This Is What Happens When Good Community Goes Bad

Last week, Penn State (my alma mater) overcame its most difficult football challenge of the season—defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes. The aftermath was boisterous. A celebration for Penn State fans everywhere. But back in State College, PA, boisterous turned into raucous way too quick.

Students flooded the streets. Beaver Canyon, the core of off-campus life, became a sea of blue and white. And when I first watched the footage I thought, “Awesome!” But I changed my mind.

You see, I love Penn State. It’s still a huge part of my life. And when something remarkable happens to that community, I can be as rowdy as they come. But when a community as great as Happy Valley turns on itself—and ends up hurting itself— it’s just way too ugly to ignore.
Communities are a wonderful thing—college communities, neighborhood communities, online communities—and most accomplish great things. But sometimes, communities can turn dangerous. And last week at Penn State was a perfect example.

It’s easy to be an asshole in chaotic situations.

I first found out about the Penn State riot online. My younger frat bros who are still in school had pictures up on Facebook. A few sorority girls I knew had links to the footage on Instant Messenger saying how “fucking awesome” it was. To be fair, that was my first reaction too.

But things got ugly. And they didn’t get ugly because of a community of criminals. They got ugly because of a handful of criminals scattered amidst thousands in a massive celebration.

A couple of meatheads, drunk off their own stupidity, thought it would be cool to rip down some street lights. Or break some bottles. Or smash some cop-car windows. And everybody suffered.

This kind of thing happens in communities all the time. Big or small, minority behavior tends to put us all in a whacked out situation. It even happens with communities online.

It’s like that blog post that organically creates passionate response. Usually the response is civil … but then someone realizes they can say anything they want, with no consequence. And a passionate, engaging dialogue turns sour.

And guess who usually gets burned in this equation? It’s not the person who was just there to throw some stones. It’s the people who showed up to genuinely enjoy the celebration. They’re the ones who end up with mace in their eyes.

And then the blame game begins …

I don’t know what happened first at PSU, the rioting or the mace. I’m pretty sure nobody will ever truly know. But regardless, we’ll still try to place blame months from now no matter what.

Students will blame the cops, because let’s face it: cops are the Anti-Christ to a college kid. And the cops will blame the students, because they’re just the spoiled-rotten kids their job forces them to deal with seven days a week. And when I read the post-riot articles online, I can really sympathize with both sides.

Fortunately, the online communities I’ve experienced are far tamer. But the blame game remains the same. Because how individuals act within any community affects how the entire community is perceived.

If some wild card decided to get slanderous tomorrow on Brazen, there wouldn’t be any long-term damage. But someone is going to be offended, or hurt. And when you’re trying to build a community that respects one another despite their differences in opinion, you do your best to make sure nobody walks away bruised.

And there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

Just like overcoming great odds as an individual, communities that overcome great odds become stronger and more composed once the next obstacle erupts. The Penn State community will, and so will any other community that looks at what they did wrong the first time and makes changes in response.

I think the first step is to recognize how powerful we are when united. With that unity we can do great things, but can also wreak havoc. And sometimes pride and passion are great catalysts for people with violent intentions.

But I don’t think that means that we should dilute ourselves either. We just have to be more aware of the actions of the people around us. And if they’re malicious, it’s our responsibility to do something about it. And it’s harder to do than you think.

But I think that’s a leadership skill many of us don’t use that often, maybe we don’t even have it. But it’s certainly one that every community needs.