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.

  • OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 day ago

    Police did not mention which slurs the teenager allegedly used. None of the teens were identified because they are minors, police confirmed.

    Part of me wonders if this is because they were calling him a pedo and they lured him under the pretense of meeting minors

    • Cypher@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 day ago

      Outrage over the headline lacking the word gay and none for gay men trying to have sex with 16-17 year olds?

  • TommySoda@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    89
    ·
    3 days ago

    They refrain from mentioning what trend, what dating app, and what slurs these teens were using. But based off context my best guess is that these guys were convincing some gay men they were down to hook up only to just assault them instead. Why you would want to do this, I have no idea. I know kids do shitty things but I think these guys were just shitty people.

    And what kind of fucking internet trend involves luring people just to assault them? If that’s the kinda content you consume as an individual you’re a fucking idiot.

    • irotsoma@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      26
      ·
      2 days ago

      The trend is of homophobes luring homosexual men to be attacked using the app Gr*****r. It’s been gaining steam since Trump won the first time and has escalated again after the latest win. In many places it will not be prosecuted unless it gains media attention. And most gay men in those kinda of areas don’t want to be out, so don’t even report it. So it’s becoming more common.

    • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      43
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 days ago

      Yeah, social media trends aren’t the problem here. Being a piece of shit is the problem.

      • catloaf@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        20
        ·
        3 days ago

        Social media is a factor. Unmoderated content encouraging violence results in events like these.

        • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          8
          arrow-down
          5
          ·
          3 days ago

          Is it though? That kind of sounds like the next iteration of blaming movies/video games/d&d/whatever the latest crazy is.

          • djsoren19@yiffit.net
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            14
            ·
            3 days ago

            The thing is, the boomers of the past were wrong because none of that media was promoting violence. They were making it up.

            The Tiktok algorithm promotes violence as a fast-pass to fame. It rewards people for making abhorrent trends with clicks.

            • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              4
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              edit-2
              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.

              • Tinidril@midwest.social
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                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.

          • catloaf@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            5
            ·
            3 days ago

            This one has scientific backing. Just Google any combination of terms and you’ll find studies showing harm.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      18
      ·
      edit-2
      2 days ago

      Why you would want to do this, I have no idea.

      For real? My guess would be bigotry and homophobia?

      • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        2 days ago

        ah back in my day we didn’t need an app or to even be out to get the shit kicked out of us for being gay*

        funnily enough my bullies knew better I was gay* than I did

        *bi

    • Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      15
      ·
      3 days ago

      Ya if it was a group of 16 year olds luring a pedophile than all the power to them.

      If it was a group of 18 year olds just luring a gay man and assaulting him for his sexuality then hopefully they get tried as adults and put behind bars for a good number of years.