jack: (Default)
[personal profile] jack
In a recent crisis which was serious but fortunately involved no fatalities, a hastily-convened emergency court of people who have loud opinions on twitter was formed to second guess the victims.

Most of the people involved were humans who had not been in a similar situation before and found their judgement being clouded by shock and fear, and mostly reacted according to ingrained habits as opposed to rapidly evaluating the situation rationally and taking the logically best course of action.

"That wouldn't happen to me," said BackseatBella who had never been in that situation. "I know everyone SAYS that, and when they get a life-or-death situation find it doesn't really work like that. But that's just stupid, they shouldn't!"

"It's easier to blame people for things that LOOK like they're being stupid, you know?" said OutrageOlly who is practised at making up his mind quickly. "If you say 'they experienced smoke but they shouldn't have choked' you look out of touch, even an arsehole. There's a risk people will sympathise with the victim. But if you say 'They shouldn't have let their panic influence their decision' you look like you're just stating common sense and everyone piles on."

"This always happens", would have said DoctorMia who had experience with that sort of situation had she been asked. "If you want people to act differently, you need to train them really intensively, and it's just not the most cost-effective way of preparing."

"The victims must have been at fault, everyone on twitter said so!" said someone on twitter.

Date: 2015-09-10 07:16 pm (UTC)
wild_irises: (Default)
From: [personal profile] wild_irises
I chatted for a bit on Monday with a friendly acquaintance whose profession is providing disaster preparation in medical settings. She said exactly what DoctorMia said, "People have to be trained really intensively," and that preparation involves a lot of communication practice.

*sigh*

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