Distanced From Decency

Not necessarily those who live in remote areas of the world who have chosen to distance themselves from urban or even suburban life. Or those who have lived for generations upon generations in distant geographies far from modern civilization. But those who have succumbed to the mental aridity of blanking their minds out from the social upheavals that surround them, through the instability caused by war, political unrest, religious persecution or the prevalence of violent mob-related activities.

Naples, in Italy, appears to present as one of this socially disaffecting places. Where civic life has been hampered and burdened by the incessant presence of organized crime syndicates and gangsters expressing their freedoms in a cowed society where government and security agents fear to tread, put up with violence. And learn to blank it out of their minds. To step around it, in a need to pursue the normalcy of everyday life. Italy's third-most-populous city, Naples hosts the Camorra crime syndicate.

That process, to remain oblivious to the effects of the violence that erupts everywhere in that society, to tamp down personal fears and revulsion and simply continue on with life, deadens people to the violence they cannot escape. As long as the daily mayhem, the destruction of property, the life-taking does not impact directly on them, they will tolerate the intolerable. And become indifferent, in the process, to the pain inflicted on others.

Which certainly goes a long way to explaining how it is possible that murders can be committed in broad daylight, in the midst of a busy, heavily populated city, on a major thoroughfare, in front of shops where people go about their business, without lifting an eyebrow. Much less calling for an emergency response when witnessing a murder. A recently released video that shows a man being shot, while bystanders don't react, a case in point.

One man exits a bar to smoke a cigarette. Another man enters the bar, where a half-dozen people are present. He then exits the bar and shoots the smoker standing outside at point-blank range. When the victim falls to the ground, his attacker shoots him again, directly in the head. Not one bystander appears to notice. One woman is seen to walk slowly by, rubbing a scratch-and-win lottery card.

People walking by, glance at the dead man, then hurry on, absenting themselves from the scene. Five months of consequent investigation from the police have brought no break-throughs, although the face of the attacker can be seen clearly in the video footage.