The village goat goes hungry, because everyone expects someone to have fed it.
The bystander effect – a phenomenon in which people will take no action, when other people are available to take action.
This explains why the worst breaches of trust occur in plain view. Everyone knows, no one acts.
Why?
Everyone expects someone to act and no one acts, time passes, making the situation worse, and action becomes more risky as judgment will be more critical. Then a total collapse (or worse still, death) occurs.
Interestingly, if you ask each person that was a part of the bystander effect, they knew what to do and could do it, but they didn’t, because at the time, it was logical that someone else would do it.
If you are the village goat, cry out for help, before you die.
If you are the villager, feed the goat anyway. What’s the worst that can happen? A goat that is overcared for, is better than a dead malnourished goat.
– Osasu Oviawe