Another reason to hate cell phones....

[BERIGAN]

Concern over rise of 'happy slapping' craze

Fad of filming violent attacks on mobile phones spreads

Mark Honigsbaum

Tuesday April 26, 2005

The Guardian

In one video clip, labelled Bitch Slap, a youth approaches a woman at a bus stop and punches her in the face. In another, Knockout Punch, a group of boys wearing uniforms are shown leading another boy across an unidentified school playground before flooring him with a single blow to the head.

In a third, Bank Job, a teenager is seen assaulting a hole-in-the-wall customer while another youth grabs the money he has just withdrawn from the cash machine.

Welcome to the disturbing world of the "happy slappers" - a youth craze in which groups of teenagers armed with camera phones slap or mug unsuspecting children or passersby while capturing the attacks on 3g technology.

According to police and anti-bullying organisations, the fad, which began as a craze on the UK garage music scene before catching on in school playgrounds across the capital last autumn, is now a nationwide phenomenon.

And as the craze has spread from London to the home counties to the north of England, so the attacks have become more menacing, with increasing numbers of violent assaults and adult victims.

In London, British Transport police have investigated 200 happy slapping incidents in the past six months, with eight people charged with attacks at south London stations and bus stops in January alone.

The Metropolitan police have no overall figures but recorded a number of attacks in London boroughs earlier this year.

Following a spate of random attacks last December on pupils at Godolphin and Latymer girls' school in Hammersmith, west London, police posted extra officers in the area as a deterrent.

But as police have become more vigilant, so the gangs have become more sophisticated, seeking victims in parks or public areas where their crimes are unlikely to be spotted by the authorities or captured on CCTV.

Liz Carnell, the director of Bullying Online, a Yorkshire-based charity set up to combat bullying in schools, said that since the start of the year she has heard of increasing attacks both on children and on adults. But she fears many incidents are not reported.

"In most cases the worst that happens is a minor scratch or a bruised ego," she said.

"What the people behind these attacks have to understand is that technically they are committing an assault. And if they then upload the images on to the internet or a phone system they could be prosecuted for harassment."

What makes the attacks all the more bewildering is that many victims do not realise they have been happy slapped until after the event.

Earlier this month James Silver, 34, a freelance journalist, was attacked while jogging on the South Bank in London. While one youth blocked his path, another hit him with a rolled-up magazine.

When he spun around another teenager - who had been hiding behind nearby scaffolding - leapt out and hit him hard in the head. When he staggered to his feet he noticed the rest of the gang were jeering and pointing their mobile phones at him.

Silver admits that while the attack left his "ego smarting" he did not think it worth reporting. "At the end of the day I was unharmed but it was pretty shocking at the time," he said. "The worry is that while the bulk of the attacks are trivial, some of these youths could be carrying knives."

Earlier this year, schools in Lewisham, south London, and St Albans banned camera phones because of worries that the fad was leading to an increase in playground bullying.

In a comment recently posted on a London community web forum, "Happyslapper2" described the craze as a "joke", writing: "If you feel bored wen ur about an u got a video phone den bitch slap sum norman, innit."

However, in a sign of a gathering backlash, other forum members disagreed. "It's hardly a joke ... it's fuckin rude and pea-brained," wrote "slappersidiots".

"If this happy slapping fad continues it will only be a matter of time before someone is seriously hurt," predicted another.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,...1470161,00.html

[Joe G]

What's happy about that?

[slide_advantage_redoux]

I may be wrong, but it seems to me if these morons are recording their own crimes, perhaps they will provide a technological trail right back to themselves.

Years back, some moron burglars used a video cam - which had been stolen in an earlier robbery - to film their ill gotten gains - as well as their own faces! That was stupid enough, but the cincher was them leaving the tape in the recorder when they pawned it. Yes, they got busted.

These happy slappers don't appear to be the brightest sorts.

Edited April 26, 2005 by slide_advantage_redoux

[tonym]

Aahhh yes, 'Jackass' generation, now not so content with sitting at home goofing over the show, they now have the technology/money at their disposal to ensure we're all participants in their fucked up take on 'fun'.

Fortunately, Darwinian theory plays it's part in weeding out some of the morons; anyone seen that video clip in which some youths were hanging out of a car taking random, high-speed slaps at cyclists and pedestrians.

One over zealous lad leaned a bit too far out of the car. Door opens letting him strike an oncoming car's front bumper with his head. I'm sure it would have been certain death. But I'd be happy with severe incapacity/ invalidity for him.

[RDK]

Ah dumb felons. This reminds me of something that happened to a buddy of mine this past weekend. His car was parked outside his apartment and some idiot smashed into it and drove off - an obvious hit-and-run. Well, the crash tore the bumber off my friend's car. But it also tore off the license plate of the car that hit his... making it rather easy for the cops to track him down.

[RainyDay]

As someone who has done years of neighborhood organizing around crime and blight issues, I could slap people who are victims of crimes and don't report it. You gotta love the guy who didn't report the assault then says, gee, next time they could really hurt someone. Maybe it was advance karma. Knowing he wouldn't report a crime, he was the victim of one.

[Adam]

Aahhh yes, 'Jackass' generation, now not so content with sitting at home goofing over the show, they now have the technology/money at their disposal to ensure we're all participants in their fucked up take on 'fun'.

Fortunately, Darwinian theory plays it's part in weeding out some of the morons; anyone seen that video clip in which some youths were hanging out of a car taking random, high-speed slaps at cyclists and pedestrians.

One over zealous lad leaned a bit too far out of the car. Door opens letting him strike an oncoming car's front bumper with his head. I'm sure it would have been certain death. But I'd be happy with severe incapacity/ invalidity for him.

I saw something which sounds like this, but is different. They slap a cyclist, who goes down, and it is the cyclist's head that is hit by on oncoming car. In other words, the totally innocent person got double hit.

The guys who do it film the whole thing, with their faces. they all get shocked, drive on for a minute, then turn around (maybe to help?)

The whole idea of using cameras, video cameras, and cell phones to capture assaults on innocent people is a very disturbing trend.

[bertrand]

Reminds me of those assholes who film themselves decapitating people, then broadcast it on the web. Of course, they're wearing masks.

Bertrand.

[chuckyd4]

When I was living in Brooklyn, I saw this happen a couple of times, though they weren't filming it. Around the time school got out (3-4 in the afternoon), both times waiting for a train. The doors would open and a group of kids would rush out, smacking somebody on the platform in the face on their way by. Obviously, it was for the shock value more than actually causing serious physical harm - but the thing that really disturbed me about it was that the second time it was a female. Where I'm from, you don't ever touch a woman like that, ever.

Just shows how intelligent these kids are - coward ass punks going after people like the elderly, from one of the things I read about it. Another thing about my world - if you want to fight, you let me know first. What a bunch of idiots.

[porcy62]

I don't blame cell technology. IMO we are living in a television world and these guys are simply shooting their own 'reality show', a sort of 'Big Bully Brother'.

[Alexander]

Yeah, I don't know what cell-phones have to do with this. They could record these incidents with hand-held digital cameras. Should we title a thread: "Another reason to hate cameras?" Or they could still do them and not record them at all (which I'm sure they've been doing for years. It's only when a web site appears that something becomes a "problem").

[catesta]

Yeah, I don't know what cell-phones have to do with this. They could record these incidents with hand-held digital cameras. Should we title a thread: "Another reason to hate cameras?" Or they could still do them and not record them at all (which I'm sure they've been doing for years. It's only when a web site appears that something becomes a "problem").

Sure they could use digital cameras, but they didn't. As the story goes, they are using cell phones.

Why is the title of the thread a problem? If Berigan (or anyone else) already hates cell phones, why can't he hate them more for having the technology to allow stupid motherfuckers like this record themselves acting like complete jackoffs?