The above public service broadcast ad annoys me everytime I see it. Produced by Postbus 51, the government’s moralistic propaganda agency, the voiceover explains how the guy in the wheelchair would’ve been helped better if people had prevented the assault on him that put him in there in the first place. I always found it a bit harsh on the people actually in the video; they couldn’t help it, they weren’t there. But it is a symptom of our supposed selfish times that the government feels the need to put up videos warning us to do our civic duty, unless we want to see more train conductors in wheelchairs. But are so selfish, or is our discomfort with contemporary society and its mores based more on a moral panic caused by a few well publicised horrible incidents?
One clue is what happened on my way back on the hospital, when a woman went into epilectic shock a few seats behind me. Before I could do anything, or even think about what to do, it was no longer needed. One American woman, either somebody with a nursing background or just generally competent, was immediately helping her to not hurt herself, another, Dutch woman was calling the emergency number for an ambulance and getting advice on what to do, an Italian (?) tourist was helping to lower the victim to the floor in the position the emergency people recommended, others were offering coats and such for her, and so on. A tram full of people wrapped up in their own affairs in a matter of seconds rallied around to help somebody none of them had ever seen before. Nothing really heroic, nothing you could brag about on tv, but people still did it as a matter of course, because they were concerned and wanted to help.
Fair restores your faith in humanity.