Roving mobs -- they're real and they're not spectacular
Sometimes people -- and when I say people, of course what I really mean is Matt Drudge -- can get over the top about youth violence, especially when there's a racial spin, taking a string of less-than-remarkable episodes that don't have a lot to do wiith each other and making it look like "Days of Rage II.' Indeed, my friends over at Media Matters took Drudge to task today for once again stringing together headlines about racially changed youth incidents, but this one time I have to note that...
Roving mobs -- they're real and they're not spectacular
Sometimes people -- and when I say people, of course what I really mean is Matt Drudge -- can get over the top about youth violence, especially when there's a racial spin, taking a string of less-than-remarkable episodes that don't have a lot to do wiith each other and making it look like "Days of Rage II.' Indeed, my friends over at Media Matters took Drudge to task today for once again stringing together headlines about racially changed youth incidents, but this one time I have to note that...
a) These incidents -- while perhaps overhyped by Drudge in his usual fashion -- are still all too real.
b) and they're alarming, especially the ones I know the most about, here in Philadelphia. In fact, what I find truly appalling is that a horde of young people assaulting random, innocent people on Spring Garden Street probably wouldn't have even made the news had it not been the case that a current and a former Daily News staffer -- the latter broke her leg in the melee -- were caught up in it. You have to wonder -- how many other incidents like this are taking place that the police aren't bothering to tell us about?
I'll make the same point I've made about urban violence in Philadelphia in the past. Conservatives portray this strictly as a case of personal responsibility, of the perps and the parents who allegedly raised them. Liberals look toward societal causes -- lack of jobs, unequal schools, laws that make it easy to buy guns, etc. For some bizarre reason, this becomes an either/or debate.
But clearly, it's all these things.
Ultimately, people who think it's a good idea to rob and maim innocent people are the ones responsible for their irresponsible and thuggish actions, with -- in the case of the younger perps -- an assist from blase or outright bad parents (like the ones described in this other mob incident, involivng Philly kids in neighboring Upper Darby).
But why is it suddenly worse now? CBS News reported recently that the unemployment rate for kids 16-19 years old is a whopping 24 percent, while as recently as 2000 is was just 13 percent. Aren't you less likely to take part in a mob when you're busy flipping burgers or valet-parking cars in Center City, and why aren't policy makers taking aim at youth unemployment? So school's out, no one has a job but everyone has a cell phone and a Twitter or Facebook account, meaning dozens of bored teenagers can come together in a matter of minutes? That's a recipe for disaster.
It certainly was for Emily Guendelsberger, the fomer DN copy editor. now Philadelphia editor of The Onion's entertainment guide called the AV Club. She's in the hospital with that broken leg (get well soon) and you can follow her tweets about bad hospital breakfasts and morphine here. In fact, you can help Emily get well. You can donate money to pay for her medical care.
Why? Well, it turns out that The Onion/AV Club hired her as "a contractor," a fancy way of saying they don't provide health insurance. You know...that's the kind of 2011 corporate America bull(bleep) I've counted on The Onion to make fun of, not perpetrate. Their campaign to win a Pulitzer Prize just got a lot less funnier -- shame on them.
- That's journalism from the professional left. Sanctioned by the Pulitzer Committee and the esteemed Columbia School of Journalism. Attack another journalist for telling the truth while the "good guys" cover up and spin.
— tr88 
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- This comment has been deleted.— Murrayman
- Murray, how about just saying, I'm sorry, we have complete political control, trillions of dollars for programs and we were wrong? Most of us meant well, but we blew it. Or is that too much for you to do? Let them keep killing and maiming each other but for godssake, never admit you've failed. The proof is in. — tr88
- Excuses and rationalizations. Oh, it really wasn't so bad. Maybe you, Will Bunch, ought to get assaulted by such a mob. This is a major crisis. You have to fear to walk the streets in this city--because a mob might randomly attack you??? This is domestic terrorism.
What we need is the nice, pranksterish, just messin' around mob to attack a group that has concealed weapons. Bang. Ten or twelve of them shot in the face----and no more flash mobs.— barneygoogle - Murray, do us a favor and try one of your higher order solutions when you run into a flash mob. Let us know how it turns out. Then apologize for the perpatrators to show how enlightened you are.— RG
- "The brothers and sisters are running the city. Oh yes. The brothers and sisters are running the city. Running it! Don't let nobody fool you, we are in charge of the city of brotherly love. We are in charge! We are in charge!"— section117
- Roving Mobs - Behave Just Like Cockroaches
An Alternate Headline— Jacob - The problem is an unhealthy culture in the urban ghetto perpetuated by a bleeding-heart government.
STOP WRITING CHECKS TO THESE PEOPLE FOR EACH CHILD BORN. When they stop getting checks, the moms will stop having the kids or will make arrangements (i.e., demand marriage) with the fathers to stick around and support the kids.
Look at the out-of-wedlock birthrate in this country - 40% - and see how that correlates with the violence. Kids without dads; no one at home to monitor their activities, let alone teach them how to be civilized. The schools suck because the kids suck because the government enables them to suck.— MikeBrooks806 - Comment removed.
- I'm not sure why people are castigating Will. He's actually spot on, it's a combination of many factors.— Ron Paul 2012
- Our flash mobs are nothing compared to those in Greece.— RG
- These are not "mobs", they are riots. Groups of garbage banding together to inflict violence and theft amongst innocent people. It ruins this city. Eventually someone is goign to be carrying a gun and when these rioters go to attack, they are goign to get shot. And then parents are going to blame the city and police on everything, instead of blaming themselves and their kids.— Bruno Sammartino
- http://psychology.uwo.ca/faculty/rushtonpdfs/PPPL2.pdf
Dr. Arthur Jensen at UC Berkley estimates that racial differences in intelligence are 50 to 80% genetic. Blacks have for many years now scored on average between 15 to 18 points lower in IQ than whites and the number has not narrowed despite years of affirmative action...
Blacks also have higher testosterone levels than whites.
Less problem solving abilities and higher levels of aggressiveness explain the huge disparity in crime. No amount of social engineering, save racial separation,will solve this problem.— makucin
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