It is easy for people or even legal system to have sympathy or care on those sick, fallen or injured. But sometimes the emotional kindness can be abused, for example, somebody who is not so kind can disguise as sick, fallen or injured to win the sympathy or more importantly financial advantages from others.
Last year when I was in my hometown I noticed my sister’s car was equipped with a camera near front windshield. I asked why she installed a camera, her answer made me laugh, since the camera was used to record every details in case anybody who suddenly “fell” in front of her car to tell whether the person was accidentally crashed by the vehicle or intentionally fell. The former was so – called traffic accident, the latter the blackmail in Chinese style.
Then the fake fallen could frame the driver for money. But with an equipped camera, the drive could scorn the fake fallen “I have a camera, you can’t frame me, so go somewhere else to play the game!”
Such a fake fallen game has been played repetitively in China, especially targeting at those luxurious vehicles with wealthy drivers. With the time going this game gradually went outdated. Then people created other ways to blackmail, sometime I have to admire their creativity.
In a supermarket just before Christmas (don’t ask me when Chinese started celebration of Christmas), a big sale attracted people forming a line in front of cashiers. A young lady accidentally hit an old lady standing behind her, and refused to apologize. That irritated the old lady’s daughter who happened to be in the same line, and these two young ladies started to quarrel, later the daughter intentionally hit another young lady. Surprisingly the young lady fell on the floor to reveal her pregnant belly. Moreover the pregnant lady bluffed to moan in “pain”, her family members were moving towards her in the crowd. Then drama got more complicated – the old lady and her daughter simultaneously fell on the floor, started twisting their bodies as if they were suffering unbearable pain.
The members from two families, who were still standing, were barking at each other, while people were collecting around to watch such a free drama. After half an hour, a security guard came to see whether those three women on the floor needed any help. After refusing the kindness of the guard, the three women remained laying there, frowning, twisting and moaning. The guard was confused and asked around, but nobody could explain the situation. Then the guard sent the ultimatum to those three women on the floor, “go to hospital or go to police station.”
The miracle happened immediately – three women stood up as fast as they fell down before. Later they told the guard that they disguised as “weak” in order to avoid being framed.
This story reflect a issue in the society – the lack of trust among people. The pregnant woman “fell” first in order to gain sympathy from the people around and probably some money from the lady who hit her, the old lady and her daughter “fell” later in order to escape from potential responsibilities for the “injured” pregnant woman by showing the people that they were hurt as well.
Avarice for monetary advantage drives people take big risk (such as “falling” in front of running vehicles), fear for responsibilities drives people hide their strength (such as “couldn’t get up from the floor).
Have you heard anything funnier than this kind of social phenomenon?
