"Flash Mobs" causing havoc in Phily

[d1jinx]

So the latest craze is the kids are texting and using myspace/facebook to organize large crowds to meet and cause havok in Phily. Seems a large group (100 or so) gets together and starts riots and fights and just tear crap up all over center city and south street..

The police are trying to crack down. stepping up the numbers on the street.

And we thought we were big stuff when we had a group of 20 or so running through downtown....

Technology.... wow.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/crime&id=7319694

 

[Cryozombie]

****ing kids. I was planning on doing somthing like this this summer, and trying to get a flash mob of bikers to show up at a local drive in, but not to cause trouble... just to see if I could get a bunch of bikers to show up, hang out and start an impromptu bike rally. Seeing this makes me think its a bad idea.

 

[MJS]

Sounds like a bunch of punks, with no parental supervision and nothing better to do. Serves them right....crack down, and lock them up. If we're lucky, there will be a few, who have the light bulb go off in their head, and realize that doing stuff like this, will only land them in jail.

 

[crushing]

PA law enforcement certainly doesn't need that extra workload when there are more important things to do, like bust retaurants for serving unlicensed beer and licensed beer that appears to be unlicensed due to Liquor Control Board clerical errors and labeling differences.

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/loc...gallons_seized_after__citizen_complaint_.html

The alleged offense: Although the bar owners had bought the beer legally from licensed Pennsylvania distributors and had paid all the necessary taxes, the police claimed that nobody had registered the precise names of the beers with the state Liquor Control Board - a process that requires the brewers or their importers to pay a $75 registration fee for each product they want to sell in Pennsylvania.

 

[d1jinx]

what a bunch of ****. Register each beer???????

you know phily just past a soda tax. http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/030410-what-drinks-will-philly-tax

Thats right..... $.02 per ounce. So you 120 oz Big gulp from 7-11 cost .60 cents more. Thanks Mayor Nose.... errrr Nutter.

 

[grydth]

This was a harmless craze when it came through here around Christmas.... a batch of people got together and did some dance in the Mall Food Court.

Now, of course, it morphs into something more sinister..... as usual...

 

[Steve]

This was a harmless craze when it came through here around Christmas.... a batch of people got together and did some dance in the Mall Food Court.

Now, of course, it morphs into something more sinister..... as usual...

I think, as with most things, be they video games, myspace, flash mobs or just about anything else, there are people who use them to do some pretty cool stuff and people who will use them to do things that are not so cool. I think the danger is in believing that Flash Mobs (or anything else) are anything more than a means of communication. How it's used has to do with people. It's just people talking to each other and deciding to participate as a group in some activity. It reminds me of the punks in Repo Man saying to each other, "Hey man. Let's go do some crimes." If that's what they want to do, they'll figure out a way to do it. But "flash mobs" aren't to blame.

 

[Ken Morgan]

Wouldn't surprise me if 90% of these kids are just doing it for harmless fun, and unbeknownst to them, the other 10% is using them as cover to cause some serious damage, for fun or purpose.

 

[grydth]

I think, as with most things, be they video games, myspace, flash mobs or just about anything else, there are people who use them to do some pretty cool stuff and people who will use them to do things that are not so cool. I think the danger is in believing that Flash Mobs (or anything else) are anything more than a means of communication. How it's used has to do with people. It's just people talking to each other and deciding to participate as a group in some activity. It reminds me of the punks in Repo Man saying to each other, "Hey man. Let's go do some crimes." If that's what they want to do, they'll figure out a way to do it. But "flash mobs" aren't to blame.

23 arrests out of 1 incident is something serious, especially when there are repeated incidents and serious injury.

As I said originally, there was a flash mob here around Christmas, it was only a dance thing and everyone had fun.....

It is the "some activity" which is dispositive....When it morphs from flash dance to flash riot, there is indeed cause for concern and for police action. There's all the difference in the world behind a fun assembly and a criminal conspiracy. When dealing with the latter, a flash mob has no more legitimacy or legality than any other mob or riot.

 

[Steve]

23 arrests out of 1 incident is something serious, especially when there are repeated incidents and serious injury.

As I said originally, there was a flash mob here around Christmas, it was only a dance thing and everyone had fun.....

It is the "some activity" which is dispositive....When it morphs from flash dance to flash riot, there is indeed cause for concern and for police action. There's all the difference in the world behind a fun assembly and a criminal conspiracy. When dealing with the latter, a flash mob has no more legitimacy or legality than any other mob or riot.

I don't think we disagree. I was only adding my point, which is that flash mobs are not to blame. It's just a mode of communication among many.

 

[d1jinx]

what a bunch of ****. Register each beer???????

you know phily just past a soda tax. http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/030410-what-drinks-will-philly-tax

Thats right..... $.02 per ounce. So you 120 oz Big gulp from 7-11 cost .60 cents more. Thanks Mayor Nose.... errrr Nutter.

OOPS.... wrong math, I ment $2.40 more for a 120 oz Big Gulp. Brain fart.

 

[Marginal]

OOPS.... wrong math, I ment $2.40 more for a 120 oz Big Gulp. Brain fart.

On the bright side, that discourages pancreatic cancer.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100208091924.htm

 

[JWLuiza]

I read it as flesh mobs....

They've had some great harmless flash mobs. Bad kids will be bad kids, no matter their expression.