Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id MAA26693 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 14 Jun 2000 12:40:28 +0100 Message-ID: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D31017458BC@inchna.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: memetic engineering in the park Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 12:38:40 +0100 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
I think more evident than the meme in the events themselves are the memes in
the selection of this as a news story.
In a city like New York when have a couple of gropings ever been considered
worthy crime news? (with all respect to the victims, but news isn't
respectful).
The report demonstrates how news converts minor events, of the kind that
often occur, into major 'news'. We see, for example, the relation of the
incidents to the city's falling crime rate, whihc is irrelevant to what
actually happened. Why is it mentioned- to turn these non-murder,
non-rape, non-armed robbery, minor offences into something unusual enough to
warrant becoming news. Other elements add to the message here (being 'this
is news, honest it is'), are the notions of crime in broad daylight (how
unusual), how there were lots of police around but they didn't see anything
(ditto), and that passers by did nothing to help the women being assaulted
by a mob (ditto again).
You get 'victim' quotes, the worst kind of quotes that I really hate in news
and documentaries. Why? Because you know exactly what they are going to
say. If they are a victim themselves, they will say how awful the
experience was- as if they're going to say "actually being sexually
assaulted was fun". If they are a relative of a dead victim, you get "they
were a really happy, caring, family person, very loving etc. etc."- as if
they're going to say "actually i"m glad they are dead, the whole family
hated them". Or you get victim/victim's relative on the criminal "I hate
them I want them locked up forever/sent to the chair", as if you're going to
get "let them go they're a nice person really". Comments from criminals are
much more varied and much more interesting, with those who are remorseful,
those who are clearly faking remorse, and those who aren't remorseful at
all. Of course, then you get the "why did you do it?" question from
journalists- although this is noticeably missing from this report.
All of this would be acceptable if the report offered neat conclusions/
resolutions to the events, but of course it doesn't. Nobody really knows
what happened or why, so you get authority figures speculating, and then
throw in a spectator's hyperbolic comment about it being the worst thing
ever, ever.
So, to my mind, the real meme here is the entire story, and the tragedy is
that the news is littered with this kind of thing (see Matthew Kerbel's
biting 'If It Bleeds It Leads' for an analysis of US TV news in this kind of
manner). Journalists work to this set of news values, and audiences buy
into it- not necessarily believing what they see/read, but accepting the way
in which news in structured, despite that structure often offering nothing
in the way of information and explanation of events.
As to the events themselves, well I guess a social psychologist would have
to answer that one (although heat, drink and hormones of young men probably
were contributory factors).
Vincent
> ----------
> From: Wade T.Smith
> Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2000 2:01 pm
> To: memetics list
> Subject: memetic engineering in the park
>
> Case Study- find the meme.
>
> __________________________
>
> Mob Attacks on Women in the Park Stun City
>
> By C. J. CHIVERS and KEVIN FLYNN
>
> One woman, a newly wed French tourist, had two gold chains snatched from
> her neck as chanting men removed her skirt. Three others, teenagers from
> London, were surrounded by the group of men, who sprayed them with water,
> tore at their clothing and sexually abused one of them. Another woman, on
> in-line skates, was pulled to the ground by her backpack by the men, who
> then desperately tried to pull down her shorts.
>
> These were among the accounts the authorities were sorting through
> yesterday as they struggled to find members of a wild, cheering mob that
> attacked at least seven women in Central Park on Sunday evening after the
> National Puerto Rican Day Parade.
>
> In 35 riotous minutes that terrified the victims and have perplexed
> public officials and the police, the men, whose number has been estimated
> variously as 15 to 25, overwhelmed and groped at women in four separate
> attacks. It was a bizarre sequence of lawlessness in a park whose revival
> has been emblematic of the city's rebirth.
>
> "I never felt in my entire life that I couldn't protect myself until
> then," said the skater, Peyton Bryant, 29, a kickboxing teacher who lives
> in Manhattan. "I felt confused. I felt terrified. I felt traumatized."
>
> The authorities made two arrests, charging Dave Rowe, 24, of Hempstead,
> N.Y., and Tremayne Bain, 23, of Brooklyn, but they were still trying last
> night to determine who else was involved. The two arrested were charged
> with the second-degree robbery, first-degree sexual abuse and
> second-degree aggravated sexual abuse of a British tourist.
>
> The police said the men, as part of a larger group, had surrounded the
> tourist, groped her and robbed her of $200.
>
> The attacks came during a oppressively hot weekend in which six people
> were killed and scores of others injured in crimes throughout the city.
> But of all the incidents reported on a busy crime blotter, the Central
> Park attacks appeared to resonate the loudest, coming as they did in
> broad daylight in the city's quintessential public space.
>
> Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani moved yesterday to portray the attacks as
> aberrations in a city that has otherwise experienced a remarkable decline
> in crime. The mayor said the city remained safe, but noted that some
> violence would inevitably occur.
>
> "It is unrealistic to assume that police officers can be everywhere at
> all times, particularly when they are dealing with a parade," he said.
>
> Indeed, Central Park in recent years has seen a striking drop in crime, a
> trend that has continued this year. There have been no murders in the
> park this year. The police said yesterday that from the beginning of the
> year through Sunday, there had been one fewer robbery in the park, 13
> versus 14, and one fewer assault, four versus five, than for the same
> period last year.
>
> Regardless of the larger crime trends, the police acknowledged that for
> the victims, the attacks Sunday evening were bizarre and horrifying
> experiences, cases of young women stumbling into near riotous mobs and
> finding no help from other people on the street.
>
> The circumstances were peculiar, coming after the excitement that drew
> thousands to the Puerto Rican Day Parade. The police said the people
> involved in the attacks appeared to have been drawn to the area by the
> parade.
>
> And in the hours after it ended, parts of Central Park and the Upper East
> Side were transformed into a mad congestion of compressed bodies. Cars --
> some with shirtless, shouting men hanging from windows -- zipped in and
> out of traffic.
>
> As the temperature hovered near 90, groups of men began indiscriminately
> splashing water on passers-by along the parade route's final blocks on
> Fifth Avenue, using squirt guns and plastic containers of spring water to
> douse the sweaty crowds. Into this area of extended confusion wandered
> the young women, who were overpowered in escalating attacks.
>
> "It seems like what happened," said one police supervisor, "was the mob
> would do one bad thing, and then they would do something worse."
>
> The first assault occurred at 6:14 p.m. near Sixth Avenue and Central
> Park South when two teenagers from Long Island walked into the park and
> were surrounded by a group of 15 to 20 men at Simon Bolivar Plaza, a
> senior investigator said. The police said that the men rushed the women,
> spraying them from plastic water bottles and squirt guns before groping
> them on the outside of their clothes. The older victim, who the police
> said is 18, was pushed to the ground. One attackers stole a pocketbook
> from the pair, the police said, and the men moved on.
>
> Within minutes, another attack began, apparently by the same group. The
> police said that at 6:28 p.m., a couple from France on their honeymoon
> were surrounded by 25 men on Center Drive near the Wollman Memorial Rink.
> The attack started much like the first. The group splashed water on the
> 28-year-old woman, the senior official said. The men chanted, "Soak her!
> Soak her!"
>
> Then the scene turned violent, as the men pulled off her skirt and
> underpants, and yanked two gold chains from her neck.
>
> The investigator said the husband struggled to protect his wife, forcing
> his way into the crowd and lying on top of her until the group backed
> off. As the men gave way, the couple ran toward Central Park South, where
> they met officers from the Traffic Control Division near the Whiskey Park
> bar. The officers called for reinforcements.
>
> The scene startled Rita Berlin, 26, the bar's manager, who was sitting
> near the bar's window as the frightened woman was escorted into a police
> truck.
>
> She said the attack occurred just after she herself had been taunted by
> men who made lurid remarks as she walked through the revelers to come to
> work.
>
> "This is the worst day I have ever seen in New York," Ms. Berlin said. "I
> would rather take the subway at 4 a.m. 50 times than go through what I
> did today."
>
> At about the same time as the attack on the French couple, Ms. Bryant, on
> in-line skates, turned onto Central Park South and a large group of men
> grabbed at her backpack, pulled her to the ground and tried to pull down
> her drawstring shorts, she said. The attack lasted as long as five
> minutes, she said.
>
> Ms. Bryant said that eventually the men gave up and left, but not before
> stealing her cellular phone.
>
> Ms. Bryant, who said the police were slow to respond to her complaint,
> contacted reporters after the incident to describe the attack.
>
> The police said the last attack occurred minutes later, at 6:48 p.m., in
> the park near East 59th Street when three tourists from London
> encountered about 15 men, including Mr. Bain and Mr. Rowe.
>
> According to investigators, the women ran in different directions. The
> men surrounded one of the women, tore her shirt and pulled down her
> shorts, and then groped her genital area and breasts. They also snatched
> her purse, which contained $200.
>
> The police said the women were released and almost immediately located
> police officers. Hundreds were on duty in the immediate area.
>
> Accompanied by officers, they returned to the scene, where one of them
> identified Mr. Bain and Mr. Rowe as two of the assailants, the police
> said. The men were arrested at the scene.
>
> Both men, who the police said had no criminal records, were charged and
> held for questioning yesterday.
>
> Sgt. Andrew McInnis said the authorities believe both men were involved
> in all of the attacks.
>
> The authorities also said they had since interviewed other witnesses and
> potential suspects, and believe that the attacks were all committed by
> the same group of men, some of whom were friends from Queens. A senior
> police official said the French couple, who had planned to continue their
> honeymoon in Washington, had postponed their travel plans to help the
> investigation.
>
> The long, wild run of violence astonished city officials, who said the
> victims were describing inexplicable events. C. Virginia Fields, the
> Manhattan borough president, said she could not fathom how the attacks
> could take place "at some of the more populated areas of the park without
> someone reporting it immediately and with no police presence in the area."
>
> But police officials said that the parade had been adequately staffed,
> and that more officers were assigned to it this year than last.
>
> Within Central Park alone, police officials said, 950 police officers
> were on duty, 120 more than in 1999. On a normal Sunday afternoon in
> June, no more than 36 officers are assigned to the park, officials said.
> "No one noticed the people were in trouble until the crowd had moved on,"
> a senior police official said, "because each of the victims had been
> surrounded."
>
> Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
>
> ===============================================================
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
> Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
> For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
> see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
>
===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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