As I
was surfing the internet a couple days ago, I found news stories that I
expected. There were articles about the stock market, the protests in Cairo,
and plenty of articles about the election. What I didn't expect to see was an
article about a bank robbery. This isn't your generic bank robbery, where a
group of people run in with masks and guns and run out with bags of money. No.
This time, when the robbers were speeding down the roads with cop cars chasing
them, they created a distraction.
The robbers began chucking
handfuls of money out of the car. Their distraction was successful. Mobs of
people began rushing towards the car. Not to stop the robbers, though. They ran
to pick up the cash that was being thrown out of the car. The people had no
intention of trying to help the police catch the suspects. They just wantedtheir money:
"Onlookers were waving to the suspected bank
robbers, apparently signaling for them to throw more money"
This shows us a lot about a
lot of Americans. Their top priority is getting or making money. I'm not saying
that all Americans are infatuated with money, I am just saying that it is most
people's instinct to make sure they have enough money to please them. Does this
mean that we are fine with going so far as to breaking laws in order to get
money? Is this a major problem in our society, or is it something that we
should just accept?
Wow. I was pretty shocked when I first read this. But as I thought more about it, why should I be shocked? I mean, what would you expect a street full of people to do if all of a sudden they see handfuls of money floating through the air? I think this is the perfect example of greed in our country. Most of those people grabbing the money would probably never dream of robbing a bank, but they didn't think twice about scooping up the stolen money that belongs to someone. As long as they're not directly involved in the robbing, they could care less. This article made me really irritated with people in general and their greed, especially when I read the part about how they were signaling the robbers to throw more money. This is human nature at it's ugliest. I can't be sure but it seems like the robbers might have been trying to prove a point. Why else would you be throwing away what you just broke the law to get? While I obviously don't think robbing a bank is ever an acceptable thing to do, the "good" that came out of it is that people can see how greedy we really are.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting point you bring up, AJ. I can't believe that not only the robbers would think to do this, but that the onlookers didn't try to stop them. There really is nothing worse than a seemingly 'innocent' bystander. But in this case as you mentioned, these onlookers were not only somewhat guilty for not helping the police catch them, but they are just as much of a problem. I wonder if the people running out into the streets got into the police cars way. Could they be considered accomplices for taking money that isn't theirs as well? This is a disappointing turn for American society; although some may not consider it a big deal, this incident could result in a chain reaction of similar events. I think this also begs the question of whether banks are secure enough as well. It really is hard to believe that even in a big city like LA, something this terrible could happen. I guess we learn new things everyday.
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