Sometimes a blogpost has an afterlife, and yesterday's post on the Fabolous concert seems to fit that bill. Feedback on facebook was extensive, and Fabulous himself used his page to explain his short appearance. Seems as if he was restricted to about a 20 minute show, in order to prevent the venue from charging the promoter a surcharge. He showed grace about his show being shorted, and appreciation for his fans.
My post yesterday was criticized for repeating things reported in The Morning Call, which referred to the audience as unruly, both inside and outside the arena. Others found my post racially insensitive, for repeating what they referred to as stereotypes. There was pushback against me using the word riot in my blog title.
Needless to say, I do not determine booking criteria for the PPL Arena. While the Morning Call article might have that effect, this blog does not, despite my illusions of grandeur. However, what does occur to me is that those who defend the crowd behavior as normative are doing this genre of music no favor.
photo of Fabulous performing at PPL Arena
Of course, the ethnic agitators would spin this as profiling, discrimination and misinformation reported by "white" news agencies. Yes, anybody with half a brain would stay away from events like this because they breed trouble and general lawlessness. So therefore, we depend on the media and supporting documentation for our consideration. The homemade video was so compelling it spoke for itself!
ReplyDeleteFirst, it looked like a riot to me or a situation that can quickly explode into one. Second, mutual aid wasn't called in until the outside fracas began. [This wouldn't have been needed if proper police planning and adjustments were made]. Third, this is not proper conduct or normative behavior by concert goers. Fourth, Eight [8] arrests are significant and tied up police resources for hours; all at the expense of the taxpayers.
I hope event planners at the arena have learned a valuable lesson with this debacle.
Let the big cities host these types of events wherein proper event and police planning is instituted. A city like Allentown, even though it has turned into an urban jungle, cannot effectively manage or provide the proper police planning, allocation, and overall security for a venue that can't handle a show where violence is the norm, not the routine. Imagine if this was sold out! Here is Interim mayor Maclean's first test!
1. Come out with a real name
ReplyDelete2. Yeah, this ethnic agitator...me..a 62 year old WHITE woman is calling out the TRUTH. Not spinning anything.
3. 1 drunk man fought with the police. 7 girls got into a fight about a dead girl. You need 4 police departments for that? I'm pissed they tired up departments that a needed in their own municipalities!
4. Do some reseach...fights have broken out at many rock, county and soul concerts. Fights, one included a murder break out at white for hall wedding receptions.
5. I will call out profiling, racism, gentrification and disenfranchisment as lo by as I'm breathing.
Use an actual name...keyboard warrior
valerie@10:19, this blog has the strictest name policy in the local blogosphere. although i allow the use of a pseudonym, i do not allow anonymous. consequently, although privacy can be maintained, there is consistency.
ReplyDeletelikewise, no local venue has fought against gentrification and disenfranchisement in allentown more than this one.
beyond my "no anonymous comment allowed" policy, i try and give my commenters freedom of expression. in yesterday's post you held me accountable for their comments, that is not fair to me. it's too easy to accuse people of racism
comments are welcome, but i do not encourage dialogue between commenters. i do not wish to host a chat room.
I saw comments on the Morning Call's web site referring to all concert attendees as "animals" and "cockroaches". Another alleged that society allowed this to happen by tolerating bad behavior going back to Rosa Parks (?). The comments were rightly removed for their absurdity and racism but I think they are instructive.
ReplyDeleteEight people in a crowd of three thousand behave badly, and since people of color are involved, it becomes an occasion to make negative and ugly comments about an entire group. If you were one of the 2,992 people at that concert who didn't get arrested for fighting, you're still somehow responsible for the sins of the eight who did.
I never seem to hear the same negativity and ugly terminology and broad-brush talk when it's white people who are behaving badly. I never heard someone refer to all whites, or even all white investment bankers, as cockroaches, animals, or thugs when their bad behavior toasted the whole economy, creating the subprime crisis. I've never heard someone argue that all whites are somehow responsible for the mass shootings which are almost all committed by white people. Nobody said Ed Pawlowski's crimes show that white people have bad values.
Lest anyone think I am accusing him or her, let me be clear -- I am addressing the comments that were made on the Morning Call's web site in the aftermath of the incident. If anyone reading my comment hears it as a personal accusation, they're hearing something I never said.
ReplyDeleteBack to the genre of music. It doesn't need any favors from me or anyone else. As you saw on my wall Sam Younes posted it is the largest selling music in the country.
ReplyDeleteThe genre has been mainstreamed since the late 70's. It's not going anywhere, anytime soon.
I stand by what I said, see and feel yesterday. There was NO reason for 4 police departments to be showing their might. As many pointed out the evening that the Eagles won people went nuts on the city streets. Cops cars were set on fire, people climbed poles, drank in the streets...but no headline like that of MC!
Saturday night, in Bethelemn drunken pub crawlers converged into the tiny Artisan Wine Bar. They smashed glasses, stood on the stools and tried to grab the mics from the performers.
Don't tell me there is not a double standard. This city and Bethlehem will promote St Paddys Day for an entire week and it's all good.
Your 2nd article did nothing to help right these wrongs.
THERE is ONE race...the HUMAN RACE and we are headed for self destruction.
Correction. The sales article was posted by Stephan Walker, not Sam.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.businessinsider.com/hip-hop-passes-rock-most-popular-music-genre-nielsen-2018-1
I found no faults in your blog. Truth used to be normal. Now it's refreshing. Thank You,
ReplyDeleteDon Barga
don@1:49, perhaps valerie mistook this post as a mea culpa for yesterday. it was only intended to acknowledge that numerous people took issue on social media.
ReplyDeleteValerie identifies as a 62-year old woman and thinks we are headed for 'destruction.' Hard to believe coming from someone who lived in the 60s. If we survived that we can survive anything.
ReplyDeleteNot a chat room but you're chatting about me. Lol
DeleteYou chose to ignore the man's comment about how racist the posts on MCall were. That's what I'm trying to point out. You're feeding the masses.
As for living through the 60'sn that's why I feel the way I do. I never thought 50 years after the murder of Dr. King would we still be in this place.
I identify as a HUMAN BEING. There is only one race...the human race. When you discover this...the world may be a better place!
valarie@10:05, i'm sorry that you think that i condone racist comments or "feed" them. i appreciated bob's comment of 10:48 am on the rightfully removed racist comments at the morning call. i prefer not to comment on my own blog, and only do so when i think that it's necessary for clarity.
ReplyDelete