Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Who Will Be the Hero?
Earlier this week, a 58 year old man named Ki-Suk Han was pushed over the ledge of a subway in New York City, seconds before he was hit by an oncoming train. The man who pushed him onto the tracks was emotionally disturbed. Many people witnessed the incident and not one person stepped up to help. This starts with the question of the day in New York: what would you do? A photo was released to the New York post which showed the man seconds before the train hit and killed him. Many would ask, if this man had enough time to take out his camera and take a picture, why didn't he reach down to save this mans life? One of the witnesses, a tourist from France said, "the guy was crawling to get up. Why couldn't somebody reach down?"
The photographer defends his actions and explained that he was using the flash of his camera to alert the oncoming train to slow down. Still, I find it hard to believe that he thought this was the best way to stop the tragedy from happening. Maybe he decided that capturing the image would be more important that potentially saving a mans life. In 2009, a similar situation occurred at the Penn Station subway stop in New York. Chad Lindsey was able to leap onto the tracks and help a man to safety. Mr. Lindsey commented after tuesdays accident: "everything about a relationship to that track bed is out of whack... it doesn't look as deep as it is, the platform edge isn't built the way you think it is, the trains are massive and move so quickly along it, and no one knows what his leg muscles will do until they are tested." It has become a national obsession to see accidents as they occur. What many people may not realize is that actual people are being hurt and no one is stepping up to help. In fact, people believe that one stupid picture could be more significant to them than doing the right thing. If you were in the photographers position, what would you have done? Would you take the famous photo or step up and be a hero? To read more about this article visit: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/train-wreck-the-new-york-posts-subway-cover/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi Jack,
ReplyDeletePlease do us a favor and turn off "word verification for comments"!
I think this was a great idea for a post. But I feel like it needs to be more pointed at Americans, not just at your reader as an either/or question. You seemed to attempt this with your unsubstantiated claim of "It has become a national obsession to see accidents as they occur."
I also wished you might have analyzed the linked article more than just a reference at the bottom. The way you framed it seemed that the NY Times article was just a "...for further info" type of piece when in fact it was a strong opinion piece.
For example, the writer makes an interesting claim that could be a better focus for your post: "The photographer did not put down his camera and attempt to intervene, but no one else...chose to act, either. And that indifference to the misery and peril of others is not restricted to that platform, or this city, or this country." What does this tell us about American culture?