`Happy slap\' yobs breed fear, anger
By Tom Hundley Tribune foreign correspondent
Sun Jun 19, 9:40 AM ET
Watch out for "happy slapping," the latest youth craze to sweep Britain.
It\'s not a new dance step or even a new designer drug. It\'s a criminal assault.
Groups of teenagers approach an unsuspecting person and begin punching and kicking him or her while capturing it all on their mobile camera phones. The images are later uploaded and shared on the Internet.
The victims can be young or old, male or female. Bus stops, tube stations and parks are considered prime venues. In most cases, the injuries are minor. But on Saturday, British newspapers reported that an 11-year-old London girl had been raped by a gang of happy slappers, and Scotland Yard confirmed that three 14-year-old boys had been arrested.
The craze apparently started in London late last year but has spread across the country. British Transport Police say they have investigated about 200 attacks in London alone since the beginning of the year, but they acknowledge that most go unreported.
Happy slapping is the latest manifestation of what Britons call "yob culture." The word "yob" dates to the 19th Century--it likely derives from "boy" spelled backward--and it denotes a kind of loutish, anti-social behavior associated with working-class youth in Britain\'s urban centers. The British soccer hooligan is the quintessential yob.
"I happyslap people," explained "Huni bo" from Sleaford on a popular yob blog. "I dnt see nowt wrong wit it tho, ima good person! Its well funni tho!!"
"It\'s not funny," replied Spartanette from Swansea. "If it\'s just among mates and you actually know the person, then it\'s harmless, but when you do it to someone you don\'t even know, you deserve a beating."
"So I deserve a beatin yeh?" replied Huni bo. "Wes onli do it ppl lyk are age ish, say from 15 -- 19 or 20. summats, wunt do it to an old man, even though they keep avin a go at us, an it dus are heds in!"
Violent anti-social behavior is hardly news in Britain--it was common in Charles Dickens\' time and was made iconic by the 1971 film and Anthony Burgess\' 1962 novel, "A Clockwork Orange"--but a particularly vicious attack last month once again focused national attention on the problem.
Phil Carroll, 49, a father of four from Salford, a modest, middle-class suburb of Manchester, confronted three youths from a nearby housing project after they threw a stone at his car. Suddenly, he was set upon by a larger group. The attackers left him bleeding and unconscious in the street. He remained in a coma for two weeks before waking.
But it wasn\'t the attack that drew headlines. It was Manchester Police Chief Supt. David Baines\' graphic characterization of the attackers:
"They are gangs of feral youths who are under no control from adults, parents or anyone else," he said. "They are not concerned about respect or their responsibilities. The criminal justice system holds no fear for them. This is a national problem. Today it is Salford. Tomorrow, it will be somewhere else."
