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newgabeSILVER Member
what goes around comes around. unless you're into stalls.
4,030 posts
Location: Bali, Australia


Posted:
This morning I put my teenage daughter on a plane to London, where she was born, and where I lived for 10 years till the early 90's. She is staying with friends and relatives for a wee while.



Last night one of these friends told me to instruct her to never travel on public transport, or virtually walk out the door, without an adult, due to a current epidemic of Happy Slapping. At first I thought she'd said Hackie Sacking and was overreacting to the possibilities of being involved in a street game with small juggling balls.



No. She was talking about being randomly assaulted, flykicked, etc, by gangs of teenies...up to and including serious damage.. whilst being verbally humiliated and filmed for broadcast on their video phones. She, being small, young, white, pretty and probably looking a little out of place, is apparently particularly vulnerable.



Sheesh. Welcome home, darl.



I did some net-durbsing and found a variety of info, ranging from 'is this an urban myth' over to lengthy discussions on youth forums on why it is, or is not, ' funni and tight' . I got the impression that is certainly does exist, and provides another motive for random violence quite beyond theft or rape. Amusement and the generation of a sort of sadistic phone spam. My friend also tells me it is graduating to 'happy stabbing'.. as vicarious thrills require an escalation in intensity to maintain their fascination.



What I'd like to hear from local people is whether they think that London and surrounds actually are more dangerous now than they were 10 years ago. And why, or why not? Of course I'm interested in the experiences of people in other places.. USA, Kazakstan or wherever. But what going on in the UK particularly interests me right now.

Cheers

.....Can't juggle balls but I sure as hell can juggle details....


thegreatnonamemember
58 posts
Location: under your bed


Posted:
Look up phonebooking, same deal but with phone books.

Isn't sanity a one trick pony? Rational thought is all you get but when you are crazy the sky is the limit.


Sakura_MoonHop's Kitten Jester.
1,803 posts
Location: Wonderland igloo, Vic, Australia


Posted:
Happy slapping is really really stupid, why would you?
Phonebooking isnt as bad i spose, i foudn a clip of it and all they do is go and annoy someone, thinking its funny.
It would hurt a bit, but not as bad as being beaten up infront of a camera, physically and the embarassemt would be horrible.

.:Pink Exocutioner:.

I am Jack's Raging Bile Duct...

Loving you from the deepest part of my loins.



thegreatnonamemember
58 posts
Location: under your bed


Posted:
I have seen some bad ones, not everyone is as playful with the phone books.

Isn't sanity a one trick pony? Rational thought is all you get but when you are crazy the sky is the limit.


Sakura_MoonHop's Kitten Jester.
1,803 posts
Location: Wonderland igloo, Vic, Australia


Posted:
Hmm, fair deal.
But...why a phone book?
Why anyway?
How low can you get?

.:Pink Exocutioner:.

I am Jack's Raging Bile Duct...

Loving you from the deepest part of my loins.



DragonFuryBRONZE Member
Draco Iracundia
784 posts
Location: Adelaide, Australia


Posted:
whats the point of anything like that?
why cant people go back to blowing up rubbish bins and prank phone calls. Almost harmless things

Do we sleep when we die?


Kyle McLeanBRONZE Member
Living it up
363 posts
Location: Brisbane/Berlin, Australia


Posted:
So what do you locals think about violent crime now compared with 10 years ago? I really don't have a clue about the UK in this regard, but there does seem to be a common trend in many places of less crime, more fear. Not saying that is the case there or that this new techno crime is not a real problem. But it does always seem to be the more bizare, unusual, pointless and cruel crimes that tend to generate fear far greater then is justified by any actual personal risk. Last time I was in Delhi everyone was in mortal fear of being attacked by gangs of men in monkey suits with claws. And I mean like really really afraid; the thing is that it did happen to two people. Out of 1 billion.

I think when we are given details about these things we recoil but at the same time it's fasicnating and very easy to fall into imagining it happen to you. If I spent lots of time thinking about *exactly* what would happen if I was run over by a slow bus I think could learn to be quite afraid of it. But that's quite a routine way to aqquire a harp; far more likley to happen, much less interesting.
Anyway, just my 2 cents.
Hope she stays safe and sound Gabe
angel

Contact without dance is like sex without wiggling.
A) it does feel as good
B) it does not look as good on film


newgabeSILVER Member
what goes around comes around. unless you're into stalls.
4,030 posts
Location: Bali, Australia


Posted:
Written by: Kyle McLean



there does seem to be a common trend in many places of less crime, more fear. .... the thing is that it did happen to two people. Out of 1 billion.






I guess us Aussies can chat amongst ourselves while we wait for the UK to wake up! wink



I understand where you're coming from with that Kyle.. I am aware the 'less crime more fear' is our local reality, in our part of the world. And when I was on the way home from the airport I thought.. hmm, 200 incidents of this in the last few months around London.. that's what, 14999800 people in the area it didn't happen to...



But I have a horrible taste in my mouth about the degradation of violence. The phrase.. " If ya Bored, bitch slap a Norman innit" (from one of the forums) kinda stabbed me already.... when a 'bitch slap' is flykicking a girl in the back.



Actually, about my baby, I have a good feeling of reassurance...Thanks for the angel my lovely hackysackster!



Let's send some to all the vulnerable people everywhere.... tonight I am going to an Indigenous arts Festival up at Woodford... I was also thinking of all the kids through the ages who've been ripped from their mummies in truly awful situations, with the certainty of suffering.. not popped on a plane with catering and a team of hosties... and a team of HoPpers at the other end to love em up and keep em safe...



angel angel angel angel angel angel angelangelangelangelangelangelangelangelangelangelangelangelangelangelangelangelangelangelangel

.....Can't juggle balls but I sure as hell can juggle details....


MedusaSILVER Member
veteran
1,433 posts
Location: 8 days at Cloudbreak, 6 in Perth, Australia


Posted:
Talking about slapping and stuff like that we had a case no that long ago here in Perth where a young man was beaten up on camera by a group of young people at one of our train stations (it happened last month) then a couple of days later the same group beat up two young asian students...

Last night on the news it showed the group after their verdicts had been handed down...a 13 year old was given a month detention....a month for crying out loud for beating these people to a bloody pulp. They even threw the man they beat up onto the train tracks...he could have been killed.


And the 13 year old "apologised" on camera (errr yeah I'm sorry hey) sounded really sincere NOT!

Meanwhile the grandmother of said child is crying saying it isn't fair he is going to be locked away for a month cause he already said he was sorry....

OMG!!!!!!

I find it very disturbing.

DragonFuryBRONZE Member
Draco Iracundia
784 posts
Location: Adelaide, Australia


Posted:
yeah, that pisses me off, all these people complain that their kids have to go to detention centres (kids jail not illegal imigrant ones) for crimes. Yet, the kid is like 16 and doing things they know are illegal and wrong. Saying sorry doesn't cover everything, and if it wasn't their kid they'd be saying the person should get more time.

Do we sleep when we die?


MedusaSILVER Member
veteran
1,433 posts
Location: 8 days at Cloudbreak, 6 in Perth, Australia


Posted:
The kid wasn't even sorry that was what got me...he said it in a non chalant manner that made me want to make him REALLY feel sorry for what he did.

DragonFuryBRONZE Member
Draco Iracundia
784 posts
Location: Adelaide, Australia


Posted:
They should go back to embarresing criminals. Not quite as far as the stocks, but wearing a t-shirt of their crime etc while they do comunity service.

Do we sleep when we die?


MedusaSILVER Member
veteran
1,433 posts
Location: 8 days at Cloudbreak, 6 in Perth, Australia


Posted:
I totally agree something that says something like "I like to beat up innocent people on the street...feel free to treat me the way I treat others"

MiGGOLD Member
Self-Flagellation Expert
3,414 posts
Location: Bogged at CG, Australia


Posted:
i remember seeing an email, of a group of guys that would go round, in their car, with one of them leaning out the window, knocking kids off their bikes. at about 60 km/h. This particular bit of film had a demonstration of come-uppance (karma?) at work.

One of the guys leans out the car door, hits the intended target, but then overbalances, and falls out. That in itself would, possibly have been enough. (un)fortunately, he didnt fall onto the road. he fell into the rear bumper of a parked car. head first. If he survived, i'd hate to think what his face would be like nowadays.

Not sure if that has any real relevance, but.. oh well.

"beg beg grovel beg grovel"
"master"
--FSA

"There was an arse there, i couldn't help myself"
--Rougie


AlfredSILVER Member
Altyd Brandend
149 posts
Location: Orange County, California, USA


Posted:
https://www.compfused.com/directlink/738/
this is a clip of a spoof show of all the candid camera stuff where people use the fact that it is on film and for "entertainment" as a weak excuse to get away with stuff.

i agree that just coz you say sorry doesnt mean that you shouldnt be punished to the full extent of the law. Sure there can be some instances where it can be seen as just a stupid teen prank gone wrong, but being young is not an excuse.

Spinning makes my world go round


UCOFSILVER Member
15,417 posts
Location: South Wales


Posted:
Happy slap me, and I'll happily slap you back.

tongue



I find it amusing that someone in Australia is scared about sending her daughter to Enhgland thinking that this will guarentee she gets happy slapped. This is nonsence. Its not an English tradition to stand on street corners and happy slap foreigners... yet. smile

She will be fine. Worry not. Worrying is for the worried. You should not be worried. Elly will be fine hug



"Last night one of these friends told me to instruct her to never travel on public transport," That one sentence, is by far the funniest thing I have EVER read on HOP, in 3 years. smile

Yep thats right. EVERYONE who uses the tube must be slapped at least 3 times by a stranger. This is one of the laws of riding the underground system. I think your friend didnt particularly help your worries about Ellys saftey, and you know what I have said about worrying.

colemanSILVER Member
big and good and broken
7,330 posts
Location: lunn dunn, yoo kay, United Kingdom


Posted:
i agree with mr ucof there.



london is only marginally more violent/dangerous now than it was ten years ago.

the media is guilty of sensationalism in this country and thay always manage to find some new 'outrage' to blow out of proportion.





"She, being small, young, white, pretty and probably looking a little out of place, is apparently particularly vulnerable."



if you believe the papers being an old, ugly, white male makes you particularly vunerable too but there are lots of pensioners still walking about outside and using the busses safely smile





happy slapping has been called an 'epidemic' but that's simply ridiculous.



i don't believe that the ability to record violent crime on a mobile phone is responsible for an epidemic rise in said crimes.



if you look at crime figures in general then comparing the cases of happy slapping against say pickpocketing and mugging, you'd see how small a problem it actually is.





its your job to worry i guess gabe but, to be brutally honest, i think happy slapping is quite a long way down the list of things to worry about hug





cole. x

"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood


Fine_Rabid_DogInternet Hate Machine
10,530 posts
Location: They seek him here, they seek him there...


Posted:
hmmm... If the media hadn't made a big deal out of it.. half the kids wouldn't do it because they wouldn't have herad about it...

Some people at my school once tried to start it up... they got the living crap beaten out of them... serves em right too angry

The existance of flamethrowers says that someone, somewhere, at sometime said "I need to set that thing on fire, but it's too far away."


The Tea FairySILVER Member
old hand
853 posts
Location: Behind you...


Posted:
Um, yes, what UCOF says.

I've never ever seen anyone have this happen to them. I have heard of one or two kids it's happened to, but the cases I heard of occurred in school among kids who already knew each other. Don't let these things scare you, to be honest your daughter is probably still more likely to get her phone or belongings stolen than experience pointless violence of this kind. Violence and crime are everywhere in London, but we can't let it stop us from going out. Chances are she'll be fine. smile

Idolized by Aurinoko

Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind....

Bob Dylan


_Aimée_SILVER Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
4,172 posts
Location: Hastings, United Kingdom


Posted:
This happend all the time at school.
On one occasion I saw the victim turn around after being hit, and beat the utter crap out of the person who hit him. Certainly got his comeupance, as he'd happy slapped loads before.

I wouldn't be worried about your daughter. Better advice would be told in the form off 'keep your bag close'. hug

DomBRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,009 posts
Location: Bristol, UK


Posted:
I think this is a mix of a real problem and media hype. Maybe Happy Slapping is very common, but I've never seen it. Is it limited to groups of young people in common hangouts?



The Daily Mails of this world like to make big issues of how society is degrading and they've a point, but I also feel that advertising and glamourising new ways of beating people up doesn't help either.



I think London is obviously not the safest place on the planet, but it's not that bad. There's almost always enough people around to make random crime a bad idea. Only this morning I was in Brixton facing down a crack addict on the run with someone's bag and there's not a scratch on me. Apart from having my car broken into once that's the first time I've been affected by crime in the 18 months I've lived in Brixton, a supposedly dodgy area.



So, don't worry. I hope she has a good holiday over here. And if anything happens to her let us know and we'll sort 'em out!

LostSurferSILVER Member
I'd be in trouble if I had to eat an antelope now
278 posts
Location: The Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom


Posted:
I got happy slapped walking in southampton a few months ago, just coming back on a sunday afternoon after being down the park. i was pretty caned so it was all over before i even knew what had happened, although this didn't make it any nicer! it was until about half an hour later when i got home that i got really upset over it. grrrr mad

"Everything in moderation. Even moderation itself. From this it follows that you must, from time to time, have excess. And this is going to be one of those occasions"


pricklyleafSILVER Member
with added berries
1,365 posts
Location: Manchester, England (UK)


Posted:
I was going to pst a thread about this a while back when I found this shocking article

Happy Slapping a woman with cancer

Kids slapped a women who had lost her hair through cancer treatment calling her a slaphead on the first occasin she had dared to venture outside without a wig. It's awful frown

Live like there is no tomorrow,
dance like nobody is watching
and hula hoop like wiggling will save the world.

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.â€

Ralph Waldo Emerson


KaelGotRiceGOLD Member
Basu gasu bakuhatsu - because sometimes buses explode
1,584 posts
Location: Angels Landing, USA


Posted:
*thinks "A clockwork Orange"

To do: More Firedrums 08 video?

Wildfire/US East coast fire footage

LA/EDC glow/fire footage

Fresno fire


newgabeSILVER Member
what goes around comes around. unless you're into stalls.
4,030 posts
Location: Bali, Australia


Posted:
Thanks for your words chaps, specially Cole as you are in line to meet the young lady herself soon!

Hmm UCOF, I am not of a mind to think that this sort of thing is inevitable:
as in *200 incidents of this in the last few months around London.. that's what, 14999800 people in the area it didn't happen to... *

But as the friend who introduced the concept knows 2 girls it has happened to, it doesn't seem impossible either!

I gotta go now! doing artist transport at a Festival. Chat again soon

.....Can't juggle balls but I sure as hell can juggle details....


onewheeldaveGOLD Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,252 posts
Location: sheffield, United Kingdom


Posted:
On a similar theme, I noticed while on a bus in Sheffield today, a large sign saying-



'Spit and Run?

You won't get away with it'



and continuing with the information that all buses, trams and interchanges now have DNA testing kits which will be used whenever a driver is spat upon, to record details of the offenders DNA on a national database.



This is in response to a large number of instances of youths spitting on bus drivers and then running off.

"You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it."

--MAJOR KORGO KORGAR,
"Last of The Lancers"
AFC 32


Educate your self in the Hazards of Fire Breathing STAY SAFE!


UCOFSILVER Member
15,417 posts
Location: South Wales


Posted:
We saw a sign on the train today that said:

This is 1st Class.
Penalty for misuse £1000.

smile

i think that DNA thingy is a very good idea, yet I dont understand how they are going to catch the spitters, unless they wait on the bus to be arrested. Surely the only way of catching a bus spitter is when you detain them on something else, and they are found to be a match for a spitting incident. confused

newgabeSILVER Member
what goes around comes around. unless you're into stalls.
4,030 posts
Location: Bali, Australia


Posted:
Spitting on bus drivers?
What the...?

.....Can't juggle balls but I sure as hell can juggle details....


UCOFSILVER Member
15,417 posts
Location: South Wales


Posted:
That only happens in Sheffield though wink

MikeGinnyGOLD Member
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA


Posted:
My wish on these people is that they try to happy-slap a Black Belt one day and that said Black Belt responds...automatically.

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura


Hubert_CumberdaleSILVER Member
[psylocibin fingerbobe].
479 posts
Location: London, United Kingdom


Posted:
This is my new mobile phone - it has built in anti Happy Slapping technology.




Non-Https Image Link

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