Kitty Genovese's Suicide

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Recommended: Problems with the bystander effect

English Mid-Year Introflection

¨We cloak ourselves in cold indifference to the unnecessary suffering of others - even when we cause it¨- James Carroll. Indifference has an issue we´ve been studying in ELA this year through short stories, the Holocaust, and other events that have taken place over the course of history in our world. We´ve focused on how empathy impacts the situation, the victims, and the bystanders. Empathy can help us build community, and give everyone reassurance the someone will support them during times of crisis.
Kitty Genovese was a woman stabbed to death in front of her apartment, while her neighbors watched. Her neighbors’ lack of empathy allowed for her murder. For the Kitty Genovese Article Reflection, we read two articles describing Kitty´s death, and answered questions regarding her neighbors. We were asked to provide reasons for why Kitty's neighbors did not act to prevent Kitty´s death, and for why they should have taken action. The purpose of the assignment was to gain understanding of the Bystander Effect, and how it can harm society. As a result of this assignment I concluded that the main causes of Kitty Genovese´s death are that the neighbors didn't want to get involved in the situation, go to court, or create a sense of fear for their families. They should have gotten involved in order to prevent the …show more content…

The Night/Holocaust Webquest was assigned to us in order for us to get a glimpse of the events that took place and the people involved during this time. For this assignment, we explored different articles on a website, then answered comprehension questions, and defined key terms in order to summarize our findings. From this assignment I learned that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis had no empathy toward the Jews. Based on the number of deaths, the German soldiers dehumanized and murdered millions of innocent

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