Reflections on the Vancouver Riots

This year's Stanley Cup playoffs, and in particular, the finals, have been a delight to watch. As ardent hockey fans, my eight-year-old son and I enjoy our tradition of not only watching hockey games very regularly throughout the year (even though we don't have cable, we always find a way), but we really embrace the frequency of exciting games during the playoff season. This year's finals between Boston and Vancouver have been nothing but exceptional.

That is, until after game seven was won by Boston in Vancouver.

I was watching the Stanley Cup presentation, some post-game interviews, and such, and my son had just gone to bed, so I decided to contact my brother to see what he thought about the game. He replied fairly quickly at that time of night, inquiring, "are you watching the riots?"

"What riots?" I countered. He told me to turn the TV to the local public station, which I did and I was pretty shocked to say the least. Cars on fire, looting, fighting with police, damaging public and private equipment and items, and just uncontrolled chaos and mayhem.

In watching this coverage, I was angry. Yes, I am a huge hockey fan. Yes, I was hoping that the Canucks would win. But the fact is, Boston won 4-0 through a strong team performance. Vancouver lost fairly, and to their credit, those who had the opportunity to attend the game in person in the arena, rose to their feet and saluted the Bruins. Very classy move by Vancouver fans. So you can understand my perplexity in seeing the behaviour outside of the arena.

There has been much talk about why the riots occurred, and how they were "allowed" to occur, given that Vancouver experienced something similar in 1994 when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup, besting the Canucks in the finals. Some have blamed a lack of police presence. Others blame easy availability to alcohol in a public place. Some have blamed the mob mentality and peer pressure. Some have blamed mis-directed energies of the youth of today. I am not so certain that all of those are truly the core cause or catalyst behind what happened.

I would suggest that the core cause of what happened can be summed up in four areas: 1) a failure of those people's parents to properly raise their kids, 2) the lack of an inherent personal responsibility for those who caused the problems, 3) the lack of immediate decisive and serious consequences from the police in response, and 4) A lack of people who are willing to act decisively to stop this themselves, even if it means the risk of personal peril. I will quickly summarize each of these, and you can tell me whether I hit the nail on the head, or am way off base.

1. A Failure of Those People's Parents To Properly Raise Their Kids. Now you may find this somewhat insulting, that I am waving a general blanket statement towards people who I do not personally know. Well, consider the following: if statistics are correct, half the kids in Western society are reared in divorced homes, or do not have two married parents (father and mother) providing a stable home environment. Does that mean all kids from divorced families turn out to be hooligans? Of course not. But I'd bet my whole retirement savings on the fact that more often than not, trouble kids come from broken homes. Also consider that in many of these homes, the single parent has to work, so whether as an infant, toddler, child or teenager, the child has been raised by someone else, most probably daycare. I happen to know first-hand how the government mandates daycares to run. You literally cannot do anything to punish a child. You can't even raise your voice. Given the fact that most kids nowadays have attended daycare at one point or another, they learn at an early age that if they scream loud enough, they will get what they want. And if they break stuff, or hurt another kid, there are really no consequences, aside from a "time-out" (ooooh, I'm so scared!). Even if a child is raised by two parents, the two parents can still do a crappy job by not being around, or letting the distractions of a materialistic society drive the way they live their lives. As such, children from any of these families will not get real boundaries set for them. They don't grow up knowing that if you misbehave, there are consequences like being spanked, etc. They are just given continuous warnings without actions. And so they grow up with a serious "screw you" attitude towards society.

2. The Lack of Inherent Personal Responsibility, Restraint, and Morality For One's Actions. This ties into how they were raised, but blaming one's parents can only go so far. For instance, I may know that setting fire to a police car is wrong, but if I am not willing to restrain myself when I am angry, but instead feel that I am entitled to vent my emotions without boundaries, I am a walking recipe for a potential disaster. Ultimately, we all have to own up to the choices we make, whether it be good or bad. We can't blame the alcohol, peer pressure, a lack of stable home environment, or even a hockey game that didn't quite go your way. Ultimately your response and your actions rest solely on your shoulders. That includes thinking through one's actions before doing something, considering the consequences and the effects of one doing something like drinking too much alcohol or hanging out with other people who are not necessarily good influences on you. This also includes how you respond particularly to unfavourable circumstances in your life.

3. A Lack of Quick, Immediate, and Decision Police Response. If you watched the clips of the riot, you will see the police just standing around, and in some cases, they are retreating when the crowd is throwing stuff at them. While I am a huge advocate and proponent of our law enforcement groups, I believe that for police to be effective, they have to instinctively and purposefully establish their presence, and establish it with the authority which has been vested to them by society. Forget about the fact that it appears as if Vancouver Police may have been both under-numbered and out-numbered. Think about this - if a hooligan were to toss expletives and toss beer bottles and trash at a police officer, and the police officer retreats slowly, what message is this sending? That the police are soft, that they are afraid to act and beat your ass for insubordination, not to mention breaking the law. I personally would have liked to see the police equipped with things like tasers and tranquilizer guns, so that the disruptive and criminal hooligan element are stopped cold in their tracks. That would not allow anger and anarchy to escalate to the volatile levels that resulted in actual violence to occur. Am I advocating the police shooting their glocks at a crowd? No. But they should have stayed their ground and been equipped with weapons that can incapacitate an individual rather quickly. That would have diffused the situation rapidly.

4) A Lack of People in the Crowd Willing to Stand Up and Be Counted, Personally Standing Their Ground To the Mob, Even at the Risk of Personal Peril. OK, I know you are thinking that I am crazy here. Perhaps you may be thinking that I am advocating that people essentially commit suicide by standing up the crowd and refusing to not only participate in the criminal behaviour, but physically defending those who were getting beat up, and those whose property was being trashed. There is at least one instance of this happening, with a guy who tried to stop a crowd from looting a store. You may say that my point is unrealistic because that guy was dragged into the crowd and beaten silly. What if more than a few people bonded together and did that. These mobs usually go for the path of least resistance. If you are not willing to stand up for yourself, who will do that? Certainly not the police. If someone broke into my house, I wouldn't be reaching for the phone to call 911 - I'd be reaching for my Remington 870 and loading it with #3 buckshot. The left wing people will consider this vigilantism, but you know, if that was your store, your home, your workplace, or your friends getting beat up, would you just call the cops and hope for the best? I'd dare say that had more people in Germany had the balls to stand up to the Nazis, the lives of many Jews would have been saved. I am not an advocate of personal revenge or vendettas. But I am a huge proponent of personal responsibility, whether it be for your actions, your words, or you decisions.

Could this riot have been prevented? Maybe. Maybe not. Sociologists will debate that one for years. But one thing is for certain. Nothing will change if parents don't install in their kids a sense of right and wrong (and punish them in a meaningful way when their kids act in a manner that is not right), nothing will change if people don't take personal responsibility for their actions, nothing will change if the police let the mainstream media and vocal minority in society dictate their response levels, and nothing will change if people stop being bystanders and spectators, but rather jump in and be part of the solution. I believe that if all four of these factors were to be in play last Wednesday, the resulting negative fallout from the Canucks losing would have been far lessened, and the riots may even have been averted.