In short: a British man who had been violently attacked in 2007 (bad enough that he gets flashbacks) discovered three criminals stealing his property. In the fight that ensued, he wholloped the bejeebers out of one of them… and he gets to spend the next 4 years in prison while the burglar goes free.

And on the other side:

Why did no one help him? Outrage as commuters stand back while man desperately tries to escape path of New York subway train

Some feller gets pushed onto the tracks in front of a New York City subway. More than a dozen people are very close by; none help the man as he tries to climb to safety. Fortunately, a  photographer is there on the scene… while he couldn’t be bothered to help the guy climb, he helped the guy attain immortality by taking pictures as he’s squished by the train.

What I take from these: high population densities lead to dehumanization of the populations. In the case of Britain, their legal system is set up apparently more to defend criminals from the civilians; I guess the reason must be that if the civvies were encouraged to defend themselves, they might be a bit harder to tax and control. In the case of New York City, the “bystander effect” seems to become magnified. With so many people mashed into so small a space, people seem to see other people not as people, but as – at best – entertaining hindrances.

High population densities may lead to the appearance of “civilization,” but that seems to be mostly via the collection of interesting stuff into a small easily accessible space. It seems to make the actual people there into assholes. And why wouldn’t it? People value those things that are rare and/or useful; when something is ever-present and more trouble than benefit, you get to dislike it. I like cats… but I’d bet that if I couldn’t step out of my home without a herd of cats ramming into me, picking my pocket and voting away my rights, my privacy and my stuff, my fondness for cats would fade.