Prevention strategies for celebratory riots Essay

Prevention strategies for celebratory riots - Essay Example This slack in law enforcement during the event led to the Nika riot, which is held as deadliest riots in world history, with over 30,000 killed. Riots have a tradition in human society that dates as far back as before Christ. The earliest recorded riot is the Roman Election of 121 B.C., then the Roman Election Riot of 113 B.C. After that, as previously mentioned, the Nika riots in Constantinople, during the Byzantine Empire, holds the mark as the most disastrous in all of history. This makes a very saying statement pertaining to the relationship between sports and human emotion. Celebratory riots are often referred to as spectator aggression, which, as defined by the NCAA, means behavior that intends to destroy property or injure another person, or is grounded in a total disregard for the well-being of self or others (NCAA Report, 2003, p.2). The Ohio State University Task Force on Preventing Celebratory Riots published the following list as a number of factors that can define a celebratory riot: In laymen's, a celebratory riot is a wide range or chain of events that include a large number of people acting in a way that threatens the personal safety of others and property. This is usually very chaotic, violent, dangerous behavior that results in many injuries, much damage and arrests. They also usually happen after planned events, more often than not after sports events (University of New Hampshire Student Summary, 2003). The goal of many University task forces is to formulate the best possible method of preventing these types of riots from happening. Before one can hope to prevent celebratory riots, they must first understand the science behind their madness. Riots are like forest fires, specifically the ones that start on their own. Each with its own catalyst, often the celebratory riots erupting at universities are the product of hormonal angst combined with alcoholic beverages. This combination can lead to a chain reaction, but it is not only induced by the conveniently social nature of sporting events, but by a cultural obsession with sports itself. This human obsession is best described by sociologist John Fiske who points out that sports bring out: peaks of intense experience when the body identifies with its external conditions, and thus shakes itself free from the repressive difference between their control and our sense of identity. This intensity is often experienced by fans as a sense of release, of loss of control. Fans often use metaphors of madness to describe it, and madness, as Foucault has shown us, is what lies just outside the boundary of civilization and control. (Fiske, 1991a: 11-20) Here Fiske connects the end result of celebratory rioting to the emotions felt while attending sporting events. With celebratory riots playing such a big part in human history, it says a lot about human nature. Thankfully, contemporary western society has learned from its ancient counterparts, and we don't correspond our sports, too heavily, with our religion or politics. Even still, many major sports colleges and universities are becoming notorious for their celebratory gatherings. In a survey conducted by Ohio State University's Task Force on Celebratory Riots during March of 2003, all of the following universities reported that they had experienced at