I guess it’s kind of interesting but, say, when I was young, it was the biker gangs that would come around and terrorize a place. Whether it was a town, (like in the movies), or a restaurant or a bar or a whatever, if they pulled in, people steered clear. These were some hard-core dudes. They were tried-and-true scary.
 
Times change, as times always do. Recently, there has been some cases of these young guys who ride supped-up minibikes terrorizing people. But, these guys aren’t scary. They’re not hardened streetfighters, like the bikers of times gone past. They’re just a band of young dudes who ride in a tribe.
 
It's kind of like, I used to live right on the beach in Redondo. There was this surf spot next to my building. At one point, these Samoan guys came in and took it over.  These were some big dudes, as many Samoans tend to be. They apparently had some surf shop in Carson, which is not even a beach city. But, if any of the surfers who frequented this spot wouldn’t purchase and ride one of their surf boards, they would kick their ass. Power in size and numbers.
 
Just last night, I watched this news story about how there is this, “Gang,” and I use that term loosely, of teenagers who ride their eclectic bikes (how weak is that?) and are terrorizing people in Manhattan, Hermosa, and Redondo Beach. On the news they showed the group of them punching and kicking one guy they had knocked to the ground. But, it was the whole crew. Not just mano a mano. Like in the other aforementioned cases, power in numbers.
 
The news also showed how at one point, they came up behind this fifty-something year old man and his wife and were giving them shit. Eventually one of them pushed the wife and she fell down. Two of them also apparently punched the guy. He fought back. I mean, isn’t that the thing you’re supposed to do if someone shoves your wife and punches you? The cops eventually showed up and the man, the old guy, was the one arrested. I guess that was because they were all teenagers. That’s just wrong. I doubt that any of them would have behaved in that manner if they were on their e-bike solo.
 
I’ve lived near the beach in the South Bay of L.A. for the better part of my life. And, there has, every now and then, been those crews of semi-rich kids that try to break hard. Even I’ve encountered a few of them back in the day. But, with money in their pockets, a daddy who’s a lawyer or a doctor, a promised future at a good university and then the family business, these guys are not hard. But, unlike that older guy, I just mentioned, they are protected. They are allowed to behave badly with no consequences.
 
It is kind of like the very liberal D.A. L.A. currently has. He lets everybody out with no bail. That’s why crime has been running rampant. There’s been all of the mob-rush, smash and grab robberies, where a crew runs in, ransacks the place, and steals all that they can, perpetrated by young criminals. In some cases, they speak about how these people are arrested multiple times for doing the smash and grabs, but, as they are immediately release O.R., they go out and do it again and again and again. Do it again as a crew, not solo.
 
I don’t know if I mentioned this, but a month or so ago, I was driving down the street and these guys, riding their bicycles, were taking over the street. “Just let ‘em live their fantasy,” was my thought. I sat back in the cut and let them pedal on. One elderly African-American woman wasn’t having it, however.  She honked at one of the peddlers. Which pissed him off. He flipped her off. Got off of his bike and lifted it like he was going to throw it into her front window. But, he looked around, his gang had moved on. He was left alone. No one to back him up. He got back on his bike and pedaled on. No back up, so he became a coward.
 
Alone none of these youthful offenders are bold.
 
I don’t know… It kind of like in Singapore, you do something wrong, and you are punished and punished hard. Sure, their society is a little repressive. But, people are safe. Isn’t that worth something?
 
Most people, (and this is a luck thing), will never encounter a gang of teenagers on e-bikes or in any other way for that matter. And, that’s a good thing.  But, when there are no consequences, there are no consequences. From this, disorder giving birth to treachery is allowed to reign supreme. And, because it is allowed to reign supreme, with no consequences, there is very little that you or I can do about it.