In a Flash

The physical aspects of our training focus on the hyper-violent.  Often included in our sessions are discussions on the mental aspects, such as making assessments and quick decisions to get yourself out of bad situations as soon as possible.  We have discussed many a 'what if' scenario.  Things like: you are alone and approached in hallway, bus stop, bathroom, or dark alley.  What if you alone or with your family, or a knife or other weapon enter the picture.  A bar fight is a situation we talk about a fair amount too.  Perhaps the last post even has you wondering about dealing with a naked zombie attack.

I'd like to throw into the mix another modern phenomenon: the flash mob.  Here is an example:
http://www.wokv.com/news/news/local/flash-mob-overruns-northwest-jax-walmart/nPwh8/

A quick search on YouTube turns up many results.  Sometimes, flash mobs are merely kids and young people showing up to a place dressed alike, or just to hang out for a few minutes.  Sometimes these mobs are benign, and other times not.  Sometimes, significant damage and violence ensues.

Although you may hear about these mobs on the news from time to time, there are many cases of flash mobs showing up and misbehaving.  Here is an interesting website to check out:
http://violentflashmobs.com/

Take note of the locations, a number of them are here in Minneapolis.  You might think that since you don't hang out in Walmart much that you are probably not likely to be caught in a flash mob.  Notice that grocery stores, Walgreens, restaurants, parks, and convenience stores are all common targets.  It is becoming well understood by young people who want free stuff that all they need to do is get a large group together and it is Take Whatever You Can Get Your Hands On Day.  Today it might be Walmarts and convenience stores, but it doesn't take much of a genius to figure out that Best Buy might be a good place to go too.

So take a minute to use your imagination and play 'what if'.  You are in a gas station, convenience store, Walgreens, or some such and a large group of young people suddenly come flooding in.  They are all overflowing with crowd excitement and you can tell this isn't a church outing.  What do you do?  It isn't necessarily time to start throwing elbows and playing your own game of bonkey-konk, but your self-protection nerve starts screaming at you that you are not in a safe place and things could head South in a nanosecond.

Let's say you are in a scenario which looks like the video above.  Are you going to the be the suburbanite scurrying for the door when a group of fun-time seekers say 'Hey whitey, where you goin'?  Let's have us some fun."  Take a look and notice the thrill these kids show (it is a common theme in the vids).  They seem to have the same kind of thrill high brought on with criminal attacks.  They are pumped up and riding adrenaline.  This means they are more aggressive and combative than normal, and have the confidence of being in a large group.  That is why they got together in the first place: the protections of the crowd.  Even if a security camera does get them on video, will the cops really investigate to find any individual?  No, and these kids know it.

At the risk of sounding racist, just take a look at a dozen or so flash mob videos on YouTube.  Do you think for a second you wouldn't stand out like a turd in a punch bowl in one of those flash mobs?  And not even due to race either.  These flash mobs are usually young people who are no strangers to the street.  Regardless of color, their look is drastically different from yours and you stand out.

I believe it is safe to reason that there are many who, in our failing economy, will not hesitate to use this new and easy method for getting what they need.  What if you are in the way of their frenzy?  How would you handle it?