Why People Will Stop A Drunk, But Not An Abuser

ABC has been running a bunch of social experiments, just to see how Americans will react. In one, a Middle Eastern woman, totally covered, goes into a doughnut shop. The owner (an ABC actor) sees her walk in, loudly tells her to, "Get on your camel and go back to your own country!"

The purpose? To see how the doughnut shops customers will react. Will they do the right thing? I.E., stand up to the owner and call him out on discrimination? Or will they turn the proverbial blind eye to yet another example of ethnocentrism?

Now that you have an idea how ABC conducts some of these experiments, fast forward to a recent episode of Oprah. Oprah, loving the idea of these social experiments, invites a psychologist on the set to explain why the public may (or may not) react to perceived injustices.

In one experiment, a man and woman are arguing in a park. The argument climbs to higher and higher levels and escalates to a bit of physical intimidation. The man, up in the woman's face, is pushing her and growing more and more angry. It's obvious that soon his anger is going to boil over. And then? Well, the "and then?" is what the experiment is all about.

Even though this staged argument is in a public park, there are many, many more people who decide not to get involved. They turn the blind eye and deaf ear to the argument, leaving the angry man to continue down his intimidation route.

Now, an experiment or two later, a drunk man (staged actor again) is fumbling in his pocket for his keys, ready to drive off. He's obviously highly, HIGHLY intoxicated, to the point of falling down as he tries to climb in the car.

Do people stop to confront the drunk? Yes! Every single instance shown, at least one person stopped to dissuade the drunk from getting behind the wheel.

Why will people try to stop drunk drivers, but not domestic violence? That's a great question, but drunks in question here weren't violent nor angry; just drunk. Personally, I loathe any male who'd raise a hand against a woman. But if I get involved with the feuding couple, I run the risk (and probability) of having the angry male turn his anger on me. With the drunk? Someone that intoxicated can't put up a good fight.

There are 15,000 Americans killed every year by intoxicated driving. Chances are, we all know at least one fatality due to DWI. It's a widespread crime, to say the least. Are people just more aware of how dangerous DWI is compared to a single couple fighting in a park? That's hard to say, but it stands to reason passers by know a whole, whole lot more people who have been harmed by impaired driving than domestic violence.

Should either of these ever happen? Obviously not. But in the case with the fighting man and woman, the woman may (at least) have a bit of control to stand up to the male and walk away. An innocent pedestrian on the street doesn't have that option with the impaired driver. The angry husband's fury is centered around one person whereas the drunk's mistake can be felt by many.

I applaud ABC for their social experiments and, hopefully, helping to save some lives.