These threads always being out the John McClanes of the internet...
Unless one has experience or is trained in those sorts of situations, we generally have no idea how we will truly react in a situation, whether it be the Lindt siege or a nutter in Parramatta bashing a pregnant woman. If someone freezes in their response or isn't sure what to do in that split second they aren't terrible bad people or anything is necessarily "wrong" with them and they are not necessary bad people. How would I react? I would like to think i'd step in, etc, but the reality is I have no fucking idea, and neither would most on here either TBH. In both of these circumstances, there was only ONE bad person - the fucking perpetrator. We shouldn't lose focus on that. From my being a member of TK for more than 6 years, I think there are only a handful, from knowing their employment or life background, I would be betting money on them being the hero of the day.
I've been in a few situations in public where i've stepped and others where I have not (mostly arseholes on public transport). Don't really regret or dwell on any of them really, except maybe one, which I will share now (I think i've posted those before somewhere a while ago, buy anyways)... so in 2011, my father and I popped into a random 7-11 one night in a not exactly salubrious area of Los Angeles (near Compton). Out the front was a large black dude, who was pretending to be some sort of injured veteran, sitting in an old wheelchair begging. Anyway, he hassled us a bit but not enough to be overly concerned and we walk in. Shortly after the cops walk up to the guy and tell him to move on (people a regular occurrence I thought). one cop then came inside, chatted briefly with the cashier (a Sikh fellow) and left. We were still perusing the aisles when the black dude burst in and went completely psycho, like off the charts. He wasn't trying to rob the store, but just started trashing it. Now, we're in basically the infamous south-central LA, and in a country where, as an Aussie, you think everyone is carrying a gun, what do I and my 60 something old father do? Here was a nutter, screaming his head off, mostly at the Sikh for calling the cops presumably. We were the only customers, I think. Anyway, the guy eventually leaves the store (to this day I don;t know ho long it went for, could have been only 30 seconds, but felt like 5 minutes), and we helped the cashier pick up some shelves that had been tipped over etc, and I actually found myself apologising to him for not doing anything. But do what? Overpower a nutter who could have been drugs and armed? In the heat of the moment, though, whilst I didn't hide away, I also didn't rush forward,I kind of froze in the middle ground. I know this isn't the same as going to the defence of someone who is being assaulted (especially a pregnant woman), but I guess to me, it highlights that things happen so quickly, and overall I don' consider myself a bad person for not making an attempt to rush this guy.
