OPINION: The World is More Selfish

Photo+Credit%3A+TIME

Photo Credit: TIME

Raquel Melendez, OwlFeed Opinion Reporter

Have we as a world become more selfish? From what I’ve seen, we have become more selfish or just generally not caring for others.

I believe that not caring for others and being selfish are somewhat on the same page, but one just sounds a little more harsh. 

I got this idea from when videos would come up on my YouTube recommendations of horrible attempted kidnappings in open public places and bystanders doing nothing but observing.

Of course, it could be the shock of what’s happening not allowing them to do anything, but I don’t think it would possibly hit everyone the same where no one could do anything. There have been some cases, the most recent one happened approximately two weeks ago. It just happens to be very similar to two other cases.

Elisa Lam, 21 years old, was found dead on February 1, 2013, while on a trip to the West Coast. Her parents mentioned that she made a promise to always check in with her parents every so often, so when she did not check in, that’s when they knew something was wrong.

After being reported missing by her parents on January 1, I don’t believe it’s possible that in a world full of technology, and everything being constantly recorded, that she disappeared in a hotel, with clips only hours before her disappearance being shown to the public. Then found in a large cistern atop of the same hotel. Although the cause of her death was an accidental drowning due to her Bipolar illness.

Kennika Jenkins, at 19 years old, died on September 10, 2017, also disappearing in a hotel, and being found in a freezer. “I pay her phone bill every month. I don’t understand why she would leave her phone with her friends and then just disappear,” her mom said. 

Again in a world full of things constantly being recorded, her cause of death being ruled as an accident, but in the few clips that were released to the public, also hours before her death, it appears like someone is leading her through the kitchen hotel, and she looks intoxicated.

Most recent one, that almost has the same exact pattern, a girl named Debhani Escobar, died at the age of 18, but in her case, her friends had left her alone at a nightclub, and the only thing that was seen before she went missing was a clip photo of her standing in front of the club she was left at, and found 13 days later dead, found in a hotel water tank.

How is it possible that three girls, with almost an identical story, no one being around them when they went missing, or everyone being affected by the bystander effect, no footage of how they died, all three found in something involving a hotel, and most hotels are covered with cameras, and still all of their deaths have been ruled as accidental. 

In a world full of technology and cameras, I don’t believe all these deaths don’t have some kind of footage, other than the footage that has been shown, or that no one saw one, and no one has said anything more than what is being shown. It seems people are caring less and less about others lives.