was being towed in the opposite direction; the entire front end of the bus was a huge gaping hole. 21 injuries, but no fatalities, thank God!
Haha! I think you are being too sensitive. Maybe its one of those things I would take for granted that probably does have some underlying indecency to it. However, I don't think that when people take pictures its necessarily to 'capture someone's misery' that's a silly way to think of it. I think people are natural curios (or if you must use the word nosy, nosy) and aren't we all looking for something to talk about?
"Hey look at this picture, happened the other day on the highway. Poor guy was standing there, his car was all wrecked, look"
Not really, "haha look at that sucker, i would hate to be him!!"
I think your over thinking it, if you recognize that concept, sometimes I don't think over thinking is possible.
-Faique
AA-
@Kanadiyah, good point about making dua'a.
"how would i feel if i were in their situation?" I agree with this logic. Sadly when I asked my coworkers this same question, they said they wouldn't care.
Does this mean they have thicker skin than us? Not sure.
@Amy, "Isn't that exactly what news reporters do?"
True, MSM is all about hype. After all, people don't care about dog biting man, but everyone will tune in to man biting dog, eh?
@R, Good call with the sleazy paparazzi bit. That's exactly how I feel about these folks who rubberneck and take pics.
@JD, yeah, I remember that post of yours and I vividly recall mumbling something like 'insensitive bloke'. :-)
@MK, "I think people are natural curios"
That's the exact lame 'excuse' my friend used. There are many 'natural' tendencies that we all have, such as gossip, looking at opposite sex, etc. So should we justify them as well with the some logic?
Naeem: I guess you're not cut out for modern journalism: "If it bleeds, it leads." ;) But seriously, what's the difference between my blogging about a car accident I've come across and your writing about carjackings, other than I've included a couple photos and you didn't? By writing about these incidents, are you not yourself insensitively perpetuating "the victim’s moment of grief and misfortune"? The fact of the matter is that both of these blog posts are discussing news stories. We may not be "capital-J" Journalists, but both posts are a form of journalism just the same. Pictures of accident scenes are commonplace enough for legitimate purposes (e.g., news), and even if done by the general public may be instructional, insha'allah, if only people learn and/or are reminded of the consequences of unsafe driving.
AA- JD,
Good discussion. I think talking or writing about a horrible incident is very different from taking a picture of it. The better analogy would be to talk about it amongst your friends *at* the scene of the accident, possibly in a manner where the victim can hear/see you.
That's why I wrote: "they have to stand there and endure the humiliation of becoming an unreluctant circus act for hundreds of passing viewers."
It would frustrate me to have to stand there and watch people staring at, or even taking a picture of, my tragedy.
You wrote: "and even if done by the general public may be instructional, insha'allah, if only people learn and/or are reminded of the consequences of unsafe driving."
I think this is the key difference. If the picture is taken with this specific intent, than I can understand. But that isn't normally the case.
All too often, the individual wants to sit around with his friends and say, 'Check out this crazy accident I saw on the way to work today!'
Is that educational?
WAS, Naeem.
All too often, the individual wants to sit around with his friends and say, 'Check out this crazy accident I saw on the way to work today!'
Is that educational?
It depends. Each person and case is different. Some group brought the totaled wreckage of a car to my university once in which the other driver had been drunk. (I don't recall whether the driver of the car they were displaying was killed or not.) The purpose of displaying such a car was, of course, to make college students aware of the potential consequences from DWI. Whether or not each student who saw that wreck received the lesson intended, who can say? Almost assuredly not. But that doesn't mean the message still shouldn't try to be delivered. (FWIW, I cried when I saw the wreckage as I had been hit by a drunk driver just a few months earlier while riding a bicycle and the psychological pain from that incident hadn't been buried deep enough by that point.)
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