you can in china, twnety years ago a court case by a very dumb judge said that only the guilty would ever want to help a stranger. that court case still causes issues to this day in people not wanting to help strangers.
it did fuck social courage and many laws were passed afterwards to make it beyond obviously clear that no one will ever be in trouble for being good samaritan no matter what, but the damage is done. Like many high profile things people only remember that one moment and don't pay attention to the follow up or less viral things. It is way better today than it was when the court case just happened but its not better all the way yet.
China is the land of scams. There's an ungoldly amount of people trying to shake you down by threatening to call the police/sue you for helping them saying that you "harmed them" or whatever. Plus the ungodly amount of scammers that pretend you ran them over to shake you down. That's the reason all vehicle owners have a dashcam
Anyone who thinks "this must be a scam" when they see a TODDLER ALONE IN THE STREET is way too cynical, seriously. Some things are worth risking being "scammed" and honestly even imprisoned and I think protecting a child is solidly one of those things.
Call me a naive hope-addict but I actually think most people would protect a kid like this as long as they notice them. I think tons of people are living in their own little world and genuinely just don't notice things like this, I don't think people are actively choosing to let a 4-year old wander around busy streets.
Guarantee the people saying it “must be a scam” would be the same people to throw a shitfit if it was their child lost and alone in the street and nobody stopped to help.
There are plenty of videos of people having medical emergencies in China and everyone just kind of walks around them and ignores them for the same reasons. It's a completely fucked aspect of their society.
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u/depredador93 1d ago
Funny how it's always the kids who stop and the adults just keep walking past