First things first, I think it just speaks to the kind of person that would be in a hockey riot that the local Chapters was broken into, but no one bothered to steal anything. I can't say that I would not be in possession of a few new hardcovers had I been in the area, but I digress.
Vancouverites have been thoroughly embarrassed about the incident in their city and attempts to cover the shame include claiming it was a small group of individuals (busy people), that it was all out-of towners, and desperately trying to identify the persons responsible in photos. Irony forces me to point out that the town bearing the brunt of Vancouver's "idiot hick" jokes - Surrey - remained so orderly and behaved that the Mayor loaned some of officers over to Vancouver; how's that for class? The cleanup party that has followed the destruction is getting much less airtime, sadly since it is harder to motivate people to clean up and behave altruistically that it is to get people already excited about a hockey game to riot.
The truth about riots is that they are almost like a sickness; the same energy that causes people to leap out of their seats and scream for goals is the one that makes them smash windows. Not to say all sports people are rioters - far from it. Anyone can become a rioter, all it takes is to relax, and give in to the social pressures. One or two people start lighting a car on fire, and suddenly, that is the situational 'norm', and we all know how good people are at adapting to the societal norm.
I do agree that more should have been done to prevent it, which is possible, and you think they would have learned after 1994 but apparently not. I also can't help but agree with the assessment of one blogger, The Dollar Vigilante, that noticed if people had been 'drunk' on pot instead of alcohol, " a number of them would go to the park to hold hands and sing some hymns about love - and then eat some potato chips." Finally, however, I can't agree that the government caused the riots or the anarchists - sometimes a riot is just a riot.
The only thing I can't stand is Europe looking down on us - "You call that a riot?"
Vancouverites have been thoroughly embarrassed about the incident in their city and attempts to cover the shame include claiming it was a small group of individuals (busy people), that it was all out-of towners, and desperately trying to identify the persons responsible in photos. Irony forces me to point out that the town bearing the brunt of Vancouver's "idiot hick" jokes - Surrey - remained so orderly and behaved that the Mayor loaned some of officers over to Vancouver; how's that for class? The cleanup party that has followed the destruction is getting much less airtime, sadly since it is harder to motivate people to clean up and behave altruistically that it is to get people already excited about a hockey game to riot.
The truth about riots is that they are almost like a sickness; the same energy that causes people to leap out of their seats and scream for goals is the one that makes them smash windows. Not to say all sports people are rioters - far from it. Anyone can become a rioter, all it takes is to relax, and give in to the social pressures. One or two people start lighting a car on fire, and suddenly, that is the situational 'norm', and we all know how good people are at adapting to the societal norm.
I do agree that more should have been done to prevent it, which is possible, and you think they would have learned after 1994 but apparently not. I also can't help but agree with the assessment of one blogger, The Dollar Vigilante, that noticed if people had been 'drunk' on pot instead of alcohol, " a number of them would go to the park to hold hands and sing some hymns about love - and then eat some potato chips." Finally, however, I can't agree that the government caused the riots or the anarchists - sometimes a riot is just a riot.
The only thing I can't stand is Europe looking down on us - "You call that a riot?"
No comments:
Post a Comment