Sometimes it’s simply best to stay out of a heated debate.
But after reading “Put some blame on news media,” (June 21) I’m discarding that advice.
Am I really supposed to accept that those who showed up at Game 7 complete with bear spray, rocks, knives and incendiary devices came prepared to create chaos because of overly-enthusiastic sportscasters ?
I don’t think so.
Even though I was very much lookinig forward to a Canuck win – and had listened to any number of experts predict that outcome – the loss did not provoke me to go out and find a car to set on fire.
After hearing a report from a young man who saw onlookers join in to kick a man just for the fun of it, I seriously wonder how far we are from a re-write of Lord of the Flies.
Yet humanity’s hope (at least in the Lower Mainland) may lie with that same young man in his trying to protect the target of the violence.
At least four problems remain:
1) a very small percentage of people can cause an incredible amount of grief;
2) “normal” people can be easily convinced to join in;
3) we are entirely unprepared for the above; and
4) recommendations of previously solicited investigations and reports – eg. the review of the 1994 riot – are ignored.
Regina Dalton
