Thursday, June 16, 2011

We Were Made For This?

Last night, the rioting started 10 minutes after we closed the store early to get our staff out of downtown quickly and safely. Burning cars and tear gas surrounded my old apartment. Four hours later, looting stopped a block away from the store. No, Canucks, no.

This was not anarchy. This was not a revolution. This was the rage of a mob of drunk 21-year-old frat boys who were dumb enough to have their faces broadcast all over the news and social media and, thanks to the VPD and facial recognition technology, will now have to face the consequences that hopefully involve criminal charges.

There are people dying in this world. Greeks are rioting because their economy has collapsed and they have nothing. Iranis protest (and relatively peacefully, I might add) because their political leaders are murderously corrupt and they want democratic justice. Whether the crowd was from Kits or Langley is irrelevant. The fact that it also happens in Montreal is horrifying. We actively participated in electing a majority-government that is peppered with criminals and led by a man who was found in contempt and prorogued Parliament twice, and Canucks 'fans' push someone (apparently a Bruins fan) off the Viaduct, burn cars, and rob businesses all because of a hockey game?! Our perception of our Canadian identity is despicable.

Go Habs go.

As per Mayor Gregor Robertson, anyone with identifying photos or other info can upload them to various fan pages on Facebook, call 604.717.2541 or email robbery@vpd.ca.

Photo courtesy of http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/photos-of-vancouver-rioting/article2062983/