**Giveaway concluded, winner announcement here**

Giving away 2 GOG codes for The Samaritan Paradox

This is my third giveaway for this point & click adventure game and the topic is once more, "are you a Good Samaritan?"

To participate in the giveaway or just participate in the topic, please share a Good Samaritan story of yourself from real life.

-No rep or join date requirement, and please redeem the code for yourself.
-Giveaway closes in about a week.

As is common courtesy, I'll go ahead and share first:

Today, I went to spend one full day as a nurse at a paraplegic center. My intent was to check out if this could be a possible second career for me so it wasn't intended as a Good Samaritan deed. But since I didn't take any pay, the story kinda qualifies a little bit. Also, I actually helped with care taking etc and didn't just check out the pretty nurses (who outnumber the male nurse about 4:1 though) so don't even start about that!
I already had maximum respect for nurses but once you've experienced this noble line of work even for one single day, your respect will be solidified forever. Of course, one day is just a small glimpse but it gives you a fair idea nonetheless.

I got to work with tetraplegic patients and when I entered the patient room, I first felt strong pity but then I was surprised to see that everyone was just behaving normally, both the nurses -and- the patients. So I quickly adapted, leaving my pity (that no one wants anyway) at the door where it belongs. This is about rehab, you're there to help and the patients need to be in as good spirits as possible under the circumstances. Most of us think "I'd rather be dead than disabled like that" and I'm thinking the same so it is very humbling and impressive to see that these patients have not given up, life isn't over and they have goals that they work towards. It might be a small goal such as recovering enough that they can use a different less automated wheelchair. Even if those patients will be handicapped for the rest of their lives, they can optimize little things and make progress here and there, takes loads of therapy and not everyone can achieve the same amount but at that center, all patient are trying some form of rehab. So it's not a "graveyard for the living", constructive work is being done! I liked the atmosphere which was way more positive than I could ever have expected.

One young patient truly impressed me. He was in his early 20s and it's only 3 months after the accident that made him a tetraplegic. He had just bought a Playstation 4 shortly before the accident and now he can't even hold a controller. I had to hand feed him etc and he can't do much at all at the moment, only moves his lower arms a tiny bit. One day ago, I would not have known what to say to such a young person with such a predicament. But after the initial awkward first impression, I got to talk normally to all the patients and treat them like everyone else, except for the physical help of course.
When I mentioned that I was a fine art painter by trade and told him about the stuff I do, the young patient said that this inspires him and he'll go and attend painting therapy which is available at the same center. This was so great to hear, worth more than a million bucks.
He also said I was doing a great job and he didn't even realize I had never done this before. I usually don't care about compliments (or insults) at all but this caught me off guard because I felt clumsy and didn't think I was doing very good.

Anyway, even if it was only for one day I have learned a lot and feel very humbled yet satisfied with this day. An experience I'll not forget.

Not in, but thank you for making this giveaway and for posting such an inspirational story.

Not in, but thanks for the giveaway. I still am a good samaritan, much to my own dismay and disadvantage. Many people exploited me, others even harmed me (in real life). It is in someone's character built in, this trait. Even if someone tries to forcibly change his own self, he cannot rid of this trait.

A certain relative of mine is disabled (blind). But not fully, only with a large percentage. Spent years trying to get a paper deeming fully blind, so that can have maximum pays. When i escorted that person to a doctor for extra medical check ups ordered by state and law, was aware of things like light intensity, items and people, even details of people, around (limited sight). Yet while the doctor examined, that person spinned eyeballs like a casino roulette and claimed to see nothing, not even light. As a relative, i know too well that person feigned that, too, because it can ride a bicycle (and at summer does, too) and a plethora of other things i do not need to present. After the examination, even phoned other blind people and told them how to "feign" their OWN total blindness to the gullible docs, so they can get their own papers with a total percentage for maximum healthcare payouts. Because this person is meddled with political representation of this disability's department, along with other blind people all over the country. After done phoning and instructing others how to fake their disability percentage, shouted at me in the middle of the hospital and made a scene, because i had my sunglasses on the entire time and one doctor mistook me for a blind man too (i at summer always wore them), which that person saw too among other things and bothered to take offense, even though i had patiently escorted and helped out...

Another time, at that person's begging, i even escorted to to the capital to help with a major protest for all disabled people. I even risked getting beaten up by the police (some disabled nuzzlers wanted to rush into the parliament itself and police was forced to repel them) just so i could help those people (in the past i was a volunteer WITHOUT any gain or prospect of it thereoff). And that little scumbag put its secretary to camrecorder me on her mobile while escorting those sobs, uploaded the video online, even handed it to previous workplace of mine, suggesting to the director that i was disabled too and didn't need any money because the state gave me plenty (retarded disability), who after that saw fit to fire me and even insult me for tricking him by not mentioning in my curriculum vitae that i was disabled (when i wasn't).

That relative's of mine graces and damages doesn't end here, though, it has damaged me a lot in the past and in the present. Even though i ended ALL my associations with this org of those specific disabled people, afterwards, naturally, i still help out people in need, even if they feign it too, or not. Not only they have pride and arrogance, but they can be excellent deceivers, sh*theads and sh*thearts, even better than those who are well in health, who would faq you over just for the laughs when you actually go out of your ways, bothering yourself with trying to help those who actually not only they need it not, but con their own disability and its percentage.

I seriously wish for your efforts to be rewarded and that no idiot repay you off with nastiness for the good you did them. As a former friend of mine once told me; "No good deed is ever left unpunished". Alas for me, i cannot stop forcing myself doing good deeds, even at the expense of my own.

Nice giveaway and thanks for sharing the story, awalterj!
Not in, but +1

BUMP

You're welcome, btw long time no see around these here forums. Good to see you're still alive, one never knows what fates might befall those among us. Thanks for the in-depth post, you bring up a very interesting and complex problem that so far hasn't been mentioned even in the previous giveaways with the same topic, namely the matter of being played for a fool after a good deed.
Sometimes the risk is calculable and other times one has to make a leap of faith. Calculations can be wrong and faith can be lost so I can't blame you for having a somewhat negative outlook in that regard if you have been disappointed one time too many or too deeply.

Manipulation / exploitative behavior is to some degree inherent in all people from infant age on (crying loudly/making puppy eyes -> mother's attention) and I've yet to meet a single person who has completely done away with all exploitative behavior. We all do it, to varying degrees. It's a defense and coping mechanism that makes surviving in society easier. Since active aggression is shunned upon / penalized in modern society, passive aggressive behavior has filled the gap and most people aren't even aware of the fact that they're doing it. They would deny it even if you call them out on it sentence by sentence & analyzing their body language in detail. Funny thing is that the more one does away with manipulative passive aggressive behavior, the more one inevitably breaks social codes and norms and will appear lacking in "social adjustment", possibly weird and potentially insane. The interesting thing is that if one behaves in accordance with one's own true nature regardless of how odd it might appear, people often and surprisingly quickly adapt and accept your reality, if you're more genuinely convincing than the general reality everyone halfassedly and reluctantly agrees to adhere to.
Needless to say, this works much better if one's nature is benevolent and if one is at peace with it.
Funny thing is that what I described can also be seen as manipulation because it requires you to "reverse-manipulate" yourself and you'll end up positively manipulating other people (perfect for deescalation and breaking tension and suspicion) so perhaps we humans can't -not- manipulate and exploit but if it's for a genuinely good purpose with mutual benefit in mind then it's not a bad thing imho. Example: A real smile for the stressed cashier.

I do believe that some people are naturally more unlucky than others and you might be naturally unlucky, on the other hand I occasionally wonder if some of your misfortunes might be at least partially avoidable. Take this post of yours for example: If you had posted this as one of your threads, you'd probably get the usual heavy flak from people who can not (or will not) read between the lines, this time for "hating on the disabled". Meaning that due to your somewhat turbulent nature it's easy to take your posts out of context, mistaking your victim mentality for aggression.

From what I've seen, you're a good-hearted person who likes to cook and take in stray animals to care for but has a somewhat unfortunate proclivity for setting yourself up for being misunderstood in the worst possible ways by people who don't make the effort or aren't sensitive enough to understand that it's actions that make people good or bad and views/opinions are highly secondary and too dependent on concise wording (which is often a rather impossible task regardless of what wording one uses).

A relative of mine has lost most of his vision as a side effect of other grave health problems, listing all of which require a medical degree and a thick dictionary. He is primarily a coder but can't work at all anymore due to seeing everything in a massive blur even with glasses on. His other health issues are severe enough to put anyone out of order - completely. Yet the advanced and extensive healthcare system here for some reason does not recognize his afflictions (fibromyalgia, polyneuropathy and a bunch of other crap) as grounds for disability. He was even called a fake by one doctor. Yet I can tell you with no degree of uncertainty that my relative is not faking a single thing and others in his shoes would have committed suicide long ago - he is in constant pain all day long, every day. He is as mentally tough as the circumstances allow and the one person I respect more than anyone else I've known.

So you have simulants out there who get rewarded for faking and people who would deserve to get full disability checks and get none.
Can one blame your relative for pretending his partial disability is a full disability? I can't, because I'd most likely do the same in his shoes. As a partially disabled person, one is already at such a notable disadvantage compared to a healthy person that a little exploitation isn't all too elusive to understand. Who is to blame in the end? The doctors who can't see through it (pun intended), or the healthcare system? Or just the individual who exploits? Ultimately, public healthcare and support for the disabled are -imho- vital to any civilized society even if there is some unavoidable abuse of the system. Self interest is a stronger instinct than complete honesty, it can't be eliminated entirely. Gross abuse does happen and should be investigated first and foremost.

I have no mercy for completely healthy fakers and would see them punished to the full extent of the law provided it can be proved beyond doubt (!) that they're faking, as for partially disabled people who pretend to be fully disabled? I honestly don't know, I think that's a secondary issue that would already be mitigated if gross excess elsewhere can be reduced. I'd say let's not prioritize picking on the 2nd weakest of the weak when they are metagaming the system. Remember, such misfortune could befall you any day. All the paralyzed patients I tended to on my day as a nurse were victims of accidents.

This opinion is concerning healthcare, on other matters I'm less understanding but that's beyond this topic.

As for the patients I tended to at the paraplegic center, I can guarantee you that not a single person in there was faking. No one wants to lie in bed all day, unable to even pee yourself and having a catheter shoved up your urinal tract every 4 hours and a variety of very nasty and dangerous rashes developing on your skin due to the prolonged pressure of lying in bed for so long. One of the patients was missing one arm and couldn't move any of his other limbs and his skin was in a sorry condition all around. It took half an hour to dress one of his wounds with a vacuum bandage. Pretty damn sure he wasn't faking anything. Wouldn't wish this on anyone, not even the worst person alive. And yet, the guy had not given up yet. Broken in body but not defeated in spirit.
Of course, it's an extreme example and at that level of screwed people obviously have no need for fakery so it's different from your story. What I'm trying to say is it always depends on the situation.

When someone at the train station approaches me and does the "excuse me, I lost my wallet and I'm just short of 50 cents for my ride home" then that sets off all my warning signals. In such situations I instantly lose all respect for the person trying to scam me into a Good Samaritan deed because they're not even trying. I used to troll them back with stuff like "ok I'll give you 50 cents if you give me $1 " or by offering them 10'000 bucks of circus money in a fantasy currency (always carry some). Nowadays I just give them a friendly greeting and leave it at that, no need to troll anyone who did you no wrong. If they persist (rare) and I have time, I smile (maybe borderline psychotic grin) and look them in the eye and patiently listen to their "story" until they get awkwarded out.

Since I sometimes spend 3-4 hours painting at the same spot in public, I get to observe and witness a lot of interesting things and behaviors. I've also come across a full variety of tourist traps and scams on my travels. Some people are so pathologically good at lying that you can't possibly tell it from their face (even if the A.I. in Ex Machina claims otherwise, micro expressions blabla) but circumstantial clues combined with experience and - most importantly - common sense can quickly unmask most scams and manipulative attempts even without performing an elaborate "Turing test" on the suspect.
Everyone gets scammed here and then, it's just about entirely unavoidable but one gets better at detecting and countering scams the more one is exposed to it.

The sad thing is that one inevitably becomes more suspicious the more scams one encounters and one has to continuously fight back the suspicion to reasonable levels so as to not offend the occasional honest person. Thank you for your well wishes, I'm not running a high risk of being taken advantage of as I rarely ever commit to any sustained good deeds, I just help spontaneously a little bit here and there when it doesn't come at too high a cost. I don't overexert myself so much that I would get deeply hurt or even vengeful if it would turn out that I was being scammed. I can still level up my Samaritan side at a slow but fairly safe pace. One could say I'm generally playing it too safely whereas you sound like the kind of person who might overcommit and then gets hurt, please correct me if I'm wrong.

One typical example of a Good Samaritan deed I did a little while ago was this: I saw a young couple of foreign backpackers on the other side of the street. I don't know why exactly but I intuitively changed the side of the street to their side (via pedestrian stripes of course), perhaps in case they might need directions since they were on the outskirts of town. When I crossed them I saw that they were holding a hitchhiker sign and were obviously headed towards the nearby highway exit so there was nothing they would need from me. At that moment, a pair of gloves dropped from one of the backpacks to the street. They didn't notice but I saw it form the corner of my eye and quickly retrieved the gloves and shouted after them and gave them the gloves back. They were relieved, said thanks and we parted ways.

This tiny good deed didn't cost me anything and even if it would have been a hidden camera setup for lolz along the lines of Rémi Gaillard there was no risk for me in this situation. It's unlikely that they rigged the gloves to fall down and that they would use it as a trap to accuse me of trying to steal the gloves. Nothing in it for them if they pulled crap like that, plus this was in my neighborhood so no risk of having accomplices jump out of the bushes who would then try to extort money from me or some crap like that. I'd still help people abroad but I'm generally more on my guard when not in my peaceful neighborhood. I do check my kitchen and bathroom for ninjas though when I come home.

I'm glad to hear that you haven't given up on being a Good Samaritan and as I said I believe you are indeed a good person, but if you've made bad experiences how about starting over with small good deeds where you don't run a risk of regretting it. You're welcome, and you can always share a story of your own even if you're not in, just to spread the concept of Good Samaritanism :)

As my Good Samaritan deed of the day, I'm giving this giveaway a little bump :)


Still no participants and two codes on offer, completely free! All you must do is share a Good Samaritan story from your own life (winning chances right now = a whopping 100%).

If you like the classic VGA point & click adventure game format, The Samaritan Paradox is a real secret tip and most definitely worth playing for any fan of the genre.

Probably because your story is humbling :)

And I at least dislike sharing the type of personal details required. But this deserves participation, so let's see, and thinking on good deeds I actually had it "rubbed in my face" recently what a nice guy I supposedy am.

Colleague called me asking for help on how to retrieve a lost item left in public transport. That's because he's a more recent immigrant than me and doesn't speak the language. After a while talking about depots and Lost and Found contacts I realized he had just left the vehicle and so it would probably be passing near my home at any time. So I went off and after entering 4 vehicles, 5th was the charm. It had probably just passed when I got to the stop, hence I got it only on the way back. So 35min or so of time spent, and a very happy colleague whose bag containing a valuable (both monetarily and sentimentally) was safely handed over the following day.

Guess that counts? I don't know... It rather saddens me to think that the majority of people would not have done the same. Folks in the office seemed to think that would have been the case... knowing myself fairly well, and knowing I am nothing special, well... you get the point.

Which brings me to selective quotation :) Spot on on both counts, yet a question. Don't you find some people respond to the benevolent positive "manipulation" with even more suspicion? When that happens I tend to go personal but it usually doesn't work. Strangely enough on some occasions being aggressive is what de-escalates. In a kind of "Ah, you do care and are only human" sort of way.

Anyway, on your ethical question. I find the dividing line is in leadership. Manipulation is only ethically suspect if you actually interfere with the other individual's agency. Being an example is never manipulative since there is no coercion. Leading by example is the name of the game, at least as far as proper ethos is concerned.

That's even going away from a more radical point that dialogue is much less coercive than actual physical action, since I totally agree speech can be very dangerous, manipulative, and well... evil.

Thank you for participating! I understand that many people are reluctant to share personal information online (for various reasons) and I respect privacy so there is no coercion of any kind, sharing is on an entirely voluntary base.
Perhaps I've been desensitized to the notion of privacy because in my line of work I have no privacy whatsoever. When drawing or painting in public, people are going to hover over you and observe your every move - and since the triumph of digital photography, everyone and their grandma are now taking pictures of everything and everyone. If you're sitting on the street doing anything remotely unusual, people are going to shove their cameras in your face, often without asking for permission. There is an unwritten rule that one does not invade someone's immediate personal space even in public unless it's an emergency and in theory this unwritten rule is supposed to apply everywhere and anytime. In practice, it totally isn't. After more than a decade of experience, I could write a whole book about the topic with many interesting stories.

Regarding people calling you a "nice guy", sometimes it's meant as a genuine compliment and other times it translates to "you're a sucker" used by manipulative people to get you to do something for them. You seem a very perceptive person so I'm completely certain you can immediately tell the difference.

I think the notion of nice guy is being greatly misunderstood in society. Often, average people are constantly seeing assholes getting ahead in life and then blame their own lack of success on the fact that they are nice guys (or girls) and that this is not appreciated. By their employers/clients/colleagues/friends/romantic interests etc.
As a result, the label "nice guy" has greatly suffered and has been degraded to a tool for cheap solace and even worse, become a synonym for sucker as mentioned above. Consequently, average people are trying to transform themselves into bad boys/ bad girls in order to improve their station. That is extremely unfortunate because being a nice person is a goal everyone should be proud to aspire to. In reality, a large majority of people who think they are nice aren't actually nice, just passive. On the other hand, assholes are not primarily getting ahead because they're evil but because they're active.

I'm in complete awe of genuinely nice people (not the pretending ones who play nice for risk control), respect them highly even if they live in the dirt and aspire to become like them - in terms of being nice, not in terms of living in the dirt. On the other hand I have no respect for the bad boy/girl type regardless of how far up they manage to make it.

Perhaps good and evil are equal forces and I'm a fool who stubbornly tries to overvalue good over evil but regardless of what gets one further up the ladder, one thing is for sure: I only feel at peace when doing something good (or subjectively perceived as good) and I feel very poorly when I have to resort to the underhanded and bad - even if the latter should provide to be successful.
Meaning that I don't want to become good primarily for the sake of altruism but because I can't eradicate my consciousness if I do otherwise. Motive is not overly relevant though as long as the result is of sound nature.
Inner conflict arises when it comes to how to combat/punish evil - it seems rather impossible to effectively do that without resorting to some form of evil yourself.(extreme case in point: WW2) You did great, and didn't it also feel great? The satisfaction that a potential thief could have gotten from stealing the bag could not have been bigger than your satisfaction at successfully returning the bag to its owner. What you did was harder and more worthy.
Of course, one can occasionally encounter complete ingratitude so I -don't- make my happy feeling dependent on the reaction of the person I'm helping, I'm deriving the satisfaction from the act of kindness itself. That saves potential disappointment which is bound to happen at some point. Vulnerable people could get dissuaded from ever doing such an act of kindness again when met with ingratitude and since we all are vulnerable on some occasions, my strategy seems safer. The downside of my more neutral approach is that one won't be as alive as others and get less satisfaction from a good deed but if it also means that I'm far less likely to overreact or even commit a crime of passion, it's a price I'm willing to pay.
If one can get overly invested positively, one can -and will- get overly invested negatively, it's the universal cake and eat it rule.

Here's an example of how I avoid the feeling of being taken advantage of:

Last Saturday, the caretaker of my apartment building called me to ask if I can bring her cell phone charger to the hospital where she is currently staying due to ailments. She is in her mid 50s and generally not in great health so I occasionally help her out when I have time, plus I've known her for almost a decade and we're on good terms.
Since my work shift was cancelled that Saturday due to bad weather, I had time to bring her the phone charger but it's quite a trip and I don't entirely see having a charged cell phone with you as grounds for emergency when you're at the hospital anyway and can't take care of business related stuff anyway. She should have just given her business cell phone to her friend who is currently substituting for her as a caretaker.
She said that she would be happy to see me which I'm sure was part of the truth but it was obviously mostly about the phone charger, that was clear to me and I didn't mind at all. The hospital is in another part of town though and takes more than half an hour to get there. Fortunately, I had planned to visit a martial arts school in the approximate vicinity anyway on that day (I like to visit other schools from time to time so as to freshen the mind by learning new things and spar with people I don't already know).
By combining the Good Samaritan deed with my own plans, I could remove any sentiment of annoyance or inconvenience. After training, I was in a relaxed and happy mood and once at the hospital, I actually enjoyed talking to the lady. She offered me an iced tea and we sat on the balcony of the hospital with a grand view of the Swiss Alps. It didn't feel like doing a grunt work standard RPG Fed Ex quest so I didn't feel taken advantage of and the caretaker got her phone charger and was surely glad to break the monotony of her hospital stay with a visitor.

As mentioned earlier, mutual benefit is where it's at!

+1 and I will be entering the competition.

Not a fan of telling stories about my good deeds.
Don't know if I can qualify with this story but it is the story I want to share.

I lived at the parents at the time with my soon to be wife. I always wanted a cat at our home since our previous died long ago but parents were against it since they also took a heavy emotional hit when our previous cat died (Cat was at the age of 10).

To cut the story short I decided to save a kitten from the street at all costs and went all out war vs my parents.

The kitten lived in my room for more than a month (Litter box, games, food, ect...) before parents would acknowledge him.

It was all worth it though, I just couldn't leave this sick kitten at the street.

I have attached a picture of his fat self as of today :)

(Reply part 2, didn't fit into earlier post) :D

It's fine, really. Yes, I've observed that some people definitely respond to positive manipulation with suspicion, depends on a plethora of factors though.
Overall, I make much better experiences with positive manipulation rather than negative ones.
An example: I explained to a friend of mine how I've perfected the "harmless face" expression and how effective it is. This isn't evil underhanded manipulation or pretense, I'm simply aware of how a non-smiling face can allow people to project their own negativity into you and interpret you as being pissed, angry or in a generally bad mood. If you're gently smiling, you can prevent/eradicate a massive amount of such negative projection. It's not about forcing a fake grin, it's about relaxing inside first and then allowing that peaceful sentiment to show on the surface via your facial muscles.

My friend thinks my "harmless face" looks slightly psychopath-like and completely unpredictable but I told him that this is just his negative interpretation and that's it's not a facade and actually reflects the way I feel inside - he might be right to a certain degree because I sometimes feel amused in situations where one normally should feel worried or even threatened so a smile in those situations can certainly come across as very strange.

Sometimes, scary situations can have the result of amusing me due to the cynical irony of the situation and I can't help but smile or even laugh even if it's completely inappropriate. There was once instance in particular where I was in a hostile situation that I don't want to go into detail here and I had the biggest grin on my face because I had so far only seen this particular scene happen in movies so I thought it was strangely hilarious to be in the midst of it. Anyway, my smile (which was genuine) completely diffused a situation that could have ended in aggravated assault or murder (and frequently does) with me being the potential victim.
Healthy fear keeps a smart person from getting into such a situation in the first place but once you're already in that situation, a complete lack of fear can sometimes work in your favor.

Another time many years ago the same principle of non-aggressive manipulation came into practice, again with the risk or assault when I was surrounded by a group of aggressive youngsters of Balkan descent who didn't like that my colleague and I bumped into one of theirs instead of stepping aside to validate their macho turdness. My colleague had a broken leg and was walking on crutches so he couldn't have done much and we were outnumbered 5:2 but the situation wasn't as dangerous as one might think because the group had an obvious vertical hierarchy and once I threw the leader off his game by nicely asking him if he'd like to swim and pointing to the water below the bridge, he got so angry that he had to do the "hold me guys, otherwise I'm going rage mode" move that insecure bullies always do when they aren't quite so sure that you won't deck them before they can do the same. Like pack animals, they only prey on what they perceive as weak so they can often be manipulated.
So after the other guy got dragged back by his colleagues, my colleague wisely decided to pull me by the arm so that this retarded confrontation could be ended without violence. Most low-level confrontations are only posturing and end like this because both parties prefer not to get injured. The same can be observed in animal documentaries, most confrontations between wild animals end without violence when both parties feel that they risk injury even if one party has the clear advantage. In the wild, even a small injury can be a death sentence because animals can't go to the hospital. Humans who have hospitals are perhaps more stupid but deep down we still have that no-hospital-available instinct and by not showing fear even when outnumbered, you suggest to the other party that you might have something up your sleeve like a poisonous frog.

In other situations, one needs fear as a catalyst to get away a.s.a.p. and not having fear makes things worse. I learned this when I most stupidly messed with a whole rally of extreme nationalists in Tokyo who annoyed me because they were making loud and angry propaganda to which I had to listen while I was painting nearby. Once I was finished painting, instead of leaving the area I decided to tell them off and stuck around longer than I should have had I been less tired and thinking rationally. I got surrounded and two of them attacked me but no one got hurt in the end (one of the guy's cell phone got broken but that's his own fault). I gravely insulted them first but I didn't resort to violence, not even when two of them started physically attacking, I just kept verbally insulting. It was a very grotesque situation, I felt like in a zombie movie where you slowly but surely get overpowered by slow zombies who will eventually get you once you grow tired and fall asleep or fall down. It was very poor strategy, reckless and simply stupid on my part to offend a majority. Technically, their political rally was legal but they were completely out of line imho with their program which I couldn't understand in detail but they were ranting about how they wanted all foreigners gone, even tourists. That's what I took issue to, I can understand if they want no more US military bases on their land and such but to restrict tourism? That's just plain madness. My initial plan was to confront them via debate but I don't speak Japanese and it was 99% obvious they would not want to speak English with a foreigner demon so unfortunately, I resorted to verbal insult. Either way, I only interrupted their rally for a very short time and finally got pushed away by the zombie horde so in the end I achieved kinda nothing at all. But at least I tried. What Randle McMurphy said...
The whole scene just made me hungry so I let out my frustration on a bowl of beef over rice which didn't resist as much as those unfriendly extremists. (practically everyone else I met was friendly btw)

As for aggression de-escalating, yes that certainly works sometimes but even if it is successful it makes me feel like crap afterwards. I just don't enjoy being aggressive and can't easily get it off my mind when I behaved in a bad way. Haven't had any aggressive encounters in several years but I had a select few of them in earlier years, only rarely though.

On one occasion, I was riding my bicycle home and came across a large number of soccer fans on the way home from a game. Many of them were walking on the street, ignoring the simple concept that pedestrian sidewalks are for pedestrians and the street is for vehicles and that you use the pedestrian stripes if you want to cross the street. I didn't make those rules, that's how it is. Anyway, I almost drove into a pedestrian who was walking on the street so I told him calmly that the pedestrian stripes are only a couple feet away from his position. He got mad and grumbled "I'll smack you in da face".
I stopped, threw my bicycle on the ground and yelled at him "alright then, come at me!" Even though he was much bigger than me, my sudden aggression seemed to confuse him and he recoiled, stopped for a moment and then turned around and walked away without a word. If I was a member of a retarded macho "honor" culture I would see this as a "win" but I was disgusted by my own outburst of hostility and by the fact that I really meant what I said which makes things even worse. This is reckless dumb behavior as one can always lose and with all the witnesses around it was guaranteed that one would get into trouble with the authorities either way.
Nowadays, I don't treat a simple verbal threat as a threat unless there is compelling reason. The guy was obviously just frustrated, maybe his soccer team had lost and he didn't really have any intention of actually starting a real fight. Either way, I think both of us learned a valuable lesson. It takes continuous work -for everyone- to not to feel provoked and not to give in to aggression which is either an expression of fear or hate or both.

I think dialogue can not only be manipulative but it can be even way -more- manipulative than physical action.
I don't deal much with ethics at all, morals are what I'm concerned with because that's what I can directly and notably influence, ethics I can't.

Interesting point about leading not being manipulation because there is no coercion. I'm not sure I can agree, some of the most devious evil manipulation works without coercion after all.
Although it's a bit tricky to define coercion: Someone trying to rob a bank at gunpoint isn't technically using coercion in a physical way but I guess that topic could warrant a discussion of its own.

Thanks for entering and sharing a story! Doing what you did against your parent's authority doesn't sound like it was an easy thing to do but you did it nonetheless.

I used to not like sharing stories about good deeds because this isn't seen as modest but as I grow older, it's become way more important in my eyes to be thought of as honest. If the two conflict, I'll rather go with honesty at the expense of modesty. Diplomacy can -sometimes- overrule honesty in my book but modesty can't, I don't see modesty as a super high virtue and most often modesty is only social coercion and following Jante's Law anyway.

It's been a little over a week now so I'm gonna close this giveaway, congratulations to the two participants who win by default but also by merit since they both shared Good Samaritan stories:

Brasas: Checked 5 public transit vehicles to retrieve a bag a friend had lost. Well done!

:</span> Saved a kitten from the street and took care of it despite opposition from parents. Also added a [url=http://static02.gog.com/upload/forum/2015/05/e8166e85436688b979bdbca676164399b9ea34be.jpg]photo for evidence. Well done!

Gift codes for The Samaritan Paradox will be sent to your inboxes presently, thanks for participating and also thanks to the other posters who weren't in!

Some people change a lot as they grow older, other hardly change at all. I think I changed quite a bit between my early 30s and my mid 30s which I'm at now. Not in terms of base character but in terms of attitude, frame of mind, that kinda stuff.

We have conscription over here as well and I always made sure that my superiors knew when I did something bad, that way I could be 100% certain that they wouldn't recommend me for officer's school. I didn't mind being a simple little soldier doing my little part but I sure as hell didn't want to serve in any position with responsibility involving telling other people what to do. And they're always looking for suckers they can "convince" to enroll.

External recognition is fleeting but you'll always remember when you did something good and that certainly is more important so I agree on that.