In that spirit, here is a handy guide for liberals in search of reasons to explain the epidemic of black mob violence all over the country. Did I mention I wrote a book about it? Oh yeah, sorry.
We will even number them, so when people who read
White Girl Bleed A Lot throw it at you, all you have to do is say: 17! Or 22! Or my favorite, the very last one, Number 100!
Of course we start in Chicago.
The Chicago Sun-Times is a national leader in two areas: 1) Denying the racial mob violence exists; 2) Explaining why it does. Their latest excuse for the latest episode of black mob violence in downtown Chicago that featured 500 people storming through the area, beating and threatening and destroying property?
1) Warm weather.
So excuses do not have to be true. Or relevant.
This contest for best excuses was decided about two months ago when
Ahmed Shihab-Eldin hosted a live video stream featuring a psychologist, a criminologist, a small business owner, an FBI agent, and a State Senator. All explaining the mob violence. Everything they said is basically interchangeable. So let’s get to it:
(Do you really want to watch this?)
Luke Cho owns a store recently hit with black mob theft.
2 – 3) “They are not really bad kids, I think they just got caught up in the flash mob thing.”
4 – 6) “They get in trouble and I try to teach them the difference between right and wrong but things happen.”
As you can see, people often pack multiple excuses into one statement.
Next up, Jeffrey Ian Ross, a real life criminologist from Baltimore:
7 – 11) “People in groups tend to let their guard down. They think they are oblivious to CTV. The reasons are ‘Boredom to wanting a new pair of jean to wanting to express their discontent.’ ”
Of course then the host had to get in on it:
12 – 15) “There’s power in numbers so they are more likely to act out? …The anonymity factor might be a contributing factor …. Does adrenaline play a factor?
Then they brought brought out the big guns, Dr. Jeff Gardere, a New York City psychologist.
16 – 22) “Anonymity reduces their sense of responsibility and accountability … They are not thinking about the consequences. There are a lot of teens looking for excitement. So it is the perfect breeding ground for some sort of trouble.”
23 – 25) “We find that normally good kids get caught up in the excitement of that group and do something that is very wrong. And when they are called upon individually, they have a lot of remorse.”
26 – 29) “But they have much less empathy in these groups because people don’t care. They are caught up in the moment. And one last thing: People need a family. And if they don’t have a family, that flash mob becomes the family at the moment.”
30) “My moral compass was skewed when I was in a group.” (This might be the host talking. But are you are you really going to make me go back and check. At this point, what difference does it make?)
31 – 35) “I think adrenaline plays a role. We get into the fight or flight of the sympathetic system. We are geared to deal with battle to deal with excitement and we revert to that part of our functioning system.”
36 – 39) “Certainly the adrenaline does not allow us to think the way we should. Serotonin levels also drop and we need serotonin for more impulse control and to focus more and we see a lot of neurotransmitters are certainly affected.”
40 – 46) “It becomes something that is not just conscious thought. But it is almost a visceral thing. It is in many ways relating back to a very low level of behavior and evolution and we are letting that part of the brain — which is much more controlled by demand and impulse — take over.”
47 – 52) “We need to look at the reality. It is not just about income. It is not just about race. Its about culture. We have a culture where getting involved with a mob seems to alleviate any kind of conscience that you have or taking individual responsibility.”
53) “A lot of it is about education.”
That has to be close to a world record for excuse density. I just shipped the transcript off to Guiness. I’ll let you know.
Let’s go back to the Baltimore guy:
54 – 55) “There are a number of issues including boredom. I think someone mentioned the excitement of the moment. And that can carry a person through.”
56) “When asked afterward, they have a considerable amount of remorse.”
57 – 59) “We see this in a lot of cases of soccer games and national championships, people let down their guard and do a lot of things they would not do otherwise.”
Cue the former FBI guy, Michael Tabman:
60 – 64) “Teenagers don’t make the best decisions. They like to take on authority and do what is not expected of them. They are contrarian. These kids are very empowered by the mob and into the highest levels of government.”
65 – 66) “These are kids. They are not thinking this out.”
(67 – 72) “It might not be violent criminal. It might just be immature to cope with boredom and look big and bold in front of their friends. So I agree we need ‘it takes a village,’ just like we need in gun control.”
Of course the HuffPo commenters are useful as well:
73) “Lack of opportunity is the root cause.”
74 – 75) “Violence and crime are directionally correlated to wealth and income disparity. When there is not opportunity, there will be crime.
76 – 77) “These are the consequences of a materialistic, corporate driven culture… deal with it.”
78) “The flash mob is a physical manifestation of the anonymity people feel they have on line.”
79 – 81) “If you were never a teen, and never pulled off pranks or even misdemeanors in your youth, then by all means lets gun them down !!! But otherwise…”
82) “Walmart deserves to be flash robbed.”
83) “Stealing jeans in a store?? I’ll take that over an aurora teen killing everyone in a theater…”
84 – 87) “The phenomenon of herd mentality is powerful and dangerous. And it happens everywhere, not just with teens and the internet. Its happening right now in our government.”
88) “Like streaking in the 70s this is a fad that will pass.”
89 – 90) Let’s protect our corporate culture at all costs. And Repubs not passing any job creation legislation.”
90 -91) “I just think its so overblown…I have more issues with assault weapons loose on our streets.”
92) “We are raising kids in a materialistic society.”
93) Talk about THEFT = $ flow of taxes.
94) Well, McDonalds only has so many openings. You know, with adults with degrees filling the positions.
95) Corporate Culture reaps what is sows….you want teenagers in your stores? Well, here they are !!!
96) More SKATEBOARD PARKS !!!
97) Hail to the Corporate Machine that feeds the shallow ego of our teens !!! More sneakers!! More iPhones !!!
98 – 99 ) It is a risk/reward thing with teens. They like risky activity. They can do an even riskier activity for a more intense rush afterwards if they get together and do it this way.
Hip hop giant Dr. Dre did not appear on this broadcast of Huffpo Live. But his explanation is probably the most popular because it appears on one of the best selling hip hop recordings of all time: The Chronic:
100) “When niggas get together they get mad.”
