These two links popped up on my Facebook feed, almost one after the other. Two alternate viewpoints in the aftermath of the Vancouver riots. The first links to a Globe and Mail article calls for restoration instead of retribution, but was written by a reporter who likely was not at the scene of the riots, but is witnessing the mob mentality that is now driving those members of the public posting up pictures, identifying them, publicizing personal information, and driving the rioters' families out of their homes. The second links to a tumblr feed post of a police officer's refusal to accept the apology of the rioters - not exactly calling for continuous punishment to the rioters, but a call to stop apologizing, that actions speak louder than words. I agree with the second part, but I was thinking.
Maybe Canadians are just too used to saying sorry when someone else bumps into them (this is the Canadian way) - they think generally that's what apologies are for - it's easy to forgive someone when all they do is jostle you on the subway. But no. Apologies are made not only as a meaningless way to show that you're polite, but they're made after you do something that you regret, maybe something terrible, self-centred, destructive. And after you apologize, you try to see if there's some way you can make up for it. It's true that some of these "apologizers" are still jerks at heart and no, maybe they don't actually "mean" it. But maybe some of them do. Is the behaviour of the online vigilante mob any better? Posting up the rioters' addresses and phone numbers, sending death threats to their families, having some weird sense of superiority and self-righteousness while doing these things? Are they going to look back on this and feel sorry about it later? Maybe some of them will; maybe some of them won't.
The easy thing to do is go down the day after the riots with a broom and gloves and plastic bags and somehow try to erase what happened. The hard thing to do is to stick around afterward, recognize that, even though they did horrible disgusting things, these people are part of the Vancouver community. Also, they're human beings - they're not at a lower level of human being than you. Don't excuse them because of their age or because they say "everyone else was doing it." Don't do that. But don't just try to separate them from the "real Vancouverites" or the "real Canadians" either. As New Age-y as it might sound, the good and the bad are part of the same community, and none of us are perfect. We have to do our best to figure out how this happened or make the attempt to, even though we may never find the answer.
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