{"id":227,"date":"2009-10-27T23:32:43","date_gmt":"2009-10-27T23:32:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/everydayethics\/2009\/10\/gang-rape-after-homecoming-bystanders-snap-photos.html"},"modified":"2009-10-27T23:32:43","modified_gmt":"2009-10-27T23:32:43","slug":"gang-rape-after-homecoming-bystanders-snap-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/2009\/10\/gang-rape-after-homecoming-bystanders-snap-photos.html","title":{"rendered":"Gang Rape after Homecoming: Bystanders Snap Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

“I bet this is a learning incident.” <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
This is a quote from West Contra Costa Unified School District spokesman Marin Trujillo, in regards to the gang rape that occurred on school grounds after a homecoming dance<\/a>.
\nI actually felt chilled as I read this account — gang rape of anyone, let alone a teenage girl after her homecoming dance is beyond words. So what words do we use to describe the gang rape of a girl with multiple bystanders watching, snapping photos and not lifting a finger (let alone a cell phone) to help? <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
We’ve discussed getting “involved” on this blog quite a bit. I think most of us are similar in the sense that we want to make the right choices in life, both for our own sake as well as for others, but often are unsure when it’s the right time to step in if it doesn’t directly involve us. I couldn’t even bring myself to interject my opinion in a verbal scuffle between a passenger and airport shuttle driver<\/a>. <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

But this–to know that there were children watching this horror show and doing nothing more than snapping pictures completely blows my mind. It’s possible I’ve lowered my standards, but I wouldn’t even expect anyone to try to stop the brutality — I simply would expect them to call the police<\/i>. <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
According to KGO-TV in San Francisco, the police were informed only after someone not<\/b> at the scene overheard people talking about the incident called and reported it. <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
As I said, we’ve discussed the question of when to get involved several times here — mostly regarding smaller, seemingly petty incidents. However, it seems to me that questioning these so-called inconsequential interactions prepare us to take a much more important step when the results aren’t so inconsequential, when it truly is a simple matter of right and wrong, black and white. <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
At the moment, it doesn’t look like the supposedly “innocent” bystanders will by charged with anything; do you think they should be?<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I bet this is a learning incident.”  This is a quote from West Contra Costa Unified School District spokesman Marin Trujillo, in regards to the gang rape that occurred on school grounds after a homecoming dance. I actually felt chilled as I read this account — gang rape of anyone, let alone a teenage girl…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11,36,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-padmini-mangunta","category-ethics-responsibility","category-news","category-social-ethics"],"yoast_head":"\nGang Rape after Homecoming: Bystanders Snap Photos - Everyday Ethics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/2009\/10\/gang-rape-after-homecoming-bystanders-snap-photos.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gang Rape after Homecoming: Bystanders Snap Photos - Everyday Ethics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“I bet this is a learning incident.”  This is a quote from West Contra Costa Unified School District spokesman Marin Trujillo, in regards to the gang rape that occurred on school grounds after a homecoming dance. 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In addition to writing for a various print and online publications, such as Parenting Magazine and iVillage, she was the Website Manager for the Henry Street Settlement, a social services and arts organization serving Manhattan's Lower East Side. Most recently, she worked on the Thai-Myanmar border as a writer for the Burma Human Rights Yearbook. Her curiosity about human nature, coupled with duel streaks of idealism and Midwestern pragmatism, developed into an ongoing discussion with friends, family and strangers on ethical quandaries. When she's not asking \"Why?\" you might have trouble finding her, as her hobbies include nosing around used bookstores, exploring the world (near and far), meeting new people and occasionally twiddling her thumbs while daydreaming.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/author\/pmangunta"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}