The teens, all males 17 and 16, were charged with aggravated battery, criminal damage to property and mob action. Some allegedly took inspiration for the crimes from social media.

Summary

Eleven Illinois teens face felony charges after allegedly luring two men via dating apps and assaulting them last July.

Inspired by a viral social media trend, the teens attacked a 41-year-old and a 23-year-old in separate incidents, damaging vehicles and using slurs in one case, resulting in hate crime charges for one teen.

All suspects turned themselves in and were detained at a juvenile center.

Police urge parents to discuss the dangers of social media trends with their children to prevent such incidents.

  • @AbidanYreEnglish
    1•2 days ago

    I don’t know, it’s hard to argue that the action movies of 40 years ago or games like Postal weren’t glorifying violence.

    Though I can certainly see an argument about the difference based on the fact that movies/TV/video games are all imaginary vs the actual violence in something like this.

    • @[email protected]English
      4•2 days ago

      The question is, does “glorifying violence” encourage people to be violent? Barring other factors, studies have not found that to be the case. There are some studies that show video games actually reduce stress hormones by giving people a release, and this might actually lower violence.

      It’s a lot different to connect violent rhetoric with gay bashing, refer to gays as predators, then provide a template for how to ambush them.