Thursday, April 20, 2006

 

Mob of Teenagers Beat MGM Grand Worker

No "Privileged White Males" Involved

Surveillance camera records one of the scariest live video recordings I've seen. Group of approximately 10 teenagers beat an MGM Grand employee.
The surveillance video released by police Monday and aired widely on Las Vegas-area TV stations Tuesday showed the casino employee being punched, hit with a belt or chain, beaten and kicked by a mob of people in a driveway next to a hotel staff golf cart.

"The amount of suspects is unusual, and the amount of violence, where they are feeding off one another," said police Lt. Ted Snodgrass.

The victim, whose name and age were not released, was able to rise from the pavement after the mob left. But he suffered a broken jaw and a broken collarbone, police said. Hotel spokesman Gordon Absher said Tuesday the man was recuperating at home.
What is really unusual is that no "privileged white males" (or any white males at all it appears) were involved in the vicious attack.

Wonder how much coverage this will get from Nancy Grace, et al. I heard about it on the radio. A search on Yahoo News turned up only 27 results. (Search words: mgm employee beaten las vegas). "Duke lacrosse rape" turned up over 5,500 results on Yahoo News. The Duke story has been around longer but the attack in Las Vegas shows viciousness seldom seen.

Of course, the this story didn't get much press either, outside of DrHelen (above link) and Michelle Malkin. I guess it's only news when privilege white males are the alleged perpetrators, not the victims.

Comments:
I thought about something else watching that video and rolling the privilige issue around in my head again.

1. Tabloid nation: do you think maybe the country just loves it when wealthy, celebrity or privilige is brought down?

2. De-sensitization: Do you think that (and this is awful to think about), after all the ink and video and other images of black perpetrators in newspapers and tv, people just aren't that surprised when video like the above comes out? Reginald Denny, anyone, anyone?

Then, when white people are accused of crimes, it is more newsworthy because it is percieved to be a rare circumstance?

Those are three answers I'm not sure I want to hear, but I do think they are relevant.
 
I remembered something else that was a flash in the pan in the news back in 2000: wilding attacks in New York City.

(Salon had the best article I could find after doing google searches etc)

Similar MO, different victims?
 
Patrick - I think there is some truth to both your points in your first comments. Criminal circumstances like the alleged Duke rapes occur relatively rarely plus thus have tremendous tabloid appeal.

Gang violence, whatever the ethnic group involved - blacks, Irish, Italians, etc. of various sorts has been going on so long, it doesn't surprise us as much. "West Side Story" centered around gangs in NY. I read "Black Board Jungle" in the mid 1960s. I think we accept this violence more not because of race or ethnicity but because the people involved tend to be in the lower economic strata. From what I've read the Irish used to have tremendous gang violence which inspired the movie - "Gang of New York".

Maybe this violence is more acceptable because too many feel guilty for "allowing" the relative poverty that the perpetrators live in, i.e. we see the lower economic class perpetrators as "victims" themselves where as we don't see the "privileged" as victims.
 
its a world of sensation, the press feed the ever increasing need, which feeds the press, and so on..

its also a culture of panic, oooh the black gangs, the white gangs, they are out to get us.. its also a culture of victimhood, i heard from someone that they deserved better treatment because they ancestor was sold as a slave (by someone else in that tribe same race)..

people are bored with the same old panic, a majority of people love to see pain in peoples lives. a few dont. but the majority are a target audience..(the irish have always been more demonstrative of violence i live about 60 miles from ireland, many times there have been fights on st patricks day, theres been car bombs, and big bombs, like the one in manchester and warrington. which i narrowly avoided being blown up in . twice.. for over 43 years there has been irish terrorism. its a fact of life here. theres been petrol bombings of kids walking to school and its still going on)

they see themselves as victims and that justifies the violence
 
they see themselves as victims and that justifies the violence

You are so right.
 
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