@mariusthered
Freedom of speech means that the government can't harm you for anything you're saying. It doesn't protect you from other people disagreeing with you and appealing to you to be more considerate towards others. Which I did. Or, well, tried to do, which apparently was misunderstood. But it was nothing more.
@tired_programmer
If this forum belongs to all of us (which it does lol), you will have to live with people disagreeing with you, as well, just as you said yourself. "Please don't say potentially harmful things" is a request, not me trying to shut someone up. Apologies if that came across as if I were trying to assert dominance. ^^
I recognize that my statement was a bit broad as well, but I stand by the message. Why be so harsh on people who already suffer? Why not be more considerate what your words could do to others? That was the only goal of my post, not policing your opinion about love in general, mariustheread.
I simply misread the bit about "you're better off alone" as being targeted at the person you were trying to help that day, which then would've been disrespectful toward her, you know? That you were talking about yourself was only clear to me in later posts you made here. And that is an opinion I won't challenge, because it's deeply personal what each of us thinks of love.
I think that should clear things up.
Other than that: Never endanger yourself if you can help it! I haven't read nearly as much about the bystander effect as I'd like to, but I suspect that that's part of the reason so many people could struggle with actively helping (even just calling the police). Sure, the shared responsibility is a HUGE factor, but when I think about the fear of hurting oneself? I think that at least takes second place. I remember stepping between an aggressor and a friend of mine, and I almost sh*t my pants.
It went well in the end, but that's not always the case. So as long as you don't think you can handle the situation in front of you, every step could be one too much. Especially since:
As laypersons, it might impede any chance of a situation being calmed down, even—be it psychologically or when people get physical. Most of us aren't trained to de-escalate things like these. Professionals are always our best bet if we can trust them to do their job right.
But I do wonder how we can really break through this bystander effect. I mean, as you're saying, @DokiDokiTsuna, most people don't even call for help. Do you think that's a modern phenomenon? You know, with more people around, no close-knit communities etc.? I wonder.