Flash Mobs, Violence, and The Media: So Really, Who's to Blame?

Flash Mob.

The terms has been thrown around Philadelphia periodically over the past year, starting back last summer when a large group of teenagers converged on South Street on what was one of the first nice Saturdays in a while. Back in March, they came back on, once again, the first nice Saturday in a long time. Both times they were called "Flash Mobs", a term used in this context to describe a large presence of people descending upon an area at once. This should not be confused with actual flash mobs that do fairly creative and fun things after organizing online.

Criticism has been leveled against the media for hyping the story, and fairly so. In bringing so much attention to this, it actually seems to be increasing the number of them and the number of people coming out to them.

The problem now, though, is that the criticism is getting worse and the real problem is being ignored.

Enter Philebrity, the biggest gossip and news blog in Philadelphia. While I can honestly say I respect them some of the time, I'm frustrated with it the rest of the time. Case in point: Their Racism-bating stories criticizing 6ABC . So what do I mean by the term "Racism-baiting"? They're saying 6ABC uses underlying racism to make the Flash Mobs look worse than it really is. The problem, though, is that they aren't.

Case in point?

Here’s what doesn’t: As Friday night’s lead story illustrated, “FLASH MOB FEAR BLACK TEENS VIOLENCE” has now entered the Action News (and all who sail in them) pantheon of non-stories they can sensationalize the fuck out of, spreading fear and dread to those who desire it most — the ignorant schlubs who actually think that what WPVI is “news.”

The actual video doesn't try to tell that story at all.

All the while, Philebrity ignores the actual issue: WHY kids are gathering like this, and why it is an actual issue.

On July 10th , an estimated 20,000 people descended on South Street around 1AM. The police, in response to these action, shut down 11 blocks. Again, this is 20,000 people in a 11-block area. That's a LOT of people, especially for 1AM on a Sunday Morning. No events, no concerts at that time... nothing. There was a concert earlier at The TLA, but that ended around 11PM. The cops had tried to subdue the crowd for the better part of the night since many kids were coming down because they mistakenly thought that the Greek Picnic Crowd would be there. The truth of the matter is that the picnic has not taken place in Philadelphia since 2007.

Philebrity's response? The cops are afraid of black people, thus the reaction was bad.

SEPTA buses were actually brought in to take the kids home that night, and considering the fact that since anyone under 18 who is out on the street past 12AM on a Saturday Night is breaking curfew, and thus the law... it actually does make sense to call in buses to take everyone home.

The problem with these gatherings isn't that black teenagers are there, or that it's a large group of black kids. No. The problem is that it's a large group of teenagers in general, and that can lead to problems. It's true that only a small number of kids are actually causing problems, but they can, and are, easily magnified when the numbers of actual kids increase and peer-pressure starts to give way to a mob mentality, no pun intended.

Philebrity seems to be ignoring the facts that, yes, violence is happening as part of these large groups of teenagers, the fact that these are mostly black kids does not mean its racist to point that out, and the fact that something needs to be done.

The problem doesn't lie in laying blame on someone, but in the attitude we give to the situation.

So, really, who's to blame? Blaming the media alone is pointless. So is simply blaming parents or even the kids. We really are all to blame in some way for this. The parents are to blame for not being there for their kids, for not being more proactive in some of these kids lives. Yes, parent's can't be there 24/7, and teenagers are still growing up and need things to do and will do things like this. Is the new hive-mind mentality part of the new world we live in?

In recent weeks, the Philadelphia Police have cracked down on large groups of teenagers because of the violence we've seen, and they have been getting better about preventing these gatherings before they get too big... well, sometimes.

The solution isn't simple, it's complicated. Parents getting involved is a start, so is the media not reporting about this is a fairly-glamorous fashion. I can actually say I agree that the biggest problem with 6ABC's coverage is that it puts it as a front-page story when, really, its more page 7, but then again, this was a case where the police dispersed the crowd before it was massive problem. If more stores and restaurants were open late across Center City in general, who knows, maybe that would help. Since South Street is basically the only area open later than 7PM on a Saturday Night, or the only one with a lot of attention.

The quasi-ironic thing, though, is that over the last 5 years South Street started to go downhill in terms of, well, being interesting and fun. Suddenly we're seeing it become at least one, if not the other, and there seems to be no one or any way to make this into a positive thing, or make it fun.