I’ve been thinking about the Fenway riot.
I’ve never been in a riot, although I’ve been in two political demonstrations that turned ugly (both in the 70s, one an occupation of the administration building at Umass, the other a demo at Kent State against plans to build a gym on the site of the 1970 killings — got teargassed there).
What I remember is this: that in that atmosphere, I really became clear (not for the first time ) that anyone is capable of anything under the right circumstances.
Elias Canetti, an expert on crowd behavior, has done a lot of research on the way riots begin and end…and he says that while crowd frequently begin riots as a response to the actions of a few, in full bloom people in a mob will do things they would never do in a normal situation.
Which makes it so hard to truly assign blame, in my eyes…or perhaps, it needs to be equally distributed.
Dark Matter 
October 25th, 2004 at 6:48 am
From the “it’s a small world’ file:
My boss was at that Kent State demonstration with you.
October 25th, 2004 at 6:48 am
From the “it’s a small world’ file:
My boss was at that Kent State demonstration with you.
October 25th, 2004 at 6:48 am
From the “it’s a small world’ file:
My boss was at that Kent State demonstration with you.
October 25th, 2004 at 6:48 am
From the “it’s a small world’ file:
My boss was at that Kent State demonstration with you.
October 25th, 2004 at 6:48 am
From the “it’s a small world’ file:
My boss was at that Kent State demonstration with you.
October 25th, 2004 at 6:48 am
From the “it’s a small world’ file:
My boss was at that Kent State demonstration with you.
October 25th, 2004 at 6:48 am
From the “it’s a small world’ file:
My boss was at that Kent State demonstration with you.
October 23rd, 2004 at 12:02 am
It was “interesting” to me when I finally felt this exact thing. I was in Union Square the last night of the RNC. There were cops effin EVERYWHERE. i mean hundreds upon hundreds of them. On top of that there were thousands of protesters.
Essentially everything was chill…but you could feel the tension in the air. I knew instinctively that if even one confrontation happened between a cop and a protester that we would have a serious problem. I could see how things could escalate to such a period of tension that everything would just crumble. It was a crazy scary riot waiting to happen.
We were lucky that time.
But I must admit that it was incredibly unnerving to know that things could go wrong at any time and there wouldn’t be anyone “specifically” to blame. I could feel myself capable of things I would never even imagine. It was terrifying. I didn’t know it could be like that. I am thankful nothing did happen because if it had….it would have been bad.
October 23rd, 2004 at 12:02 am
It was “interesting” to me when I finally felt this exact thing. I was in Union Square the last night of the RNC. There were cops effin EVERYWHERE. i mean hundreds upon hundreds of them. On top of that there were thousands of protesters.
Essentially everything was chill…but you could feel the tension in the air. I knew instinctively that if even one confrontation happened between a cop and a protester that we would have a serious problem. I could see how things could escalate to such a period of tension that everything would just crumble. It was a crazy scary riot waiting to happen.
We were lucky that time.
But I must admit that it was incredibly unnerving to know that things could go wrong at any time and there wouldn’t be anyone “specifically” to blame. I could feel myself capable of things I would never even imagine. It was terrifying. I didn’t know it could be like that. I am thankful nothing did happen because if it had….it would have been bad.
October 23rd, 2004 at 12:02 am
It was “interesting” to me when I finally felt this exact thing. I was in Union Square the last night of the RNC. There were cops effin EVERYWHERE. i mean hundreds upon hundreds of them. On top of that there were thousands of protesters.
Essentially everything was chill…but you could feel the tension in the air. I knew instinctively that if even one confrontation happened between a cop and a protester that we would have a serious problem. I could see how things could escalate to such a period of tension that everything would just crumble. It was a crazy scary riot waiting to happen.
We were lucky that time.
But I must admit that it was incredibly unnerving to know that things could go wrong at any time and there wouldn’t be anyone “specifically” to blame. I could feel myself capable of things I would never even imagine. It was terrifying. I didn’t know it could be like that. I am thankful nothing did happen because if it had….it would have been bad.
October 23rd, 2004 at 12:02 am
It was “interesting” to me when I finally felt this exact thing. I was in Union Square the last night of the RNC. There were cops effin EVERYWHERE. i mean hundreds upon hundreds of them. On top of that there were thousands of protesters.
Essentially everything was chill…but you could feel the tension in the air. I knew instinctively that if even one confrontation happened between a cop and a protester that we would have a serious problem. I could see how things could escalate to such a period of tension that everything would just crumble. It was a crazy scary riot waiting to happen.
We were lucky that time.
But I must admit that it was incredibly unnerving to know that things could go wrong at any time and there wouldn’t be anyone “specifically” to blame. I could feel myself capable of things I would never even imagine. It was terrifying. I didn’t know it could be like that. I am thankful nothing did happen because if it had….it would have been bad.
October 23rd, 2004 at 12:02 am
It was “interesting” to me when I finally felt this exact thing. I was in Union Square the last night of the RNC. There were cops effin EVERYWHERE. i mean hundreds upon hundreds of them. On top of that there were thousands of protesters.
Essentially everything was chill…but you could feel the tension in the air. I knew instinctively that if even one confrontation happened between a cop and a protester that we would have a serious problem. I could see how things could escalate to such a period of tension that everything would just crumble. It was a crazy scary riot waiting to happen.
We were lucky that time.
But I must admit that it was incredibly unnerving to know that things could go wrong at any time and there wouldn’t be anyone “specifically” to blame. I could feel myself capable of things I would never even imagine. It was terrifying. I didn’t know it could be like that. I am thankful nothing did happen because if it had….it would have been bad.
October 23rd, 2004 at 12:02 am
It was “interesting” to me when I finally felt this exact thing. I was in Union Square the last night of the RNC. There were cops effin EVERYWHERE. i mean hundreds upon hundreds of them. On top of that there were thousands of protesters.
Essentially everything was chill…but you could feel the tension in the air. I knew instinctively that if even one confrontation happened between a cop and a protester that we would have a serious problem. I could see how things could escalate to such a period of tension that everything would just crumble. It was a crazy scary riot waiting to happen.
We were lucky that time.
But I must admit that it was incredibly unnerving to know that things could go wrong at any time and there wouldn’t be anyone “specifically” to blame. I could feel myself capable of things I would never even imagine. It was terrifying. I didn’t know it could be like that. I am thankful nothing did happen because if it had….it would have been bad.
October 23rd, 2004 at 12:02 am
It was “interesting” to me when I finally felt this exact thing. I was in Union Square the last night of the RNC. There were cops effin EVERYWHERE. i mean hundreds upon hundreds of them. On top of that there were thousands of protesters.
Essentially everything was chill…but you could feel the tension in the air. I knew instinctively that if even one confrontation happened between a cop and a protester that we would have a serious problem. I could see how things could escalate to such a period of tension that everything would just crumble. It was a crazy scary riot waiting to happen.
We were lucky that time.
But I must admit that it was incredibly unnerving to know that things could go wrong at any time and there wouldn’t be anyone “specifically” to blame. I could feel myself capable of things I would never even imagine. It was terrifying. I didn’t know it could be like that. I am thankful nothing did happen because if it had….it would have been bad.
October 22nd, 2004 at 7:32 pm
A good book on mob psychology is Among the Thugs by Bill Buford. It’s about English football riots and the gangs involved, and it’s a good read, if you can find it.
October 22nd, 2004 at 7:32 pm
A good book on mob psychology is Among the Thugs by Bill Buford. It’s about English football riots and the gangs involved, and it’s a good read, if you can find it.
October 22nd, 2004 at 7:32 pm
A good book on mob psychology is Among the Thugs by Bill Buford. It’s about English football riots and the gangs involved, and it’s a good read, if you can find it.
October 22nd, 2004 at 7:32 pm
A good book on mob psychology is Among the Thugs by Bill Buford. It’s about English football riots and the gangs involved, and it’s a good read, if you can find it.
October 22nd, 2004 at 7:32 pm
A good book on mob psychology is Among the Thugs by Bill Buford. It’s about English football riots and the gangs involved, and it’s a good read, if you can find it.
October 22nd, 2004 at 7:32 pm
A good book on mob psychology is Among the Thugs by Bill Buford. It’s about English football riots and the gangs involved, and it’s a good read, if you can find it.
October 22nd, 2004 at 7:32 pm
A good book on mob psychology is Among the Thugs by Bill Buford. It’s about English football riots and the gangs involved, and it’s a good read, if you can find it.
October 22nd, 2004 at 7:03 pm
I agree. Group psychology is a strange and scary thing.
October 22nd, 2004 at 7:03 pm
I agree. Group psychology is a strange and scary thing.
October 22nd, 2004 at 7:03 pm
I agree. Group psychology is a strange and scary thing.
October 22nd, 2004 at 7:03 pm
I agree. Group psychology is a strange and scary thing.
October 22nd, 2004 at 7:03 pm
I agree. Group psychology is a strange and scary thing.
October 22nd, 2004 at 7:03 pm
I agree. Group psychology is a strange and scary thing.
October 22nd, 2004 at 7:03 pm
I agree. Group psychology is a strange and scary thing.