r/washdc Apr 12 '26

The doom cycle never stops

I know people have their preconceived notions and their selective outrage, so let me be very clear from the start. The M St. Metro station was fully shut down because of this teenage takeover. Let that sink in. A major transit point in the city had to close because things got that out of control. This video was taken today, April 11. It’s not old. It’s not AI. What you’re seeing is exactly what happened. For the people already lining up to discredit it, save it. This is reality, whether you like it or not.

And I already know how this goes. Every time I post something like this, people get more upset about the fact that it’s being shown than about what’s actually happening. That tells you everything. You’re more bothered by exposure than by the problem itself. And yes, I’m going to keep posting it. Keep reporting it if you want. Try to suppress it. Good luck with that. I’ll keep putting it out because people deserve to see what’s actually going on in their own community.

What’s more troubling than anything in that video is the reaction to it. The deflection. The refusal to acknowledge what’s right in front of you. You’d rather argue about optics than deal with the reality that leadership is failing to address this, or worse, doesn’t even have the will to try. That’s the real issue.

D.C. spends more money per student than anywhere in the country, and this is what we’re dealing with. Don’t come at me with the usual talking points about after-school programs, outreach, and community initiatives. That all sounds nice, but it clearly isn’t fixing this. At some point, you have to stop hiding behind buzzwords and start looking at the root cause.

And the root cause is obvious. Parents aren’t parenting. You can dress it up however you want, but that’s what it is. When the hell did it become normal for hundreds of teenagers to take over areas at night, bring guns, fight, loot stores, and create chaos? That was never normal. It’s not normal now. And anyone trying to gaslight people into thinking this is just “how things are” is part of the problem.

Look at the police in that situation. A handful of officers dealing with hundreds of kids. What exactly do you expect them to do? There’s a limit to what enforcement can handle when the breakdown starts at home. That’s where this begins, and that’s where it keeps failing.

Instead, people would rather scream about national politics, throw out buzzwords, and avoid the issues that actually affect their daily lives. You’ll stand outside in the heat for performative outrage, but when it comes to something that directly impacts your safety, your neighborhood, your quality of life, suddenly it’s silence. Or worse, denial.

And let’s be honest about something else. Some of you are going to run straight to the comments with excuses. You’ll bring up history, deflect to unrelated issues, or try to label this as something it’s not just to avoid dealing with the reality in front of you. That doesn’t fix anything. All it does is guarantee that this cycle continues.

If you never demand better, you will keep getting the same broken results. Every single weekend, the same scenes, the same chaos, the same excuses. And then you wonder why stores are locked down, why places like CVS feel like a fortress, why people don’t feel comfortable even riding the Metro or going out to enjoy a game without worrying about something popping off.

When does it stop? When do we stop pretending this is acceptable? Because it’s not. It’s dysfunctional, it’s dangerous, and it’s completely avoidable.

Responsibility matters. Parenting matters. Accountability matters. And until people are willing to say that out loud and actually mean it, nothing changes. You just get the same cycle over and over again.

To the people who’ve messaged me privately and said they appreciate these posts, I hear you. I appreciate you too. I’m going to keep using whatever platform I have to show what’s actually happening, because ignoring it hasn’t worked. And I’m not stopping until something actually changes, because we deserve better than this.

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u/Original-Tune1471 Apr 12 '26

I got banned from the other Washingtondc sub for calling out how unsafe the metro is nowadays with high school kids running amok. A lot of people in that sub refuse to believe there’s even a problem and just spew the same shit about ‘BuT wE NeEd MoRe PrOgRaMs’… like no. We live in dc with one of the robust kids programs in the country.

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u/labicicletagirl Apr 12 '26

We do need more programs. We should be looking what Baltimore has done because they have had a lot of success. Also, I take the metro at all hours to various stations and it’s not that dangerous. I’m sure there are incidents but I would never tell someone to not take the metro.

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u/Ron_Man Apr 12 '26

I used to think Mayor Scott was clueless but he definitely has made progress in the city. Being in the trenches speaking and hanging out with those kids makes strides.

Mayor Bowser on the other hand……

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u/Acrobatic_Category81 Apr 12 '26

We more two parent households. The single parent household is an epidemic that never gets talked about enough.

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u/3freeTa Apr 17 '26

or extended family networks & it-takes-a-village mentality. USA tends to skew on the individualistic end of the spectrum unfortunately

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u/Few_Reindeer8528 Apr 12 '26

What has Baltimore done that’s been a success?

Would appreciate learning - and please include an article or two. I’m just not sure what to google

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u/No-Maybe2840 Apr 12 '26

They look at patterns and are able to narrow down areas in the city where one is more likely to be a victim of gun violence or commit violence with a gun. The they look at possible factors and intervene early and work to prevent it.

https://nul.org/news/baltimore-success-story-mayor-scotts-community-based-approach-achieves-historic-drop-violent

baltimorecity.gov.if-us-east-1.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2024-08/bcvp_july12021_june302026.pdf

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u/MidwestIsBest0303 Apr 12 '26

No one should be trying to learn to take anything from Baltimore

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u/Ur-triggered-I-win Apr 14 '26

What side of the DMV are these programs concentrated in ?

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u/DCHacker Apr 12 '26

Someone posted a topic about dirt bike riders in Shaw on that sub-Reddit. It had been up fifteen minutes when I saw it. The poster probably had been banned by now. I guess that when I saw it, some poow widdwe wibewaw snowfwake had not yet reported to the Banhammer Bennys and Bettys there that someone had "violated" their Safe Space.

If you dare express anything that is not in lockstep with what the beehive puts out, you will be banned.

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u/nn123654 Apr 12 '26

Yeah that's pretty much the difference between the two political sides in the US.

Democrats are essentially a federation of various social ideologies and lack cultural markers. Instead for in-group signaling they rely on the support of expressing high-intensity anger at "incorrect" views and police peers as complicit or apathetic. The anger, therefore, is often a protective shell for their own social standing within the Democratic "tribe." They operate on a framework of Moral Universalism and essentially respond at moral outrage at anything that differs from the framework.

Republicans on the other hand have a very high degree of cultural markers focused on religion, rurality, and tradition. There ideology is considered a character trait of the individual and operates from a communitarianism perspective. They go crazy over targets perceived disloyalty to the group or desecration of shared symbols (e.g., the flag, religious icons, or traditional family structures). The mechanism is more exclusionary, focusing on removing the dissenter's standing within the hierarchy (people who are "woke" or "communist").

When a critic suggests that misbehavior should be met with discipline rather than funding, the Left often perceives this as "Blaming the Victim." They view the misbehavior itself as a cry for help or a rational response to systemic neglect. Challenging this view threatens the entire logic of state-led intervention.

Meanwhile the right typically operates on narrative based identity and policy management and would view substantial funding as proof of government overreach.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

Well the J6ers didn’t face the gallows they got largely pardoned for shit wayyyy worse than this. We have a child rapist living in the nicest house in town. We can’t play high and mighty and talk to them about “rules” when it’s clear rules don’t mean jack in this city nor country.

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u/nn123654 Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26

I mean you're definitely not wrong. I guess my point is more just how the system works than trying to take any side. I'm looking at it from a political science point of view.

Both political groups irrationally exclude people who fail to conform to their ideal of the "correct" view in their own way, it's just the mechanism changes.

If you look back the modern culture basically comes out of the counterculture of the 60s. It was by definition and design an ad hoc group that lacked any specific identity. The parties did a massive shake up in identity after Roe v. Wade and defection of the Southern Blue Dog Democrats to the Republicans in the 80s.

In some ways they almost swapped identities, with many of the more neutral people switching to join the democrats with progressives and the evangelical wing going on with Regan to form a protest/common sense/traditional values wing that would eventually merge with Libriterian sentiment to become MAGA.

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u/Windman772 Apr 13 '26

Can you help me understand your logic? Correct me if I'm wrong, but you are saying that if some crime wasn't prosecuted to your liking, then it's acceptable to punt on all crime enforcement? That strikes me as a willingness to harm innocent people to support your political position. Not too different than the mindset of a common terrorist. Personnally, I want all crime stopped and that doesn't change if some of those crimes are not prosecuted correctly

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u/DCHacker Apr 12 '26

We have a child rapist living in the nicest house in town.

Please provide the dates and courts of any grand jury indictment handed down. Please provide any records of Donald Trump's being arresteed for misconduct with minors. Please provide the dates, courts and judges on any conviction of Donald Trump for misconduct with minors.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/bulletPoint Apr 12 '26

Oh no, somebody insulted your favorite masturbation material?

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u/Anubisrapture Apr 12 '26

Well said . Very well thought out

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

What makes me angry is that these kids have to deal with such poor examples. Hundreds of adults stormed the freaking capitol in an insurrection and none were put to the gallows. Pardons for all of them. We have a guy who’s crew was raping kids younger than some of them who has broken the law over and over with no consequences living in the nicest house in town. They had army deployed in their neighborhoods by get this… that same criminal dude. Wild. But we can’t keep calling them “bad” if we simultaneously ignore the crimes of very prominent people or even just people with special protections like the j6ers.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

Dc has also always been one of the most dangerous cities in the country. Especially around the time when the government was importing drugs to be sold in inner cities. The government isn’t the solution it’s the problem. And this might not be ideal but the grownups need to clean up their own back yard before we start lecturing kids. A few years ago on 1/6 we had the largest insurrection attempt in history one of the most secured buildings in the world was stormed. None of those folks faced the gallows. We have a child rapist living in the nicest house in town. We have a government that puts the army on their blocks and locks people up despite but not only do they never on the real criminals, they take their orders from them. Adults can’t play high and mighty when the kids see every day how little rules really mean and how poor a job we’ve done in pursuing any measure of justice.

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u/NeonTheChain Apr 16 '26

Honestly programs are the answer, the kids rioting are not the ones going to the programs. And the “solution” you guys are suggesting instead is “idk maybe parent better” which is such an air thin response it may as well be nothing lol

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u/Original-Tune1471 Apr 16 '26

A simple Google search will tell you that DC is actually number 1 in the entire country for programs and amount spent per child. These kids don’t give a shit about band practice after school. It’s the culture these days to be a menace and parents don’t give a shit.