citizen journalism and the riots

Everyone in Chico lately seems to be talking about the riots. They occurred Saturday night (Sunday morning) and were the result of a party being broken up by police at 12 a.m. and students taking their anger/protest outside by starting small fires on top of other things like turning a car over if I am correct. What is interesting about this riot is how much it has been video taped and photographed by students or locals participating themselves. They mostly used cell phone cameras to do this but now these videos are available all over youtube as well as the Orion and the Chico ER.

Now it is possible to view many sides of the story by clicking on the youtube videos or the Orion article for example and reading the comments underneath. An interesting debate broke out on the Orion comment section and partly on some of the youtube video comments as well regarding the Chico natives vs out-of-towners that came here only for College vs out-of-towners who come to Chico for only partying. I am guessing by the context of some of the comments the "natives" are putting the out-of-towners coming for school and the out-of-towners coming in for parties on weekends into a similar category.

This discussion reminds me of Gangs of New York in a way, about how the natives were fighting the Irish and others fresh off the boat trying to establish themselves. Often through such discussions and comments it is possible to find out how people are feeling and the general consensus or debate going on among people.

I noticed a lot of people would not use such language or discuss in such a fashion many subjects I see online on forums or comment sections of youtube videos, etc. if they weren't online anonymously. In ways these discussions make people be able to say what they really feel by not having to worry about the repercussions or being outcasted by their peers, and on the other hand it also makes them often say things that appear out of proportion or over exaggerated because it is hard reading someone's emotions over a computer screen.