Was reading that 'flash' mob attacks on innocent businesses and people are on the rise in Philly now, in addition to ones in Chicago and NYC.

I'm afraid that where this is going to head... Is some dude is gonna show up uninvited to a 'flash' mob event with an automatic weapon and he'll disperse the mob... to the ground.

'Flash' mobs are one of the elephants in the American room, receiving little press and minimal government attention.  And unfortunately nothing significant will be done until the retaliation (or the primary offense) takes a very violent turn.  :-\\

Was reading that 'flash' mob attacks on innocent businesses and people are on the rise in Philly now, in addition to ones in Chicago and NYC.

I'm afraid that where this is going to head... Is some dude is gonna show up uninvited to a 'flash' mob event with an automatic weapon and he'll disperse the mob... to the ground.

'Flash' mobs are one of the elephants in the American room, receiving little press and minimal government attention.  And unfortunately nothing significant will be done until the retaliation (or the primary offense) takes a very violent turn.  :-\\


This has been happening in Kansas City as well.

Was reading that 'flash' mob attacks on innocent businesses and people are on the rise in Philly now, in addition to ones in Chicago and NYC.

I'm afraid that where this is going to head... Is some dude is gonna show up uninvited to a 'flash' mob event with an automatic weapon and he'll disperse the mob... to the ground.

'Flash' mobs are one of the elephants in the American room, receiving little press and minimal government attention.  And unfortunately nothing significant will be done until the retaliation (or the primary offense) takes a very violent turn.  :-\\


If the flash mobs showed up in Greenwich and Grosse Pointe they'd do something!
::)

If the flash mobs showed up in Greenwich and Grosse Point they'd do something!
::)


I don't know about Grosse Point, but if they showed up in Grosse Ile they'd be mobbing at the bottom the Detroit River.  :-X  The locals there would have no tolerance...

I'm afraid that where this is going to head... Is some dude is gonna show up uninvited to a 'flash' mob event with an automatic weapon and he'll disperse the mob... to the ground.


Why?  Concealed carry laws may vary from state to state, but there are few - if any - states that permit private citizens to carry fully-automatic weapons.  The paperwork just to own one is ridiculous!

The point is moot: if all you have is a handgun, and you're outnumbered 10-to-1 against a mob with melee weapons, the correct tactical decision is almost invariably to run like hell.  Even if you're a better shot than Charles Bronson, you'll run out of ammo long before the hordes run out of zombies.

Rule #1: "Cardio".  

Rule #2: "Double-tap" might work for the movies, but if it gets to this point in the real world, you've probably broken lots of rules that are far more important than "double-tap".

Rule #22: "When in doubt, know your way out" is Rule #0 for real life: The only guaranteed way to win a fight is to avoid one.  Avoid the encounter if possible.  De-escalate if an encounter is nonetheless forced upon you.  Know your surroundings, always have access to an escape route, and run (Rule #1: Cardio!).

And now I'll never get to re-watch Zombieland again without feeling vaguely racist.  Where's my farkin' twinkie?

Why?  Concealed carry laws may vary from state to state, but there are few - if any - states that permit private citizens to carry fully-automatic weapons.  The paperwork just to own one is ridiculous!

The point is moot: if all you have is a handgun, and you're outnumbered 10-to-1 against a mob with melee weapons, the correct tactical decision is almost invariably to run like hell.  Even if you're a better shot than Charles Bronson, you'll run out of ammo long before the hordes run out of zombies.

Rule #1: "Cardio".  

Rule #2: "Double-tap" might work for the movies, but if it gets to this point in the real world, you've probably broken lots of rules that are far more important than "double-tap".

Rule #22: "When in doubt, know your way out" is Rule #0 for real life: The only guaranteed way to win a fight is to avoid one.  Avoid the encounter if possible.  De-escalate if an encounter is nonetheless forced upon you.  Know your surroundings, always have access to an escape route, and run (Rule #1: Cardio!).

And now I'll never get to re-watch Zombieland again without feeling vaguely racist.  Where's my farkin' twinkie?


When they surround you, drop your drawers and start taking a dump on the sidewalk.  Those boys will back off on the double-quick!
I sh*t you not!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/14/pottytrain5.gif

Why?  Concealed carry laws may vary from state to state, but there are few - if any - states that permit private citizens to carry fully-automatic weapons.  The paperwork just to own one is ridiculous!


Of course that is if you do things legally.  We have LOTS of illegal automatic weapons.

I'm not talking about a guy who just happens to be on the scene of a 'flash' mob.  I'm talking about somebody who figures out how they are being set up, then deliberately shows up with an automatic and starts delivering some Bronsonian justice.

Or of course... the mob might simply 'flash' the wrong badass who actually does have a legal or illegal automatic weapon.  Or maybe he'll have a perfectly-legal semiauto Saiga 12-gauge with the 20-round drum magazine.  :o

In any event the 'flash' mobs are building up quite a karma balance and as we know, it will eventually have to be paid in full.

Of course that is if you do things legally.  We have LOTS of illegal automatic weapons.

I'm not talking about a guy who just happens to be on the scene of a 'flash' mob.  I'm talking about somebody who figures out how they are being set up, then deliberately shows up with an automatic and starts delivering some Bronsonian justice.

Or of course... the mob might simply 'flash' the wrong badass who actually does have a legal or illegal automatic weapon.  Or maybe he'll have a perfectly-legal semiauto Saiga 12-gauge with the 20-round drum magazine.  :o

In any event the 'flash' mobs are building up quite a karma balance and as we know, it will eventually have to be paid in full.


how is a flash mob gathering any different than any other crowded public space for something like that?  why go to the bother when there's always a mall full of people and will still garner the same amount of kills and publicity? 

how is a flash mob gathering any different than any other crowded public space for something like that?  why go to the bother when there's always a mall full of people and will still garner the same amount of kills and publicity? 


Because a mall full of people does not challenge the security of anybody.

A 'flash' mob of miscreants represents several dozen perps who are just asking for it.

Think Charles Bronson (as Paul Kersey).  He went after as many random thugs as he could but never went for innocent people.

And now I'll never get to re-watch Zombieland again without feeling vaguely racist.  Where's my farkin' twinkie?
well, you'll never get to re-watch zombieland without feeling like you're watching an incredibly overrated movie. i have no idea how that film was made. was it a vanity project for woody harrelson and bill murray?

how is a flash mob gathering any different than any other crowded public space for something like that?  why go to the bother when there's always a mall full of people and will still garner the same amount of kills and publicity?  


Wait a sec - there's a language barrier here.  

Remember how in the 60s-80s, a "hacker" was merely someone skilled with computers, but since 90s, "hacker" implied someone who was not merely skilled with computers, but whose intent was malicious?  Hackers tried to fight that slur by differentiating between "hackers" (skilled) and "crackers" (malicious), and... well, we lost that one decades ago.

Remember how before 9/11, a "dirty bomb" meant a nuclear weapon (kilotons of boom-boom and a mushroom cloud) with lots of fallout relative to its yield?  And after 9/11, a "dirty bomb" meant a radiological dispersion device that had zero fission yield (a pipe bomb taped to a jar of nasty stuff)?  There weren't enough nerds amongst the punditocracy to even fight that one.

The same sort of thing's going on with language here.  There are flash mobs and there are flash mobs.  

In the heyday of early-00s dot-com culture, a flash mob was a prearranged bit of surrealist improv theater, organized over the Internet.

Due to the recent unpleasantness in Philadelphia and Wisconsin, the term "flash mob" has been increasingly used to mean mob attacks on civilians, also organized over the Internet.  The 90s term would have been wilding.  Unlike the New York Central Park case, there's a racial factor to the attacks.  

I'm not sure how the language plays out - for lack of a better word, and in recognition that this is the term for such attacks in Philadelphia - I'm going with "flash mob" for improvisational surrealist art, and "Philly flash mob" for racially-motivated attacks.

Rather than a bunch of (hipsterishly colorblind) people agreeing to show up, have a harmless pillowfight, clean up the mess, and then disperse, a Philly Flash Mob is a bunch of (typically minority lower-class) youths agreeing to show up, beat the living crap out of the nearest (typically white and middle class) person, and then disperse.  That still leaves the term "Lynch Mob" available for the sort of payback that a gang of wannabe-Charles Bronsons would dish out in "defense" of the civilian population.


well, you'll never get to re-watch zombieland without feeling like you're watching an incredibly overrated movie. i have no idea how that film was made. was it a vanity project for woody harrelson and bill murray?


You say that like it was a bad thing! :)

"Flash Mobs" smacks of moral panic to me.  Lawless youth running wild in the streets.  Big black menace out to corrupt our women.  All that happy horseszhit.  
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/04/elefant.gif

"Flash Mobs" smacks of moral panic to me.  Lawless youth running wild in the streets.  Big black menace out to corrupt our women.  All that happy horseszhit.  


Quite probably.  Gangs of poor people have been beating the crap out of random schlubs for the hell of it since time immemorial.  As long as the media doesn't feed the troll, it won't become a fad.  (I suppose we're too late on that front.)

By that same token, I'm not too proud to admit that vigilantism, while it may not be a lawful response, has always been the most viscerally-appealing option.

PO3NXbtrx9k

My personal favorite zombie-killing track was A Split Second's Crimewave, from 1990's Kiss of Fury, but everybody here already knows that.  (I still wouldn't have believed the line was "blurring silence" if it weren't for that image someone uploaded to Discogs.)

(Dammit.  Even though I know Split Second were solidly antifascist, now I can't listen to Belgian EBM or New Beat without feeling even more racist!  Next thing you know I'll be questioning my Hanzel und Gretyl!  Oh Dobbs no, I'm turning into my parents!  Make it stop! :)

Quite probably.  Gangs of poor people have been beating the crap out of random schlubs for the hell of it since time immemorial.  As long as the media doesn't feed the troll, it won't become a fad.  (I suppose we're too late on that front.)
                                                                                                                        shrubs


"Oh what sad times are these when passing ruffians can say Ni at will to old ladies!  There is a pestilence upon this land.  Nothing is sacred.  Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history!"

-- Roger the Shrubber

I'm not talking about a guy who just happens to be on the scene of a 'flash' mob.  I'm talking about somebody who figures out how they are being set up, then deliberately shows up with an automatic and starts delivering some Bronsonian justice.


Careful what you wish for.

Because I think your wish just got granted.

Whoever wins, we lose.

Careful what you wish for.

Because I think your wish just got granted.

Whoever wins, we lose.


Funny I don't recall seeing any press on the Wisconsin State Fair incident.  I wonder when the Feds are gonna file hate crime charges? ???

Careful what you wish for.

Because I think your wish just got granted.

Whoever wins, we lose.


Illinois Nazis.  I hate Illinois Nazis!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTT1qUswYL0