Wisconsin State Fair Mob Attack

[Chen019]

Any dopers at the Fair?

Unprecedented violence on the opening night of the Wisconsin State Fair by rampaging youths prompted extraordinary measures Friday: The head of the fair implemented new rules to keep unattended teens off the grounds at night and Gov. Scott Walker ordered the State Patrol to help keep order.

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/06/382...th-policy.html

[A Monkey With a Gun]

Holy Crap. This seems to be racially motivated, too. But things like this don't develop in a vacuum, so any idea on what the racial situation was like that led up to this?

[Serenata67]

There are a lot of racial tensions in the greater Milwaukee area. Gentrification, especially, is displacing a lot of lower income people (who are, well, usually Black, Latino, etc.). A lot of people are blaming others on both sides of everything.

Now, I don't know the details of this particular riot, but I know that is part of what is going on in Milwaukee.

[Harmonious Discord]

The neighborhood around the state fair grounds has nasty shit go down. The fact it ended up in the fair wasn't a surprise when I heard about it.

[lavenderviolet]

There was a similar incident at the Iowa State Fair last year where a group of young black people were attacking white fairgoers, so I don't think this issue is just about Milwaukee.
There is some speculation that facebook has been involved in planning these mob attacks though I don't know if that's been confirmed.

I think this columnist makes an interesting point: "I believe some young blacks act out in public because they know how frightening black people appear to some whites and it gives them a sense of power. That's not an excuse for the behavior, but it's a very real component."

I think another issue is that some people tend to excuse racism directed at white people because they figure white people have all the power in the society so it's harmless for minorities to hate white people (or maybe they even think that it "makes up" for white people's injustices in the past). In addition to the harm these attacks do to individual people, it will hurt the communities these incidents take place in if white people don't feel safe there and white flight spreads. People need to take racism seriously no matter which direction it comes from.

[Broomstick]

I can't help but think extremely high unemployment among young urban black men isn't helping this at all - if you have a neighborhood where 50% of the young men are unemployed (and they do exist, mostly in urban, minority neighborhood) there is a definite tendency for mobs and violence to occur. Young men with steady jobs are far less inclined to riot, regardless of their ethnicity.

[The Devil's Grandmother]

Originally Posted by lavenderviolet

There is some speculation that facebook has been involved in planning these mob attacks though I don't know if that's been confirmed.

Interesting. Someone in the thread about the London riots said something similar about using social media to create mobs. Have you seen any confirmation?

[Broomstick]

Depends on what you mean by "confirmation" - there's a lot of claim by authorities lately that social media/cell phones are being used in such a manner, from Milwaukee to Chicago to Greenboro, NC to London. Either all those police departments decided to blame recent unrest on social media, or there might be some actual substance to the notion.

And make no mistake - mob violence isn't limited to just the Wisconsin State Fair. Here is a website listing mob incidents in the US so far this year, complete with links to sources. The author does state he doesn't know "any more than you do" that social media is being used for these, but it does come up over and over again in the source links.

[The Devil's Grandmother]

Originally Posted by Broomstick

And make no mistake - mob violence isn't limited to just the Wisconsin State Fair. Here is a website listing mob incidents in the US so far this year, complete with links to sources. The author does state he doesn't know "any more than you do" that social media is being used for these, but it does come up over and over again in the source links.

Thanks for the good link. It's a little scary to me that several these happend in San Francisco, and this is the first I've heard of it.

[Spit]

Originally Posted by Broomstick

And make no mistake - mob violence isn't limited to just the Wisconsin State Fair. Here is a website listing mob incidents in the US so far this year, complete with links to sources. The author does state he doesn't know "any more than you do" that social media is being used for these, but it does come up over and over again in the source links.

Have you been through these? Any common denominators? I don't have time to really dig into them, but it seems like a range of ages, both men & women. I will have to check it out later.

[Broomstick]

Nope, have not analyzed them in depth, don't really have the time, but if someone else does they are welcome to take on the task.

[control-z]

If all this is being coordinated by social media then you can see why authorities Libya or Egypt tried shutting down the networks.

And this doesn't get reported in the national media. Instead we hear about Casey Anthony or the British royalty or the missing girl of the week. The breakdown of law and order is BIG news to me. Maybe they think reporting it could lead to copycat riots? They have no problem reporting on the London riots though.

[the lone cashew]

Okay. Not this time. I am not going to fall for this, sitting through some video and at the end someone tipping over a trash can or something.

[Spit]

Originally Posted by the lone cashew

Okay. Not this time. I am not going to fall for this, sitting through some video and at the end someone tipping over a trash can or something.

Yeah, the video is the same grainy cell footage that has been widely circulated, but the timeline at the bottom of the article was pretty nice.

[filmore]

I'm sure social media is used in these mob events, but I think it's a more casual than calculated use. I mean, you may have people boasting ahead of time in Twitter and FB things like "We're going to mess with some people at the fair." Or making updates about what is going on. Just normal use of the social media like that. I doubt people are setting up FB pages like "Join us on Aug 6th at 8 pm to cause trouble" and planning strategies.

[Harmonious Discord]

Originally Posted by filmore

I'm sure social media is used in these mob events, but I think it's a more casual than calculated use. I mean, you may have people boasting ahead of time in Twitter and FB things like "We're going to mess with some people at the fair." Or making updates about what is going on. Just normal use of the social media like that. I doubt people are setting up FB pages like "Join us on Aug 6th at 8 pm to cause trouble" and planning strategies.

Will serve pie.

[Moonlitherial]

I thought the dark side had cookies?