The Genovese case was certainly held up as a model for “everything wrong” with society at the time. But, as this article indicates, that storyline depended on a lot of dishonest reporting from the NYT. Kitty’s murder was a tragedy, of course, but the neighbors were not the problem. The perp was the problem. The NYT decided to overlook that. Nothing has changed.
for later
From the article:
‘but no one seems to care that had he not acted like a vicious thug, which no one disputes’
It appears the author has never heard of Lesley McSpadden. She says her son never harmed anyone, and at the time he was shot, MB was “running for his life”. In fact, McSpadden doesn’t even admit it was her son strong-arming the little convenience store clerk. She gives interviews, and is not challenged on these points/lies.
That right there is a big part of the problem. McSpadden kicked MB out of her/his home so her gangbanger ex-con boyfriend could live with her, and now she denies any aggression at all on the part of her late son. So no, not every one agrees that MB acted like a ‘vicious thug’. If they did, Fergusson wouldn’t be in the mess it’s in today.
I was young, when the Kitty Genovese incident took place, and lived in the NYC suburbs - this was a BIG story.
Obviously, the best thing would be for a female to be armed, but since that doesn’t always happen, I have hammered home the point, to my female relations; don’t yell ‘Help’, or ‘Police’. As loud, and as often as you can, yell ‘FIRE’. People are much more likely to take action, if they (literally) think that their own behind is about to be torched. Thank you.