Flash Mobs and race

[Archangel M]

If you have been following the trend, there seems to be an increase in "flash mob" incidents around the country. It has gotten so bad in Philadelphia that the mayor is imposing a curfew. Under it all simmers the issue of race. In these most recent incidents the mobs have been predominantly African-American.

The Philly Mayor Michael Nutter has recently come under the media spotlight for addressing the racial issue:

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Societ...mobs-black-mayor-takes-aim-at-black-community

In a combative speech on Sunday at Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Mayor Nutter said that young black men have to stop acting like "sperm donors" and "human ATMs." He admonished parents for failing to supervise and expect good behavior from their children. And he directly implicated habits and styles of some young black men in the city.

"If you walk into somebody's office with your hair uncombed and a pick in the back, and your shoes untied and your pants half-down, tattoos up and down your arms and on your neck, and you wonder why somebody won't hire you?" Nutter told the congregation "They don't hire you 'cause you look like you're crazy. You have damaged your own race."

"I am a proud black man in this country," Nutter said in a subsequent interview with the Associated Press. "It was a message that needed to be said. It needed to be said at this time . . . People have had enough of this nonsense, black and white."

Opinions?

 

[granfire]

I quiet don't see the connection.

What I have seen of flashmobs, I figured they were the thing of the nerdy white people...

But it really is a leap from being dorky (k, didn't see any phily flashmobs) to sperm donor/ATMs or somebody walking into a job interview as described.

Flash mobs are stupid...
but ??
I think somebody has to tell those young guys that drooping pants are not cool, sexy, whatever...

(still failing to see the connect...)


EDIT:
k, see it now.
but I suppose as black guy the mayor can tell them they are stupid.....

 

[Archangel M]

I quiet don't see the connection.

What I have seen of flashmobs, I figured they were the thing of the nerdy white people...

But it really is a leap from being dorky (k, didn't see any phily flashmobs) to sperm donor/ATMs or somebody walking into a job interview as described.

Flash mobs are stupid...
but ??
I think somebody has to tell those young guys that drooping pants are not cool, sexy, whatever...

(still failing to see the connect...)


EDIT:
k, see it now.
but I suppose as black guy the mayor can tell them they are stupid.....

These mobs are roaming the streets assaulting people...

 

[Archangel M]

but I suppose as black guy the mayor can tell them they are stupid.....

Theres a discussion to be had with that idea right there IMO....

 

[Sukerkin]

Well, it is one thing to try and tell a segment of your population to "shape up!" (and from the description boy do they need it); it is quite another to get them to do it. The root of lawlessness has had too many decades to burrow deep, shielded from weed-killer by too much pandering to political correctness and fertiliser given to all the wrong forms of 'growth'.

Some people have enough character to resist the trends and pressures of their environment, they are the ones that grow up to be productive members of their society and should be held up as role models to their communities - sadly, they seem to be the ones that are not respected and the villains (and lack-wits pretending to be villains) are the ones that are.

 

[SensibleManiac]

I think this speech is just a case of the mayor taking the easy way out and blaming hair and tattoos instead of looking at the environment which breeds this type of behaviour and the problems that ensue.

It's easy to blame hair and tattoos like it was easy to blame music for all of societies ills in the 80's.
The truth is that when education and the economy are in such bad shape the people will follow...

Maybe Nutter should get to work and stop passing the buck and looking for excuses.

 

[granfire]

These mobs are roaming the streets assaulting people...

I think it's racist that nothing was done sooner.

Theres a discussion to be had with that idea right there IMO....

let's discuss....should be fun because this would happen on the wafer thin ice of PCness this county runs on

Well, it is one thing to try and tell a segment of your population to "shape up!" (and from the description boy do they need it); it is quite another to get them to do it. The root of lawlessness has had too many decades to burrow deep, shielded from weed-killer by too much pandering to political correctness and fertiliser given to all the wrong forms of 'growth'.

Some people have enough character to resist the trends and pressures of their environment, they are the ones that grow up to be productive members of their society and should be held up as role models to their communities - sadly, they seem to be the ones that are not respected and the villains (and lack-wits pretending to be villains) are the ones that are.

man, when i grow up I want to be this smart ^_^

 

[SensibleManiac]

Some people have enough character to resist the trends and pressures of their environment,

What about working on that environment?
Isn't that what the mayor is paid to do?

I'm not saying that these people who are commiting these crimes should get a pass, throw them in jail definetely, but to make the larger problem go away, you'll need alot more than blame, you'll need to improve the conditions these people are growing up in.

 

[granfire]

What about working on that environment?
Isn't that what the mayor is paid to do?

I'm not saying that these people who are commiting these crimes should get a pass, throw them in jail definetely, but to make the larger problem go away, you'll need alot more than blame, you'll need to improve the conditions these people are growing up in.

well, true.
but:
that takes money
lots of it.
It takes a policy that prevents people from crying foul every time they are disciplined.

There is an element of guilt you can't ignore: We, as a whole have allowed thugs to become role models.
It's been longtime in the making, people who are excused for all their shortcomings, because they have one quality we like. Mostly in sport. Somehow there was this gangsta crap allowed to emerge...
You don't like the ball player who just beat up his pregnant GF? You must be racist.
You don't like 'musicians' rapping of murder and cop killing....yep, tight a** racist.

We have allowed to settle for a lowest common denominator.
No kid left behind? BS!
There is always somebody who gets screwed. under that program the smart kids are getting the shaft. The ones we need to further for the sake of the country and the world. Not the ball players, however amusing it might be. (Panem et circenses - keep'em entertained and fed, so they don't notice the screw job)

What was meant well - you know, not being allowed to put a person down because of what makes them different - has grown into some fantastic excesses....now you have to watch yourself even expressing that a person is not like you!

People are up in arms when dress codes are implemented in schools. They should be appalled that such is even needed! Rant against uniforms, when studies show the test scores go up when uniforms are worn...(not to mention if you flunk school, the Golden Arches has uniforms, too...even Walmart has a dress code/uniform!!)

Maybe it is no different from the 60s and 70s, I am sure similar things were uttered about the outward appearance if long haired people with their corduroy pants and hushpuppy shoes....

But somewhere there is that 'if you don't want to be treated like a <insert group of choice> don't act like one!' that eludes a lot of people.
No, I do not dislike you because you are green with purple polka dots, I hate you because you are a jerk....but that gets lost...you don't like me, you're a hatin....



NOW, where was I?
Oh, on my way for more coffee....

 

[Big Don]

These stupid things are more about youth screwing off than black people or white people, or those damn blue people screwing off

 

[Twin Fist]

no, this is about gangs of black kids going around with the sole intent and purpose of assaulting whites.

it isnt a freak occurance, it is happening A LOT, and it is deadly.

 

[MaxiMe]

It takes a policy that prevents people from crying foul every time they are disciplined.


NOW, where was I?
Oh, on my way for more coffee....

Isn't that what they mayor is doing?. I heard him on the news last week. I' don't careif your white ,black, blue, smerf or troll. A cerfue is a curfew. You violate and you get punished. Seem fair and reasonable to me.

Black no sugar for me please

 

[granfire]

Isn't that what they mayor is doing?. I heard him on the news last week. I' don't careif your white ,black, blue, smerf or troll. A cerfue is a curfew. You violate and you get punished. Seem fair and reasonable to me.

Black no sugar for me please

Ah, was busy, didn't catch Philly news...
But it's certainly how it ought to be.


Hope you don't mind it's just Maxwel House...

 

[granfire]

These stupid things are more about youth screwing off than black people or white people, or those damn blue people screwing off

Smurfs?
Or Navi?

 

[Archangel M]

Isn't that what they mayor is doing?. I heard him on the news last week. I' don't careif your white ,black, blue, smerf or troll. A cerfue is a curfew. You violate and you get punished. Seem fair and reasonable to me.

Black no sugar for me please

In theory.

But in practice what areas of the City do you think are getting the bulk of enforcement and what group of people are going to claim that they are being racially targeted? Community leaders (in that article) are already complaining..as a matter of fact the ACLU is filing suit.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Societ...k-mayor-takes-aim-at-black-community/(page)/2

Some point to Nutter's curfew and aggressive "stop-and-frisk" policy as evidence of a growing gap between poor and middle-class blacks that has been exacerbated by the poor economy. A federal lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in November, alleging that the searches, which Nutter began when he came into office, were violating the rights of blacks and Latinos who had done nothing wrong.

 

[seasoned]

It stems from a huge lack of respect for yourself, and all sorts of authority. It starts at home at a very young age and carries into adulthood. It's the attitude that "you owe me something".
I have a part time job that puts me in contact with many young people that lack the discipline and respect to even dress appropriately to appear in a court of law.
It bridges all races and genders.

 

[Twin Fist]

but these roving bands of youths assaulting people DONT bridge all races and genders

and THAT is what we are talking about, roving groups of black people grabbing whites and only whites and trying to murder them

 

[granfire]

It stems from a huge lack of respect for yourself, and all sorts of authority. It starts at home at a very young age and carries into adulthood. It's the attitude that "you owe me something".
I have a part time job that puts me in contact with many young people that lack the discipline and respect to even dress appropriately to appear in a court of law.
It bridges all races and genders.

Excellent point.
Barney aid we was spechul!
(that other Barney would have known to nip it...in the butt!)

 

[granfire]

but these roving bands of youths assaulting people DONT bridge all races and genders

and THAT is what we are talking about, roving groups of black people grabbing whites and only whites and trying to murder them

You are being phobic.

being jerks is not unique to a race ore one locale...
but I do dare venture a guess most suffer from too much testosterone....

 

[Archangel M]

This is the latest incident to hit the news and what put the idea for this post into my mind:

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Societ...ryland-police-investigate-store-robbery-VIDEO

Possibly three dozen people walked into a Maryland 7-11 convenience store early last Saturday morning and walked out with candy, drinks, and other snacks in what appears to be another instance of a flash mob robbery.

While not a "riot" per se. It's another example of this spreading trend.

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