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Chokes McGee
Aug 7, 2008

This is Urotsuki.
We have a problem in my city. The normally law abiding citizens of Louisville, KY have been incited to lawlessness by a fan of "The Purge: Anarchy." It all started with this sinister tweet:





Flyers began to show up soon after:





This anonymous twitter user is clearly a dangerous madman. But, not to worry! The Louisville Police Department is on the case!


WLKY, Bastion of Journalism posted:

A threat posted on social media about a threat of violence in Louisville Friday night forced school officials to postpone a football game that had been scheduled.

Simon Kenton High School was supposed to play St. Xavier in a football scrimmage, but due to those threats, the game has been postponed.

The threat is based off the movie "The Purge," in which all crime is legal for one night during the year.

A flier circulating on social media said that would happen in Louisville Friday night.

Simon Kenton school officials said they couldn't take any chances.

"We always have to err on the side of caution in these types of events. Unfortunately, we can never take a risk or a gamble when we are talking about the safety of our students," said Jessica Dykes with Simon Kenton High School.


Thankfully, Saint Xavier High School Football is safe from the anarchy. But what about the rest of the city? :ohdear:


quote:

WLKY asked Mayor Greg Fischer what he thought about the purge.

"Well, I mean it's part of the world we live in right now, so it's there whether I like it or not. So what's important is that we are monitoring the situation both via social media and all the folks we have on the ground and all the community groups we have that come to us and express their concerns as well. So the sign of a healthy community is constant dialogue and helping each other out," said Fischer.

...

Police and school officials have also gotten the same fearful questions and now they're all responding.

"Anytime that there is a treat that affects our community we are going to investigate that," said Louisville Metro Police Sgt. Phil Russell.

...

On WLKY's Facebook page, thousands aren't so sure it's nonsense. As information is circulated of where this purge could take place, at the Kentucky State Fair, upcoming concerts and local high school football games, fear has grown.

Some residents on Facebook are going as far as saying they are arming themselves. The reaction is so large that police, the FBI and the school district can't ignore it.

"Due to circumstances that have trended nationally in regards to flash mob violence, in light of what occurred this past spring here, we realize that these things can occur in an instant," said Russell.



Oh good, random citizens are getting guns to protect themselves from a flyer! This should end well. Let's take a look at some of the chaos that unfolded last night.






Probably fake





:nms: http://i.imgur.com/LBtDqi3.jpg :nms:


The survivors of this horrible event take to twitter to tell their harrowing tales:











And, finally, a loving high school newspaper is the best source of journalism in town.


Manual Red Eye posted:

“It was originally supposed to be just a fun thing, I never thought it’d get as serious as it did,” said the Iroquois student, whom RedEye has chosen not to identify by name for his own protection. “I was really shocked the first time I saw local media covering it.”

...

Other students soon began circulating a fake poster modeled after the original movie poster and additional tweets about the event. Local media organizations such as WAVE 3 and the Courier-Journal covered the story in response to local concerns.

“I was sitting in my house and watching ‘The Purge,’ and I thought of the tweet and picture that started it. But didn’t think it’d get that big from there. I didn’t mean any harm by this at all. I love my city,” the student said.

(DuPont Manual alums represent)





Okie doke. All snark aside, this whole thing was a shitshow from start to finish. It reminds me of the time that a mooninite was put on the bridge in LEDs and people called in a bomb scare. In this particular instance, I can understand some amount of concern, because a specific time period was given. But blowing it up into a mass terrorist event? Based on a couple of flyers and a tiny tweet? Jesus Christ, local media.

The best part about this is that the police knew it was a hoax. They and the FBI had to release statements and investigate because they're required to, but people kept bumping into cops and asking them about it, and the response was almost a universal rolling of eyes. Yet, here we are, and everyone over the age of 40 is jumping on the kid for making a fool out of Louisville. No, Louisville, you made a fool out of Louisville.

I'm not necessarily opening debate on how terrible mass media is, especially local media. I don't think there'll be a lot of people here or elsewhere that'll argue against that. (But I could be wrong!) The point is, at what point does something like this elevate to a credible threat? How of much of this is the media culpable for? Would simply treating this as a "well be careful but honestly this sounds dumb" prevented a night of admittedly hilarious comedy, or would this would have happened anyway? Obviously, these are all hypotheticals, but a good starting point for discussion.

(Also I wanted an excuse to post this because holy poo poo we're dyin over here over it.)

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Khanstant
Apr 5, 2007
e: wrong forum

FuzzySkinner
May 23, 2012

To be fair, I imagine everyone is on edge about what's happening in Ferguson right now.

This isn't exactly a good time to cry wolf right now on these sorts of things even if it is a hoax/prank.

Ardennes
May 12, 2002

FuzzySkinner posted:

To be fair, I imagine everyone is on edge about what's happening in Ferguson right now.

This isn't exactly a good time to cry wolf right now on these sorts of things even if it is a hoax/prank.

Yeah, but I wonder particularly who in Louisville are most fearful of a "purge".

hobbesmaster
Jan 28, 2008

Ardennes posted:

Yeah, but I wonder particularly who in Louisville are most fearful of a "purge".

U of L fans?

FuzzySkinner
May 23, 2012

slightly OT.

I will say that the people joining in on the hashtag filled it with really bad spongebob/2000's Nickelodeon memes.

Like it wasn't even a funny hoax. Think of a much more stupid 4chan like, MUCH more stupid.

If you're going to do a hoax of this magnitude? Bring your A Game.

Dusty Baker 2
Jul 8, 2011

Keyboard Inghimasi
I have some friends who have been listening to the police scanner online all night and freaking out about the "Chaos".

Pretty sure they've just never listened to a police radio in a big city on a Saturday night.

Chokes McGee
Aug 7, 2008

This is Urotsuki.

FuzzySkinner posted:

I will say that the people joining in on the hashtag filled it with really bad spongebob/2000's Nickelodeon memes.

Like it wasn't even a funny hoax. Think of a much more stupid 4chan like, MUCH more stupid.

If you're going to do a hoax of this magnitude? Bring your A Game.

It was perpetrated by a high schooler. But I thought some of the hash tag stuff was actually pretty funny :smith:

FuzzySkinner posted:

To be fair, I imagine everyone is on edge about what's happening in Ferguson right now.

This isn't exactly a good time to cry wolf right now on these sorts of things even if it is a hoax/prank.

Well. My problem with this isn't necessarily the authority's response, which was surprisingly level-headed. I snark about moving the football game, but honestly, it was the right thing to do. But, I think the mayor's speech went way over the top. And, more importantly, When the Courier-Journal starts dropping poo poo like this after it's been revealed to be a dumb prank, the only conclusion is that local media is willingly and callously playing it up for more eyeballs. (Shocking in this day and age, I know.) Even if you take Ferguson into account, it makes it even more disgusting. They know people are on edge and are happy to exploit that.

hobbesmaster posted:

U of L fans?

:rimshot:

The Warszawa
Jun 6, 2005

Look at me. Look at me.

I am the captain now.

hobbesmaster posted:

U of L fans?

UK fans, meanwhile, are most likely to enact one. :colbert:

Also, given the state of the Courier-Journal, I'm unsurprised that it was outdone by high school papers (and even less surprised that the high school in question was Manual).

StabbinHobo
Oct 18, 2002

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
hey monkey did you get any good murders in

hobbesmaster
Jan 28, 2008

The Warszawa posted:

UK fans, meanwhile, are most likely to enact one. :colbert:

:thejoke:

The Warszawa
Jun 6, 2005

Look at me. Look at me.

I am the captain now.

Look, you may not want to think about the WKU scourge, but you need us on that wall.

Job Truniht
Nov 7, 2012

MY POSTS ARE REAL RETARDED, SIR
They would've gunned down the entire black youth population if the knockout game was mentioned.

Bob James
Nov 15, 2005

by Lowtax
Ultra Carp

Job Truniht posted:

They would've gunned down the entire black youth population if the knockout game was mentioned.

We need them to play basketball.

Slow News Day
Jul 4, 2007

September 11 was a huge victory for Bin Laden. A single tweet is now able to start a city-wide terror panic...

PT6A
Jan 5, 2006

Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

enraged_camel posted:

September 11 was a huge victory for Bin Laden. A single tweet is now able to start a city-wide terror panic...

This is a good point. 9/11 so changed the way that our society behaves that, in essence, the terrorists did win, and their impact on Western society will likely linger like a bad fart for decades, if not centuries, after we've drone-struck every last one of them.

hobbesmaster
Jan 28, 2008

Bob James posted:

We need them to play basketball.

UL had one player on its roster from Louisville last year... http://www.gocards.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/tim_henderson_729161.html

computer parts
Nov 18, 2010

PLEASE CLAP

enraged_camel posted:

September 11 was a huge victory for Bin Laden. A single tweet is now able to start a city-wide terror panic...

Bin Laden retroactively justified Tough on Crime legislation and making marijuana illegal.

Bob James
Nov 15, 2005

by Lowtax
Ultra Carp

hobbesmaster posted:

UL had one player on its roster from Louisville last year... http://www.gocards.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/tim_henderson_729161.html

If the cops go on a rampage as suggested they aren't going to care if you're a city native or not.


Anyway, I survived the purge. :frogc00l:

cheese eats mouse
Jul 6, 2007

A real Portlander now
Slow news day and a small town what you expect?

quote:

Purge hour 3: Current body count: 7. Half of Germantown is in riots and the area south of Rammers has been annexed by Kroger. Poseidon has moved up the Ohio and is threatening to flood Old Louisville. Mimes are talking in the highlands and a cat didn't land on its feet on Dixie Hwy. Also, this watermelon is loving delicious. #louisvillepurge2014 #blessed

At least there were some solid facebook updates!

cheese eats mouse fucked around with this message at 15:12 on Aug 18, 2014

Chokes McGee
Aug 7, 2008

This is Urotsuki.

cheese eats mouse posted:

Slow news day and a small town what you expect?

Louisville's really not a small town (28th in the nation in population), and I'm not just saying that because I live here and have some dumb sense of pride I do.

We're kind of bonkers in that we're right smack in the middle of Southern Indiana, Northern Kentucky, and the Cincy area at the same time. It's this bizarre hodgepodge of art scene, shiny new businesses, and old buildings. We are also consistently a huge deep blue dot in a sea of red come election time. :patriot:

SirPhoebos
Dec 10, 2007

WELL THAT JUST HAPPENED!

Wasn't Kentucky the state that allocated PATRIOT Act funds to protect a Goat Show? Or am I thinking of Tennessee?

cheese eats mouse
Jul 6, 2007

A real Portlander now

Chokes McGee posted:

Louisville's really not a small town (28th in the nation in population), and I'm not just saying that because I live here and have some dumb sense of pride I do.

We're kind of bonkers in that we're right smack in the middle of Southern Indiana, Northern Kentucky, and the Cincy area at the same time. It's this bizarre hodgepodge of art scene, shiny new businesses, and old buildings. We are also consistently a huge deep blue dot in a sea of red come election time. :patriot:

I live here too and it definitely feels like a small town.

hobbesmaster
Jan 28, 2008

cheese eats mouse posted:

I live here too and it definitely feels like a small town.

Its all relative... I was at a conference at the Griffin Gate and the people I was sitting with for lunch were talking about how "dangerous" the north side of Lexington was. It was really hard not to laugh.

Fried Chicken
Jan 9, 2011

Don't fry me, I'm no chicken!
I was in Louisville for this (I was doing the Bourbon Trail that weekend) and you had a bunch of people being weird about it. It ended up being nothing but your standard Friday night in a city of 700,000 people, but walking out and about people were split maybe 70-30 between treating it like a joke and actually being worried. Room mate of the guy I was crashing with walked around with a baseball bat all night "just in case"

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Badera
Jan 30, 2012

Student Brian Boyko has lost faith in America.

hobbesmaster posted:

Its all relative... I was at a conference at the Griffin Gate and the people I was sitting with for lunch were talking about how "dangerous" the north side of Lexington was. It was really hard not to laugh.

I assume they meant the part with all the dangerous minorities

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