Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit • Hacker News Board

Re: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

#231

Post by venomsnake » Sat, Sep 05, 2015, 8:51 PM UTC

copperx wrote: post #90

sandworm101 wrote: post #49

Forgetting the laws, what sort of people can so casually kill like this? There are basic human instincts not to hurt people. Armies have to train soldiers to ignore these feelings because without training most won't kill even under combat situations. So when I see someone kill so casually I have to believe that they have rehearsed the scenario in their head beforehand. That means a large number of chinese people driv…

I wonder whether the value of a life goes significantly down when there are 1,500,000,000 other people in the country.

Judging by the ease with which cops in US use deadly force 300,000,000 is also enough it seems. And ISIS is controlling how many couple of million at most - and life there is not highly valued too. It is not the population of the country, but that you know you can get away with something.

Re: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

#232

Post by e40 » Sat, Sep 05, 2015, 9:20 PM UTC

Steltek wrote: post #226

e40 wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Psychopaths, plain and simple. In the US, there is no incentive for psychopaths to kill people like this. In China there is. Also remember that the incidence of this in a country the size of China doesn't allow you to make comparison to the US. Our population is much smaller. Lastly, the per-capita murder rate in the US is higher (we rank 110, they rank 192) [1]. Even if you account for under-reporting in China, we h…

> Even if you account for under-reporting in China, we have a more violent society. This article is about the casual murder of toddlers and preschoolers with little serious consequence by strangers. I don't think we're accounting for under-reporting enough here.

I was clearly talking about the comparison of the murder rates in the US and China.

And it's not just toddlers and preschoolers. It's all pedestrians, even old people.

Re: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

#233

Post by jakobsen » Sat, Sep 05, 2015, 10:53 PM UTC

developer1 wrote: post #208

guardiangod wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes it's sickening, and also broadly understood to be a logical thing to do in China. Let's play the devil's advocate and understand the motive behind it- The average annual wage of a Chinese citizen is $7,500 USD, whereas the average annual wage of an American is $45,000. Which means that $400,000 is worth 400,000 x 45,000 / 7,500 = $2,400,000 . And that's only over 23 years so far. You have to keep paying until the…

This. Frankly I don't understand these people who "don't get it". We're talking about the difference between moving on with your life with a guilty conscience, vs. having your entire life financially ruined due to injuring someone. I make $80k per year. If my country mandated > $100k per year for injuring someone, that's literally the rest of my life destroyed. I could not financially recover for the rest of my life.…

> Your upbringing in a privileged society doesn't make you better than those from less privileged societies, it just makes you privileged

We fought and still fight to have the society that we have. Maybe you should do the same instead of picturing yourseves as passive victims.

Re: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

#234

Post by k4renio » Sun, Sep 06, 2015, 2:09 AM UTC

studentrob wrote: post #221

k4renio wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been living in china for over 10 years and I came to the conclusion that what you assume here as being "basic human instincts" is really the result of the culture and the education that shaped us. Let a human being grow with no rules and awareness of good or bad, where the only law is "what is good for you well is good", then you end up with this kind of behaviour.

Yes. Any who have not visited China should keep in mind the people there do not feel protected by their government. They feel oppressed. They know they can't openly criticize the system or they will be hassled or sent to prison for "stirring up trouble". So, it is every man for himself and you get human behavior like this. They're not naturally evil, they just don't have the benefits we do. The best illustration I've…

The video shows educated people probably around the Beijing university that is not really representative of what is really going on. 99% of the population is oblivious and brain washed. They have really no idea about the tiananmen massacre.

Re: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

#235

Post by studentrob » Sun, Sep 06, 2015, 2:19 AM UTC

k4renio wrote: post #234

studentrob wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Any who have not visited China should keep in mind the people there do not feel protected by their government. They feel oppressed. They know they can't openly criticize the system or they will be hassled or sent to prison for "stirring up trouble". So, it is every man for himself and you get human behavior like this. They're not naturally evil, they just don't have the benefits we do. The best illustration I've…

The video shows educated people probably around the Beijing university that is not really representative of what is really going on. 99% of the population is oblivious and brain washed. They have really no idea about the tiananmen massacre.

You're right the general public really doesn't know. Sorry, I generalized in my previous comment. Would you agree that the reason that the general public does not know is because the interviewed folks have been censored and self censored?

Re: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

#236

Post by dang » Sun, Sep 06, 2015, 2:28 AM UTC

developer1 wrote: post #208

guardiangod wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes it's sickening, and also broadly understood to be a logical thing to do in China. Let's play the devil's advocate and understand the motive behind it- The average annual wage of a Chinese citizen is $7,500 USD, whereas the average annual wage of an American is $45,000. Which means that $400,000 is worth 400,000 x 45,000 / 7,500 = $2,400,000 . And that's only over 23 years so far. You have to keep paying until the…

This. Frankly I don't understand these people who "don't get it". We're talking about the difference between moving on with your life with a guilty conscience, vs. having your entire life financially ruined due to injuring someone. I make $80k per year. If my country mandated > $100k per year for injuring someone, that's literally the rest of my life destroyed. I could not financially recover for the rest of my life.…

> What the fuck is with this high and mighty bullshit

By the time a comment descends to this, it's clear that it shouldn't have been posted to HN in the first place. This is supposed to be a site for civil, substantive discussion. If you can't abide by that, please don't post here.

Re: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

#237

Post by h_ar » Sun, Sep 06, 2015, 5:57 AM UTC

cageface wrote: post #220

h_ar wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You sure that in Vietnam that there are hit-to-kill incidents? I thought that thing is exclusive to China. Or at least like that, since I have a few people who got hit by vehicles but only injured, drivers don't even tries to finish off.

I was referring to the comment that family loyalties seem to be all that really count, not specifically traffic accidents.

Family loyalty seems to be a Asian-centric trait, especially in Chinese.

No wonder Vietnam have that similarity since they have been influenced by China for 1000 year.

Re: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

#238

Post by sadbuttru » Sun, Sep 06, 2015, 10:22 AM UTC

ignoramous wrote: post #187

sandworm101 wrote: post #49

Forgetting the laws, what sort of people can so casually kill like this? There are basic human instincts not to hurt people. Armies have to train soldiers to ignore these feelings because without training most won't kill even under combat situations. So when I see someone kill so casually I have to believe that they have rehearsed the scenario in their head beforehand. That means a large number of chinese people driv…

I have a thoery that a human life isn't as valuable in places with huge populations. I rem reading about how people value time so much in the Scandinavian countries because they see so little of the Sun and how in tropical countries the concept of punctuality is close to non existent.

people may down vote because most of us won't venture out to the streets, but we have to realize that though this is hard this is the sad truth.

think about the people would work more than you would because they have feed their family. We may think it's insane hours/task of high risk but they do. It's not like their genes are programmed to make the work crazy but they have to for survival.

I don't mean to support the acts mentioned in the article, but this is what would happen if a person is pushed to the extreme and the person has means to come out of it. Mostly money, power, influence.

How can this be stopped ? I don't have answer but happy to discuss.

This can be seen everywhere, if we open our eyes and look. similar thread. https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3jgy0b/e...

Re: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

#239

Post by cade » Sun, Sep 06, 2015, 2:21 PM UTC

developer1 wrote: post #208

guardiangod wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes it's sickening, and also broadly understood to be a logical thing to do in China. Let's play the devil's advocate and understand the motive behind it- The average annual wage of a Chinese citizen is $7,500 USD, whereas the average annual wage of an American is $45,000. Which means that $400,000 is worth 400,000 x 45,000 / 7,500 = $2,400,000 . And that's only over 23 years so far. You have to keep paying until the…

This. Frankly I don't understand these people who "don't get it". We're talking about the difference between moving on with your life with a guilty conscience, vs. having your entire life financially ruined due to injuring someone. I make $80k per year. If my country mandated > $100k per year for injuring someone, that's literally the rest of my life destroyed. I could not financially recover for the rest of my life.…

> Of course what's absolutely a joke is people acting all aghast about another country's culture from behind their white picket fences. You do realize that if you were born in their country, you would have the exact same perspective?

From the article:

> With so many hit-to-kill drivers escaping serious punishment, the Chinese public has sometimes taken matters into its own hands. In 2013 a crowd in Zhengzhou in Henan province beat a wealthy driver who killed a 6-year-old after allegedly running him over twice.

Clearly people born and raised in China do not "have the exact same perspective".

Re: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

#240

Post by robgibbons » Sun, Sep 06, 2015, 5:57 PM UTC

kelukelugames wrote: post #79

robgibbons wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Your comment is baffling to me. Why are these countries not worthy of visiting?

It is very hard for us to come in the US. Things are better and safer here. When I got here I discovered that people travel to poor and unsafe countries for fun.

I see your point now. I guess most travelers just want to learn more about the people and cultures of other places.

One of the common criticisms of US citizens is that they are ignorant of the world outside of US borders. I would argue there's no better way to learn about the world than to travel to places outside of your comfort zone.