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Notes -
If I am going to have a less than completely friendly interaction with 12 year old girls, I am going to be filming everything start to finish, out of simple common sense self-preservation. Moreover, if there are 12 year old rowdy girls loitering with axes in my neighbourhood, I will in fact be seeking an interaction to figure out what that is about (and potentially report them to the police, based on what that interaction reveals). To not do so seems irresponsible to me - what are they going to do with that axe? Break into someone's house? Threaten someone? Hurt themselves?
It seems to me that some people analysing this incident are operating off of a mental model of the UK as some sort of zombie apocalypse movie setting, where it is reasonable for children to carry scavenged weapons if they have to go outside in broad daylight to defend themselves from the hordes.
Do you actually think that's what was up? And anyways brings us back to MYOB -- if you actually truly believe that this girl is extremely dangerous, engaging with her and filming her is the last thing you should be doing, no?
It seems pretty clear from the video that the girl was in fact threatening somebody. The only question is whether he deserved it or not.
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I think the "wanted to impress friends" story from some parallel comments is the most likely, but the "break-in in the making" one is at least like 5%.
"Up to no good" does not imply "extremely dangerous". Without firearms in the picture, a 12 year old girl is not going to be dangerous enough to warrant unconditional avoidance. Note that even if your preferred response would indeed be as you say, it is enough if some people would think as I do (this is a situation where you should confront while filming) to reduce the probability of the scenario the culture warriors wish for ("this video depends a rape by brown immigrant being narrowly averted") precipitously.
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