It has nothing to do whether or not the said riots resulted from a good thing or a bad thing (the lakers win or the King verdict) people in large crowds feel more insulated by the others around them, and will attempt to get away with more. Its that simple. All you need to commit a crime is willingness and opportunity. People have the willingness, the crowds give them the opportunity.
For the record, I have stopped trying to understand the actions of other individuals. I have accepted that someone will commit any action which is physically possible to do regardless of the moral or ethical implications.
So showing a crowd of people a basketball game is now an incitement to riot? On the planet I come from, people have free will, and if they were to riot after being shown a basketball game, all blame would be borne by the rioters. This further proves my personal theory that LA is really another planet.
Let me also add that I have never been happier than now to not be a police officer. Apparently, no matter what they do, they’re fucked. As if their job isn’t already hard enough.
And juniper, I think the people here would know what they are thinking without you having to tell them. Somehow I’m more willing to believe them about their own thoughts more than you.
.>>>>>> These are the same police forces that a) kill and beat the crap out of people routinely, including Rodney King and b) killed the dangerous Amadou Diallo, who was armed with a deadly wallet. <<<<<<<<<
Thanks,juniper,for telling us what we are thinking!! I guess OJ Simpson was really innocent too,huh!? Lets stop “playing the race card”.Especially before it is even mentioned in a thread!!
It’s all a big conspiracy by the mann to keep you down!!
I’ve changed my mind. Juniper’s right, as long as I’m part of a faceless crowd, I’m not responsible for my actions. When the Rams won the Superbowl, I fought the urge to run through the streets setting fire to news vans and busting through windows to get that new Veg-a-Matic I’ve been lusting for, but no longer! I see now that winning a championship is a perfectly good reason for chaotic destruction.
But why should I stop there? From now on, whenever the Cardinals win a baseball game, I’ll toss a Molotov cocktail into a passing car.
Anytime a Kurt Warner completes a TD pass, I’ll randomly punch the nearest person, cuz that’s the proper way to celebrate - random violence, destruction, and anarchy!
Thank you for opening my eyes, juniper, especially for letting me know what I was thinking, I was very confused until you pointed that out to me.
Ah - here it is - I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now.
You ready?
:wally
Ah, that felt good. I’ll use any excuse to slip that smiley in!
No BratMan, you completely misunderstood. You’re only allowed to riot when The Man wants you to. Of course, since none of us have juniper’s ability to see through the intricate conspiracies of The Man, it’s gonna be mighty hard for us to figure out when it’s a legitimate conspiracy that negates our responsibility for our own actions and when we’re just feeling violent. I wonder whether it’s excusable if you really think that it’s a conspiracy. Of course, juniper is the only one that really knows what you’re thinking, so you’ll still have to ask.
I said PEOPLE! People in general! Not “all of you visitors to chat boards that cater to inquisitive minds.” I’m talking about people without two brain cells to rub together, who believe that what they hear and see on television is always true. L.A. comes under more scrutiny from the outside world because of its racial and economic mix. If that’s the race card, so be it.
Hey Rich, if you could interpret irony, you’d notice that I said O.J. was a guilty man. For the record, I do not want to be marked an O.J.-lover. My conscience is unclean enough as it is.
I am now changing my user name and disappearing without a trace. I didn’t know we were all supposed to agree on these boards. Sheesh.
Just because we don’t agree with you here (OK, and we’re openly mocking you, as well) doesn’t mean you need to disappear. We’re not all supposed to agree, but when you stick your foot in your mouth as badly as you did there, expect no mercy. Very few people carry grudges here, and if they do, they’ll just ignore you. But open, and often ascerbic, discussion is what the SDMB is all about. Stick around, but do try to develop a thick skin, it helps.
I think all the burning and looting was out of hand, but I’m glad that people didn’t get killed.
It seems like whenever there is a huge crowd like this there is a potential for a riot, maybe its human nature.
I’ve seen worse though… and hopefully nothing like that will happen again.
I was so happy that the Lakers won though… it must have been electric! wooohooo!!
Juniper, you’re not supposed to agree, but you are supposed to make sense.
Without evidence, you converted the theme of Johnny L.A.'s thread into a racial one.
At the same time you pointed out (as did others) that these type of victory riots have occurred in many other cities, you created a conspiracy theory that this riot was created/allowed to happen by L.A. authorities in order to get more funds to run the Democratic convention. Not only is this silly on its face, it falls flat after half a second of analysis. One word: lawsuits. You betcha that the lawyers for the car dealerships, etc., are at this moment drafting complaints against the city of L.A. for its failure to adequately prepare for and prevent the riot. Between legal fees and damages, L.A. is likely going to lose more than $4 million.
As for your defense that you were talking about the allegedly racist conclusions those dim-witted clods who haven’t discovered the glory of SDMB will take from the riots, it was (a) a lie (YOU raised race in this discussion as an attack on your (incorrect) impression from the posts on this board), and (b) even if true, irrelevant. Here, you are talking to those “visitors to chat boards that cater to inquisitive minds.” So talk to them.
BTW, I have no comment whatsoever on whether the members of this MB are smarter or dumber than the average bear. MUCH evidence on both sides of the argument.
from Johnny LA:
[Q]“Nest time, Ima git me a new TEEvee!”[/Q]
-and, later-
[Q]I had no idea what “race” or financial strata the hooligans belonged to. [/Q]
I suggest that you had some idea (or at least a belief) of the race of the hooligans.
A coupla points: as stated above, this sort of rioting has nothing to do with race or financial strata. It has to do with the age and maturity level of the participants, who were largely young males. Thus, it can happen in poor African American communities or along fraternity row. It’s a sports thing that happens in big cities and college towns.
I’m sure it’s tough for the LAPD to decide how rapid and severe a show of force is required. Part of the problem is that, if they had begun cracking heads when the first fires appeared they would have been criticized (remember, at this point nothing was burning except trash).
The LAPD has created some of their own problems. Their reputation as an overly militaristic force, more than willing to frame and mistreat minorities, has been earned. It’s like Ted Kennedy at the Clarence Thomas hearings, your reputation precludes meaningful participation.
My biggest problem is that this will be used as additional fodder for the convention planners, an excuse to banish all protesters to some “designated free speech zone” like, say, Oxnard…
It’s difficult to type accents. Think of the stupid lion that Bugs Bunny hits over the head. (“How many lumps ya want, doc?” “Oh, three or four…”) Reading it again with the latest comments in mind, I can see how people would be confused. Of course, “nest” was supposed to be “next”. I’m not the world’s best typist.
The truth is, I have yet to see any of the riot footage. I listen to the news as I am at my computer. The only time I’ll turn around is if there’s something aircraft-related.
In Johnny LA’s defense, I have many white relatives in Kentucky, and their accents can easily be spelled in the same way. It’s quite natural in places to use a thick redneck country accent to imply stupidity – just think Cletus the slack-jawed yokel from the Simpsoms.
It’s not like we’re gonna jump you every time you post just cuz we didn’t agree with what you said here. Personally, I just like going off on sarcastic rants, don’t take it personally. Just cuz we don’t agree in this thread, we may in another.
Well, I guess this is gonna be unpopular with the cop-haters, but I thought “ONLY 11 arrests?” Jesus, if people are throwing crap and breaking crap and burning crap, you have my mandate as a public citizen to start cracking heads. Arrest them. Make sure they are banned from attendance at any and all sporting events at your city (okay, hard to enforce, but it’s a nice token gesture). Let people know there are negative consequences for mindless violence. Fine them huge, and make them pay restitution.
If they do it in all the big cities, why weren’t there riots when the Yankees have won 3 of the last 4 World series?
Because that was expected? The Rangers won in '94 for the first time in 54 years, and all that happened was 33rd St. became knee deep in litter, beer cups, etc. Property damage: 1 broken window someone bumped into in the crowd. In Vancouver that night, the Canucks fans rioted when they lost.
The NFL is no longer in LA because they seem to like the sport of rioting more than football.
That’s because we New Yorkers are properly-raised ladies and gentlemen, not crazy hooligans like the citizens of Chicago and L.A. and Vancouver.
To defend Juniper, I wanna point out that my last contribution to this thread contained the words “urban unrest,” which HAS become a widely-used code word for “The Negroes are getting out of hand.” In the same way that “My esteemed colleague from NEW YORK CITY,” when issuing from the mouths of country-club Republicans, means “that nickel-rubbing, pickle-eating, Christ-killing sheeney.”
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I just don’t understand the policing problems of large US cities. Ya’ll don’t have a roit squad, swat team, national guard. Bust some heads, tie 'em up, and throw them in jail for a couple of week to “cool off.”
And there is no way this could be construed as a race-police problem. If I’m breaking stuff, setting fire to stuff, tipping police cars (public property) I deserve to get an ass whipping.
That’s got to be the first time I’ve EVER heard someone defend NY’rs as being proper. As a born-and-raised denizen of the very nearby 'burbs, I must protest. If I may quote the illustrious George Carlin:
“The West Coast experience is soft and peripheral, New York is hard and concentrated. California is a small woman saying, ‘Fuck me.’ New York is a large man saying, ‘Fuck you!’ . . .
New York has energy, and all I can say is this: If you can’t handle it, stay the fuck out. Living in New York is a a character-builder; you must know where you are going, and how to get there. No bullshit tolerated! New York people are tough and resilient. All the rest of you are varying degrees of soft.
Most outsiders can’t handle New York, so they wind up back in Big Loins, Arkansas, badmouthing The City for the rest of their lives. Actually, most of the people who run New York down have never been there. And if they ever went, we would destroy them in nine minutes . . .”
Nope. No danger of rioting happening there.
Actually, upon re-reading your post, I concede you may have been indulging in sarcasm. But I typed all this, it stays.
