Hey, riot vigilantes, you’re not making the city look any better

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      While lantern-jawed crooner-for-justice Michael Bublé isn’t exactly going after the dummies who trashed Vancouver last week with a sock full of quarters or the trusty ol’ Pusser-bat, he is financing an ad campaign encouraging people to out the perps.

      Buble’s passion is understandable, and his intentions might appear to be righteous, but for those of us who find the tone of Captain Vancouver’s now world famous shaming blog – among others - a tad on the bullying and creepy side, the singer’s efforts are also the kind of legitimizing force we’d rather do without.

      With apologies to Macleans' Andrew Potter , me and my bus from 1969 would like to point out that we’re becoming not just the willing accomplices in a full-blown surveillance society, we appear to be positively lusting for it. The implications are horrifying, no matter how much ill-conceived gratification it supplies in the short-term (or as Potter would have it, “”¦more fun!”), and matters certainly aren’t helped by ICBC’s offer on Friday of its facial-recognition system to police .

      To anybody still bent on misinterpreting this as an attempt to excuse the guilty: it’s not. It’s a further plea to step back and look at the predictable carousel of brutal, kneejerk behaviour we’re mounting. Instead – despite numerous commentators on the Straight message board insisting that we live in some sort of golden age of relative security and peace – we should be asking why this shit keeps happening. Or why so many people would react by submitting to the kind of anger over reason they condemn in others.

      (And hey, why don’t we trust the VPD to get the job done? This raises some interesting questions all by itself).

      The genie is out of the bottle, and there’s already collateral damage: Nathan Kotylak’s family has been forced to go into hiding . Which really is inexcusable, and slightly terrifying. Expect to see more. Is this what we really want, Vancouver? And if so, at least try to remember the key lesson we all should have learned from the filmography of Charles Bronson: vigilante justice only leads to increasingly crappy sequels.

      Comments

      48 Comments

      scathie

      Jun 20, 2011 at 5:29pm

      Uh... who exactly are the "vigilantes"? I haven't heard of any vigilante activity. Putting up a blog isn't vigilantism. Has Nathan Kotylak's family been FORCED to go into hiding? Really? By who? When? How was this force done?

      Frankette

      Jun 20, 2011 at 5:36pm

      This is a complex problem that began long before the rioting erupted. The focus should be on solutions instead of blame so that a trilogy doesn't play out one day.

      Adrian, I think you have unwittingly come up with something with the Charles Bronson analogy. As the vast majority of those involved were of the male gender, I think we should be looking at our boys/men to see what is wrong and where we have failed them. What kind of role models do they have? These riots are a symptom of a larger problem with archaic notions of Masculinity and it’s time for change. What better place to start a revolution than Lotusland?

      Sometimes it takes a catastrophe to make people realize that there is a problem that needs to be fixed and something good can come out of it. The sequel (part III) should be named Redemption - The spawning of the Men’s Movement.

      Christopher67

      Jun 20, 2011 at 7:31pm

      If you have pictures or video of someone committing a crime during the riots, please turn it over to the police. This isn't surveillance, this is witnessing.

      MarkBowen

      Jun 20, 2011 at 7:57pm

      Scathie, not to defend the idiots, but to clarify for you:

      The home address of his family, and their occupations and places of work were posted publicly.

      People (very emotional, very angry people posting anonymously) then publicly threatened to do harm to the family members and/or their property.

      For many people, that is reason enough to get somewhere safe until things cool down. It might just be internet bluster, but you can't really be sure of that (or sleep soundly) with the threat hanging there.

      It's one thing to identify these people and ensure that our justice system has the info it needs to punish them, but it's a whole other thing to threaten them (and their totally uninvolved family members) with physical harm.

      We need to step back and take a deep breath here. Emotions are getting out of control.

      Marc in Vancouver

      Jun 20, 2011 at 8:17pm

      As with your previous writing on this subject I agree completely. Thank you and thank you Georgia Straight for being one of the few places where any common sense on this topic is available. We need to look in the mirror.

      PoCoBoy

      Jun 20, 2011 at 9:13pm

      I don't condone violence, threats etc., but I do support the public shaming of those directly involved. Wait and see, shaming will be the worse thing to happen to these people. With social media, we are in a whole new era. In stead of hiding behind lawyers, the youth criminal act. etc., people are now immidiately responsible for their actions. this will likely be more effective than anything from the justice system. And without the social media, most would not come to justice and we would be paying a lot more to find and bring the others before the Courts.

      scathie

      Jun 20, 2011 at 10:03pm

      "The home address of his family, and their occupations and places of work were posted publicly."

      So? All this information is in the phone book. Does that make the Yellow Pages vigilantes?

      @MarkBowen

      "People (very emotional, very angry people posting anonymously) then publicly threatened to do harm to the family members and/or their property."

      Really? Got any evidence of this? Or just making stuff up and passing it off as truth?

      "It's one thing to identify these people and ensure that our justice system has the info it needs to punish them, but it's a whole other thing to threaten them (and their totally uninvolved family members) with physical harm."

      I agree.

      "We need to step back and take a deep breath here. Emotions are getting out of control."

      So talking about the situation, laying blame, expressing disapproval to those responsible, and forwarding information to police is "out of control"? No. Wait. The RIOT was out of control.

      Evil Eye

      Jun 20, 2011 at 10:51pm

      I do wish that the public demand the same standard for condemning lying and dishonest politicians as they do for the rioters.

      I see a double standard, where well heeled politicians get a free ride for dishonest conduct, while the rioters are threatened major punishment.

      Let the law take care of it or the next riot will be a take no prisoners type of affair.

      James G

      Jun 21, 2011 at 12:02am

      Some of those 'outed' rioters have faced public humiliation, loss of jobs, perhaps university placement and scholarships but let's not forget that their rights are intact. If underage, they will likely not be tried as adults, if first time offenders, they will likely get off very lightly with letters of apology and no criminal record. Others will just watch the clock run out on prosecution. Even employers would have to be wary of being charged with wrongful dismissal.

      Apologies as a first step to leniency are very nice but likely the approach advised by the best legal counsel. Have we heard any real offers to help taxpayers pay for damages? How much would a burning police car cost, plus the clean up and plus the hospital bills of those affected by the smoke? Find a figure, make an offer. Anyone else would have to pay, why not ask of it who can afford to pay?

      Wouldn't it be likely that legal counsel would also advise putting forward into the media that the families of these hooligans are the real victims? There is a credibility issue for the public you have overlooked. Is there an enabling issue some parents may have long overlooked and might want to continue? I would rather think along these lines because if I believe the media blitz of today we are all as bad as the rioters. I just don't think that.