Forum Post: Not like this
Posted 12 years ago on Sept. 10, 2011, 6:15 p.m. EST by anonymous
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This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Americans are so unhappy with so many areas of life right now. I see this becoming the worst thing to hit the US in decades. I can see flash mob happening in every major city from NYC to L.A.,CA. This has the potential to trigger rioting on a scale we have never seen. We hate to think that our government would shoot us, but we know they have in the past and this could turn into a blood bath. This needs building blocks that have not been put into place. It appears everyone is hoping everyone behaves themselves. Well what about the folks who have no self restraint getting involved? This has the potential to bring terror to America greater than 9/11 ever could. People are upset and hurting and need to speak their minds and see that they can get results, but this is an open invitation for crime on a scale we have not ever known. They already know that flash mobs are forming and going into businesses and robbing and thrashing the places and then they are gone and nobody but the frightends souls that had nothing to do with it are left cowering. I am very much concerned that this will jumpstart terror. We could very well lose our right to assemble because of the ability for it to become "mob". Yes, we need change but not this way.
People should read this article about deindividuation and mobs, to understand how this event is has to be planned a whole lot more for it to have any positive outcomes.
http://youarenotsosmart.com/2011/02/10/deindividuation/
The Misconception: People who riot and loot are scum who were just looking for an excuse to steal and be violent.
The Truth: You are are prone to losing your individuality and becoming absorbed into a hivemind under the right conditions.
Deindividuation takes away your inhibitions as well as your sense of self and fear of accountability, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The same force which brings otherwise rational people to loot and vandalize and invade Poland can also lead to prosocial behaviors. If you are surrounded by positive cues, deindividuation could lead you to work harder in an exercise class, or pitch in at a homeless shelter, or help build a house. People who forget their sense of self and work together to save a life or search for a missing child show deindividuation is a neutral force of the human will. When 4Chan or Digg or Reddit assemble into an anonymous collective to exact revenge it often ends in actual justice. Once deindividuation kicks in, the cues from the environment shape the resulting behavior. The norms of the mob, good or evil, replace the norms of everyday life.
If I weren't angry and outraged that we have LET this go on for so long, then I wouldn't be driving halfway across the country to stay for less time than it took to drive. I'm f#@king furious! But I will remain civil. They want us to smash windows (I want to smash up some banks myself), but this will be handing them EXACTLY what they want. It will do us than it will do them.
But honestly, if enough people are so damn sick of this system and economic model that they feel the need to start throwing bricks, I won't stand in anyone's way.
Most governments expect, and plan for, protests. They know it's coming but have realized it is usually ineffectual. They ignore peaceful protest. But this may be a bit different. This isn't just some gathering in a park somewhere.
-SnotRocketScience
Can't we all just get along?
LOL! Thanks I needed that!
Well thank you for your response. I agree that some of my statements were not well thought out, however; my concern is! I do so want to see this be successful. I lived not far from Los Angeles when the "Rodney King" riots took place. I don't wish to rehash the worries of what "could" happen, but I was speaking with just as much heart for my country and our people as anyone. We want good to come from this. I just hope that is what will happen. And I do forgive the angry guy, and I appreciate his frustration. I know that he is fervant in his heart to see change. Thank you again for being a voice of balance.
Well thank you for your response. I agree that some of my statements were not well thought out, however; my concern is! I do so want to see this be successful. I lived not far from Los Angeles when the "Rodney King" riots took place. I don't wish to rehash the worries of what "could" happen, but I was speaking with just as much heart for my country and our people as anyone. We want good to come from this. I just hope that is what will happen. And I do forgive the angry guy, and I appreciate his frustration. I know that he is fervant in his heart to see change. Thank you again for being a voice of balance.
I understand and seriously empathize with your concerns. Forgive this angry guy's ranting at you, I'm sure they are just upset, like you said. If this gathering does succeed to any extent, there is an inherent risk of people taking advantage of the disruption the gathering may cause. This is a risk we are willing to take (and I think that's what angry anonymous is saying, as well), because the goal of this gathering is to draw attention to the despicable state our nation is in. As long as we, as reasonable Americans, do our part to stop others from committing violent acts and talk to people about why it is important to remain calm and rational, that is all we can do, and with luck that will be enough to keep this gathering from being a disastrous waste of energy and potential for good. If not this way, then how? This is the only power we have left as "average" Americans - the use of our bodies in great numbers.
Also, angry anonymous is more or less spot on. I didn't mean to imply [s]he was babbling nonsense. Just made their points rather forcefully is all, but who can blame them? -Calum
The policies of US corporate interests are what spawned the jihadists of 9/11. So you think confronting those forces responsible for invoking a terrorist attack could make things WORSE? If corporate power can be drastically reduced, then the types events that took place over the 20th century that ignited the fires of islamic extremism as a response to US interference and hegemony in the arab world will be greatly reduced. This protest and movement has far-reaching aims. This is among them. The war in Iraq would have NEVER even been a consideration were it not for unbridled corporate influence over foreign policy with regards to private profits. The entire war was a big, fat thank you gift for all the corporations who put George W Bush & Co in power.
If we can one day do away with the war-starting, murderous, greed-motivated companies, than 99% of terrorist acts against us will subsist. Have you seen anyone bomb Sweden, Finland, or Denmark lately? No, and that is because the corporate influence in those countries is very low.
And 'crime on a scale we have never known"? I feel like even responding to such a ridiculous claim would somehow validate it in your mind as something even worth mentioning. That was a ludicrous statement. And ironic, too. As we are ALREADY seeing crime on a scale never before seen in ANYONE'S history!! And it is being perpetrated by these companies in Lower Manhattan!!!! They are responsible for the most death the world could ever image!! People are dying in the wars they start and profit from! They are dying because they lack access to basic human needs because US corporate interests have sucked the resources of their lands dry! THESE are the most atrocious crimes ever committed by human beings! AND BY DOING NOTHING FOR SO LONG, WE HAVE GIVEN THEM OUR IMPLICIT CONSENT; MAKING US ALL THEIR ACCOMPLICES!!!
-SnotRocketScience
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So you are for or against flash mobs?
haha