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I've been following a recent news story that gets worse every time I read an update. Here's a link:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/28/california.rape.investigation/index.html

The basic jist is that 15-year-old girl left the Homecoming dance at her Bay Area high school, and was led by a friend to a dark alley along one of the outer walls of the school. The girl was then raped repeatedly and brutally beaten by some 10 different people, while 10 other people watched. and took no action to stop it.

Alright. There are several different experts weighing in on this story, from law enforcement to mental health professionals, trying to explain what the FUCK must've gone through the heads of these people. I have read reports that witnesses left the scene to go tell other people what was going on, to attract them to the scene. If this isn't a textbook WTF!? case, then I don't know what it.

I don't live in Richmond, CA, and I don't know what the socio-economic situation is. I've never lived with the threat of gang violence or race-fueled hostility. I'm not in high school in 2009, and the high school that I attended was small and fairly close-knit. But I can't, even for a second, imagine being in that situation and not calling 911 within about five fucking nanoseconds. What possible circumstances could there be in which not calling for help was a better idea than doing so?

I've admitted on this very blog that I can be something of a shit-starter. I sometimes dramatize things that don't warrant it, sometimes I tell stories that aren't mine to tell, and sometimes I speak up when popular opinion would suggest that I keep my mouth shut. And, granted, these tendencies have gotten me in trouble a few times, and there are a lot of times when I wish I fit more easily into the quiet and neutral role that is more accepted. However, this awful news story is a great example of the idea that sometimes the world needs more wave-makers. Complex situations require someone who has the guts to speak up. The world has enough shrinking violets, and it's getting pretty tiresome to watch them be rewarded.