Sunday, March 17, 2013

Mob Violence


1.      The legal dictionary definition of mob violence is “A disturbance of the peace by several persons, assembled and acting with a common intent in executing a lawful or unlawful enterprise in a violent and turbulent manner”. Two examples of mob violence are rioting and lynching.

-          Group violence like this comes to pass when the focus of a crowd converges on a common element and emotions are heightened. In these situations individuals become vulnerable and subjective to the will of the collective group. The conscious mind takes a back seat to the “collective” mind. This change in mindset results in impulsive actions more likely to lack moral responsibility.

 


This article discusses how opponents of the new Arizona Immigration law clashed with police. Police in riot gear arrested more than two dozen people outside municipal offices as more than a hundred protesters blocked streets and held up traffic. This incident took place in 2010 when many people of Hispanic Descent felt that it was a form of racial profiling because it “It requires police officers, “when practicable,” to detain people they reasonably suspect are in the country without authorization and to verify their status with federal officials, unless doing so would hinder an investigation or emergency medical treatment”

 


The first link is about the L.A. Riots. These riots were race riots in response to the beating of Rodney King by numerous LAPD officers. Widespread looting, assault, arson, and murder occurred during the riots, and estimates of property damages topped one billion dollars. The rioting ended after soldiers from the California Army National Guard and U.S. marines from Camp Pendleton were called in to stop the rioting.

 

The Seattle Riots was sparked by the World Trade Organization conference in 1999, they began as a peaceful protest and activists who felt that the corporate globalization was unethical. A few hours into the one-day riot, the police began firing rubber bullets, and tear gas into the crowd of protesters who had begun to smash windows, burn dumpsters, and vandalize stor

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