is safety an issue?

I am taking a class on the history of Tokyo. One of the later books on the reading list is Murakami’s Underground, a collection of interviews from those involved in the sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway many years ago.

One of the the men interviewed described how the passengers on the subway reacted to the smell of the sarin. He told how it was obvious that everyone was in terrible discomfort, covering their noses and coughing in reaction to the unknown odor, but no one said anything. They endured silently, not wanting to call attention to themselves. He noted, it wouldn’t be like that in America. Everyone would be jumping up and complaining, “What is that horrible smell?” They would be opening windows and commiserating with each other. They would have caused a commotion.

From what I have read of the accounts so far, I would dare to venture that one of the main reasons response to the event came so slowly was exactly because of such a difference in reactions. The victims didn’t complain and didn’t hardly take notice of any one else around them; each thought they alone were coming down with a cold, or just feeling a little ill. Each thought it would be rude and disturbing to discuss their symptoms with each other and with the authorities.

Maybe America is a country of complainers, a country wherein people are not afraid to take problems big and small to the authorities. This, of course, has many downsides. But I’d like to think that if something fishy were going on, someone would step out of their own little space and do something about it. I know that’s not true in my neighborhood, however, since I climbed in my own window last night at 10pm and no one called the police.