The absurd human community

Reaffirming my staunch cynicism in the human race, a Tunisian immigrant in Sweden robbed a man blind before leaving his unconscious body on the subway tracks last week.

The victim, a Swedish national, had fallen on the train tracks in a drunken stupor.
A camera caught robber Nadar Khiari robbing the victim and leaving him to die on the tracks.

Thankfully, the victim only lost a foot, but this whole situation has made me realize how responsible we are for the people around us.

Obviously, the victim’s drunkenness was his own fault.

He made the choice to drink until he couldn’t stand, and falling on the tracks was completely on him.

That doesn’t give Khiari the excuse to leave him to die.

As a species, we’ve done quite well living in communities with other humans. As of 2008, more than half the world’s population lives in cities or towns.

We like to live together, and it’s more than just human interaction that we crave.

We live together in such large clumps because we want the community. We want the knowledge that when things go badly for us, someone will be there to help.

Yes, we have firefighters and police to help out in extreme situations, but we expect even the most regular of people to help when they can.

This is why Khiari has received so much national backlash concerning his actions.
Khiari didn’t need to perform mouth to mouth or brave the fiery depths of a burning building to pull this man to safety.

All he had to do was move the victim’s body about 12.5 inches to the left and call for help.

Instead, he chose $600 over the life of a fellow human being.

Thankfully, Khiari is being punished to the fullest extent of Swedish law on charges of theft. He has been sentenced to deportation after serving one and a half years.

Hopefully, the extreme nature of Khiari’s actions continue to catch wind, and more countries enact Good Samaritan laws that require those around someone in mortal danger to help.

We do have a responsibility for the people around us, one that they also have for us, and it’s this shared reciprocal altruism that has made society what it is.

­— kevsjack@indiana.edu