Having been forced by unrelated circumstances to be offline for a day, perhaps I have more perspective.
“Mass cowardice” was something I shouldn’t have said, because it implies everyone that ran or panicked is a coward. I regret the turn of phrase.
I’ve never been in a “hail of lead” as someone put it, so I don’t know what I’d do. If I ran for cover, I’d call that sensible. I don’t normally do what’s sensible. In the past I’ve always moved towards the danger or gone into medic mode.
If I harmed an innocent bystander out of fear or panic I would be extremely harsh to myself; some serious penance would be necessary, and I’d certainly call myself cowardly… I am not willing to change in this regard; I have a right to hold myself to standards I choose. But there is no reason the requirements I place on myself should be applicable to anyone else.
On something of a tangent, I was at a High School field hockey game last year when a fistfight developed into a young man producing a pistol. I observed that some people ran, some people froze, and some people went for the gunman. I don’t believe any of these people acted from rational consideration - charging a gunman isn’t something you ponder. It seems to me that this unreasoned behavior is an excellent group survival trait, far more likely to benefit the group than any more homogeneous response.
Thank you to all who’ve shared your own perspectives with me; this device makes it a bit difficult to parse you out by nym or I’d tag you here.
