This is a travesty
I think I'm going to be sick. This stirs such strong emotions that we think it is worth attacking each other. Yet, nothing in six pages of posts truly addresses this problem.
And I don't know if it can.
First, blaming government, circumstance, parents, other kids, weather patterns, solar flares and any other external force is ignoring the facts. Everyone in this video KNOWS what they are doing is a CRIME. Quit making excuses for them. There comes a point in everyone's life where "He's such a good boy" and "He would never do that" quits being an affirmative defense, despite what the ACLU thinks.
Apathy begets apathy - when was the last time you didn't report a crime because you "didn't want to get involved?" Did you vote every election? So who is responsible for government? Parents come the closest to being the cause, but we all grow up knowing what is right and wrong, and EVERY one of these people knew that there was a price on these items and a clerk in front of the store to collect money from them. They conspired to commit theft - that is obvious by the speed at which they did it. It was obviously planned.
Has anyone truly looked at this from the store owner's point of view? Yes, he has insurance. and the more claims he files, the more his premiums climb. How does he determine what was stolen? The only accurate method is to close the store and inventory it - another ten hours of lost income. Oh wait, does 10 hours of store income exceed the total of what they stole? There's no way to know. What about the employees he is going to lose and have to keep replacing and the workman's compensation claims from trauma when these mob attacks scare the employee to death? The business issues are varied and complex and not as easy as a few stolen candy bars.
Now, as far as defending the store. The state I used to live in had a law that said a group of individuals, acting in unison, could be considered a deadly threat, even if unarmed. This means if the doors are locked and the clerk is then set upon by two or three of this group, or they start to tear the store apart thereby terrorizing the other customers and the clerk, the clerk has every right to fire on these urban terrorists. Since the clerk hit the alarm when they entered, the police should mitigate any long-term damage after the address is updated to "shots fired" status. This also means that if any of their acts can be considered "terrorizing," they fall under the authority of Homeland Security and become Federal Charges and the mob a federal matter.
The owner of the store, if he himself is behind the counter or has a clerk willing to be involved, can lock the doors, inform the group that they must pay for everything or be searched to be released. If anything violent starts, the clerk follows the law, retreating if necessary, then firing on the most aggressive attackers. The rest would most likely hide in the store or back room and everyone could be arrested by police. The dead and wounded and the involvement of Federal Law Enforcement would certainly mark the owner as one not to "Flash Mob" and go across the T.V. networks as a reason not to do it.
Is this the answer? No, it's AN answer. It's no answer. It's a possibility of circumstances. So is me becoming a millionaire by winning the lottery. But the fact is nothing changes without INVOLVEMENT by everyone. You have to vote. You have to care when you think you hear a woman's muffled cries in an alley and it occurs to you it might be rape. Individual responsibility promotes social responsibility promotes societal harmony.