SOUTHERN ILLINOIS—In the wake of the riots and other acts of idiocy in Ferguson, Missouri, since last weekend, over the past couple of days we’ve seen some even more intense idiocy going on here in southern Illinois and other locales, albeit calm idiocy.
In particular emerged something this past Friday regarding Louisville, Kentucky, that turned out to be a teen prankster, as highlighted in this article; excerpt:
Louisville, Kentucky Metro Police have determined the identity of the person who started the threat of a real life “Purge” that was supposed to happen beginning Friday, August 15 at 8:00 p.m. but never materialized. The instigator of the fear and panic that some Kentucky residents experienced is a clearly misguided teenager who created a cheesy poster and took to social media to spread anxiety and concern for authorities as well as a sick purge-thrill to those who thought the idea not just novel, but plausible. Disturbing images and text circulated on Twitter showing weaponry and indicating both excitement and anticipation for the start of what was intended to be an overnight, lawless violence-fest.
The original 2013 The Purge is a horror flick starring Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey in which for one 12-hour period a year society becomes lawless and authorities turn a blind eye to all crime. The sequel, The Purge: Anarchy was released in July of this year and both flicks can be considered typical middle of the road summer film fodder. Both flicks have a Motion Picture Rating of “R” for strong disturbing violence and gore, sex and nudity, profanity, alcohol, drugs and smoking, and frightening and intense scenes.
Although The Purge and the sequel are no more or less violent or disturbing than a slew of recent movies, the thought of a potential real life purge event of any magnitude was enough to cause residents in Louisville and even event planners in the area considerable concern. Some high schools canceled their Friday night athletic events, fans of bands scheduled to perform in the area worried that the objects of their fandom would be in danger and people were tuned in to police scanners waiting for any hint of potential violence.
Read more here
Now, we’ve got copycats, right here in southern Illinois, who are capitalizing on the fun, not realizing that they are inching toward giving our paramilitarized cops a reason to start cracking down and cracking heads at any given opportunity:
For those of you who aren’t familiar with “The Purge,” please click the link on the name and check the wiki entry. Here’s a vid of the trailer; please be aware that it’s rather violent and measuredly graphic:
Will such a thing happen due to the riots in Ferguson? Highly unlikely. But: Pre-planned anarchy like that kid did in Kentucky is just dumb, for a number of reasons: One, it just can’t be done that way. Anarchy is chaos, and chaos isn’t constructed; it just happens. Two, it gives police a heads-up, so that, like in Louisville the other night, we were all listening to live feeds of what Louisville police were dealing with, and laughing at dildos being thrown at cars and someone claiming to have found out their neighbor was having sex with his cat. It kind of puts the cops on guard, and they’re prepared for it, so if there IS an outbreak of “unrest,” what do they do? They “go to their cell phones” and it’s kept off the airwaves…thus defeating the purpose of listening to them in their scanner doings.
But most of all, it gives our paramilitarized police (developed after 9/11 as “tactical response teams” for “homeland security” purposes…right…like there are going to be “terrorists” coming to southern Illinois) a reason to gear up. And if you’ve ever seen their ridiculous “displays” in action, you’ll know that they LOOK for reasons to “gear up.” With their Lenco Bears and armored vehicles and sound cannons, they’re just itching to use that stuff on we the people…and they’ll look for any excuse in the book.
So while the southern Illinois purge going around social networking sites is cool and funny and interesting to share, on another level, it’s not. It’s irresponsible to post it as something desirable. Because remember: Any “purge” going on isn’t going to be like in the movies; there isn’t going to be this situation where people will be safe in their homes as long as they stay out of the way and just go after the “bad guys”…because the perception of who a “bad guy” is changes from person to person. And in that case—like in the film—the ‘purge’ usually occurs on all the wrong people…and worse, our emergency services will likely be in on it too. So stop the bullshit…get involved where it counts, including getting educated and informed about how your local governments really work and how you can improve them; put up good candidates for public office; get out and vote and urge others to do so; and stop hoping/pushing toward anarchy. The latter’s not going to help anything; only the former suggestions will.