Monday, April 17, 2017

Race for the Cure...

Police say false reports of gunshots being fired at Coney Island's amusement park set off a stampede, with screaming crowds racing in all directions. The chaos Sunday on the Brooklyn waterfront came two days after reports of a gun going off at Manhattan's Penn Station produced similar panic. [More]
While it would be tempting to say "Ban hoplophobia," I think a more realistic approach would be to treat it as the public health crisis that it is and focus on prevention and treatment.


3 comments:

Bill Mullins said...

Have to disagree, David. I don't think this WAS a case of hoplophobia. I think it was just the natural reaction to a perceived existential threat situation. Those people, like the ones at Penn Station, perceived themselves to be in a life-or-death situation over which they had no control and against which they had been allowed to retain on capability of self-defense.

I am no one's hoplophobe but I have been in a life-or-death, fight-or-flight situation. From one side I saw a mob approaching. From the other side I saw a line of riot police whom I had reason to believe were armed with fully-automatic AR-15s. I was in an excellent position to watch a violent clash literally) BETWEEN a mob and a large number of police officers. In the end I ran down an alley perpendicular to the street on which the two groups were advancing. You tell me, David. Was THAT "hoplophobia" or was it merely "self-preservation"? Your call, sir.

David Codrea said...

Not the same at all -- by your own words, you knew what the threats were-- theirs were imagined and the herd spooked with no knowledge, including if the direction they were headed would take them out of harm's way. Plus, per your account, you reacted with awareness and deliberation -- they panicked. Add to that the fact that people were disarmed and had no choice in the event of a real threat -- that's a direct result of politically-exploitable hoplophobia driving the policies that put them in that situation.

millwright said...

As I've previously stated elsewhere, I call this the "Snowflake Syndrome " a behavior where a group or groups of individuals stumbling along in "condition white ", upon encountering some aural or physical anomaly "scream and shout and dash about" until physically restrained or exhausted. At that point most retreat into their 'safe spaces" via smart phone or other communication device to seek solace and comfort . IOW, exhibiting all the same behaviors one would expect of young children .