re: Ms St Students kicked out of Bar during Tornado? WTH?

People are psychologically trained to obey the rules and protect the castle in emergency situations. Let me give you a personal example.

Before an LSU football game a decade ago, Mrs. Pimp, who is tiny (super fit gym rat unlike her husband) and who has very low blood pressure , was struggling in the 98 degree heat. We sought shade under the shaded entrance of the LSU academic center (which can only be opened from the inside) because she was getting a little loopy. Her skin was weirdly hot to the touch. I made her guzzle water but after a few sips she started babbling and her eyes rolled back in her head and she passed out. It was scary as hell. We had three young children at the time. People around started screaming for a doctor .

Two feet away was the door to the life saving air conditioning and water fountain that we needed to help her. There were 4/5 student athletes girls watching all this from just a few feet away, so I knocked and said "please let us in my wife is in terrible shape she needs help". These were healthy, young, smart kids on maybe the soccer team or the swim team. They were two feet away from a very fit, unconscious woman lying on the concrete in my arms with everybody scrambling looking for help, and they would NOT open those doors. Against the rules, you see.

That folks, is human psychology in a nutshell. People value ORDER over all else, even in times of an emergency. And they look to their peers to reinforce that order. So it made sense to them to potentially let a woman die rather than open a door to help a woman who was in obvious need of medical need. Which is why we place such high value on heroic action-because it's atypical.

SMDH. Mrs Pimp almost died of heat stroke. But no rules were broken.