# Shopping mall riots **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 28, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393 "2014-12-28T23:40:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/21 "2014-12-29T07:43:55Z")
[In case anyone didn’t know, “White Girl Bleed A Lot” is full of shit and should be mocked more often.](http://www.salon.com/2012/08/13/why_conservatives_obsess_over_flash_mobs_and_race_riots/) ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/22 "2014-12-29T12:38:10Z")
I agree it’s not a new phenomenon. Why there’s an uptick just now of specifically black teens fighting and rioting in malls may be a combination of: 1: A trickle-down effect from the recent protests and riots in response to police violence. 2: Malls because, it’s winter and cold in many regions. Malls are warm places to congregate and hang out. 3: Social media - just about every teenager has a cell phone now. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/23 "2014-12-29T13:15:33Z")
The “riots” in the UK of 2011 were quite similar to those decribed in this thread. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011\_England\_riots](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_England_riots) ---
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/24 "2014-12-29T14:01:56Z")
You can add a brawl in Chicago that occurred at what is known as the Rock and Roll McDonalds last night. The suspects? No surprises here. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/25 "2014-12-29T14:48:14Z")
Yeah, this is not really “new”, it had been quiet a while on that front but seems to be cycling to a new spike. FWIW I’d also wonder about the penomenon of becoming aware and reporting as a coherent phenomenon, what had been previously viewed in isolation. Meaning: _maybe the uptick had already been going on a while_ but it would have been one “mall riot” in City X, State A, that’s their local news, hardly reported elsewhere; one “mall brawl” in Suburb Y, State B, that’s their local news, mostly ignored elsewhere; one teen mob vandalism/theft spree in Town Z, State C, that’s their local news, hardly reported elsewhere; rinse, repeat – until at some point \*someone \*is looking up reports of rioting in general and right there pops up evidence of a cluster of “mall riots”, and \*now \*it’s sudden and unexpected. The way the Mall replaced the urban public square or shopping district as “place to gather” does make this sort of activity trickier to manage in that the enclosed, compact, customer-friendly nature of the Mall may actually help the disorderly. Unlike downtown, where innocent bystanders or the weaker of the confronted factions can just scatter and run in all directions, or the police can just drive right up to where the problem is and sweep the street, at the Mall you’re likely to be several hundred feet down a hallway from the nearest door to the parking lot. > [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Nashville had one, at the Opry Mills Mall. > Local news calls it a “fight”–with more than 150 teens. > This, my children is called a “riot”. Maybe they’re just tring to project the image that they’re tough. _“A hundred fifty people? That’s nuthin’. Ya should have seen the one when your mother and I were in high school.”_ ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/26 "2014-12-29T15:15:23Z")
Reason 142 why I shop Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/27 "2014-12-29T15:48:05Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Reason 142 why I shop Amazon. And please shop Prime ------- I need the work. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/28 "2014-12-29T23:18:04Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > One of my favorite malls was bulldozed because of teens fighting. When not fighting the kids would walk 6 abreast so you couldn’t walk around them. It was a great mall. The kids got there via metro buses. not satisfied with destroying a great mall the metro system built a station in it’s shadow and now the stores across the street are closing down. > > The nonsense started to transition to other malls so they all pulled their bus stops out. Not one mall in my area has a bus stop on their property. There have been lawsuits over it. No mall will survive if it’s subjected to the same level of hooliganism that closed the last one. Where are you?😕:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Polar\_Iceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Polar\_Iceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polar_Iceman)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/29 "2014-12-29T23:58:42Z")
I notice that in these posts everybody is tap dancing around the fact that these mobs of thugs are invariably blacks, terrorizing whites. I also note that nobody has raised the issue of “Polar Bear Hunting” in which groups of blacks attack random whites on the streets with the objective of beating them insensible. It has been said that in this country we need a discussion on race. Clearly, that is not going to happen here. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/30 "2014-12-29T23:59:48Z")
There were similar flash mobs a few years back and then it either cooled down or the media got sick of it. I’m guessing it feeds off itself via social media, kids in one area organize one and then others see video and pics and get the idea and it spreads like that. If anyone wonders what the comments about world star are about on the newsites: > **[WorldStarHipHop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WorldStarHipHop)** > > WorldStarHipHop is a content-aggregating video blog. Founded in 2005, the site averages 1.2 million unique visitors a day. The site, operated by Worldstar, LLC, was founded by Lee "Q" O'Denat. Described by Vibe as a "remnant of the Geocities generation", the site regularly features shocking events caught on video, music videos and assorted content targeted to young audiences. O'Denat who referred to himself as a "Haitian ghetto nerd", described WorldStarHipHop as the "CNN of the The website fi... ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/31 "2014-12-29T23:59:53Z")
> [@Polar\_Iceman](#): > > I notice that in these posts everybody is tap dancing around the fact that these mobs of thugs are invariably blacks, terrorizing whites. tell us why it matters. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/32 "2014-12-30T00:02:52Z")
> [@Polar\_Iceman](#): > > I notice that in these posts everybody is tap dancing around the fact that these mobs of thugs are invariably blacks, terrorizing whites. > > I also note that nobody has raised the issue of “Polar Bear Hunting” in which groups of blacks attack random whites on the streets with the objective of beating them insensible. > > It has been said that in this country we need a discussion on race. Clearly, that is not going to happen here. These groups are being drawn from the surrounding area obviously, no one is flying in for a flash mob. So you get some mostly black high schools where a call for one of these go out, at least one is suggested to be a brawl between rival schools, I’m not surprised the crowd isn’t diverse. (Not defending it) ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/33 "2014-12-30T00:10:28Z")
> [@Polar\_Iceman](#): > > … > > I also note that nobody has raised the issue of “Polar Bear Hunting” in which groups of blacks attack random whites on the streets with the objective of beating them insensible. > > . Tell me about it! I live in a racially (not a true thing, I know…) mixed area south of chi-town, and this very thing has happened to me!! Just kidding. It’s never happened to me. It’s never happened to anyone I know. I’ve never even heard of it before. Hmm. But damn them blacks anyway. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/34 "2014-12-30T00:18:41Z")
Polar Iceman: Did you just employ sarcasm that _literally_ went over my head? Figuratively? I’ll accept that, even. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/35 "2014-12-30T00:22:46Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Nashville had one, at the Opry Mills Mall. > Local news calls it a “fight”–with more than 150 teens. > This, my children is called a “riot”. Riots are not contained to one building, and they last longer than any of these “riots.” ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/36 "2014-12-30T00:49:08Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > The comments on the Pittsburgh link are horrifying. Good God. I’m just hoping and praying that most of those people aren’t actually from Pittsburgh. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Polar\_Iceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Polar\_Iceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polar_Iceman)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/37 "2014-12-30T03:51:47Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > tell us why it matters. When a black thug attacks a white person, the President of the USA expresses his admiration, and tells the world that the thug could have been his son. When a black thug attacks a policeman, we get riots in the streets. When a black thug resists arrest, we have riots in the streets. When gangs of black thugs disrupt public events and attack the white attendees, we hear crickets. When black thugs attack random whites on the streets, we hear crickets. When black thugs cause mayhem and criminal damage in shopping malls, we hear crickets. Since black thugs have become protected species, we get their apologists asking “why does it matter”? That’s why it matters. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/38 "2014-12-30T04:50:51Z")
> [@](#): > > When a black thug attacks a white person, the President of the USA expresses his admiration, and tells the world that the thug could have been his son. Which President of the USA did this when which black “thug” (your word) attacked which white person? ---
**Author:** ![Polar\_Iceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Polar\_Iceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polar_Iceman)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/39 "2014-12-30T08:34:42Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Which President of the USA did this when which black “thug” (your word) attacked which white person? Obama; Trayvon Martin; George Zimmerman. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393/40 "2014-12-30T09:56:32Z")
**Moderator Action** This thread has strayed pretty far from the factual bounds of GQ. Since it has also been derailed pretty far away from its original topic, I think it is best to close this, as trying to get it back on track probably isn’t possible at this point. **Polar Iceman** , if you wish to discuss or debate racism, please do so in a more appropriate forum, either GD or the Pit based on the nature of your comments here. The General Questions forum is for questions of a factual nature. Thread closed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-mall-riots/708393.md?page=1)