What I saw in the 90 minutes or so I was walking around just before and just after the game ended was a lot lot fewer police than there should have been... I'm not sure why... Earlier in the evening I passed a contingent of police leaving the downtown area!? There were plaincothes police around as well (you could tell them because they were 35 and 40 yr. olds dressed like 20 year olds... They just stood around and watched at least where/when I was including the trashing of the porto-potties which seemed to go first..
Most everyone had a camera of some sort... And most of the actions I saw seemed to have something to do either with being photographed or videoed including one fist fight that seemed less a fist fight than a photo-op for some Ultimate Fight tv advert. What was interesting to me was how completely a-political it was... It was a bit of a mob and it could have been activated by anything/and likely deactivated just easily with some smart policing... Also I would guess that they were for the most part typical suburban kids/young adults... N, you may be right in how you characterize them but if so, then things are a lot worse in the burbs than I would have guessed. I don't think it was just a small group of "anarchists" intent on disruption... Rather it was a rather large group of young adults intent on getting their faces widely seen on tv and recognized on FB--and that is something well worth pondering I think. M -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of D and N Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2011 4:06 PM To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION Subject: Re: [Futurework] FW: Riot as Performance Art This kind of acting out has taken society by surprise every time it occurs, yet it's really not uncommon. The extent of crowds and damage were probably proportionate to the event. Perhaps some may recall a similar police bashing on one little two block street in Kingston, Ontario some years ago. It was a homecoming event for Queens University, held on little Aberdeen Street-- where we had our family home in prior decades. (House by house, university frat farms took over) Some 5000 turned on defenseless cops, and it made international news. Queens is notorious for drunken craziness. Those Engineers are notorious! Once when its football fans lost a game in Montreal, TVs were tossed out of hotel room windows, and the usual antics of drunken mob behaviour absolutely terrorized the downtown. I don't think it matters to drunken rioters what the trigger is. They're just looking for peer approval to get wild. They live in an increasingly repressive system, they're angry at everything because they can't control it and they have a grim future to face with their governments piling up non repayable debt and destroying their home planet. Add alcohol to enhance the disappointment and you can generate a lot of real-life entertainment which rather mirrors video games they've enacted at home. Let's not forget many of these are kids likely to be taking anti-depressants, or are the children of parents who are taking same. Mix those with booze and you get the real crazies flying round. I don't know what video Michael refers to. We've been hearing rather different stories here in Victoria about young angry men, may be16-20 of them, doing most of the trashing. Many had bandannas covering their faces. Reports from CBC said riot police were introduced too late, and allowed much to happen for fear of appearing heavy handed. There may have been police instigators, as well. It's certainly not past them. This they have done before (G-8) in order to justify future heavy handed crowd control tactics. Did it help that bars had line-ups to get in starting at 11:00 a.m., and the cops didn't take the hint? I agree with Arthur about media hype being partly to blame, and the pathetic fact that this is entirely about corporate loss, successfully sold to the public as team spirit and a reason for personal identification. I find it so sad when in any sport the fans seem to have no other reason for living, and many actually don't. Thank the corporate/military educational system. Just two days ago, a woman in Prince George was expressing bewilderment over a "victory" for supporters of a multi-million dollar arena, while another pitch for a badly needed performing arts center was scrapped. With just a turn of events like the post-Canuks 7th game, $22 million worth of arena could go up in smoke, so out of touch with the wonders of the mind and sensorium, as Ray always says, are the people of our times. Natalia On 6/16/2011 1:56 PM, michael gurstein wrote: > Arthur, > > I think that that is precisely what we can look forward to... The 21st > century equivalent of "thrill killings"... Someone almost died making > a foolish jump from one heighted perch to another, presumably while > being cameraed and egged on by his friends. > > M > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Arthur > Cordell > Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2011 12:26 PM > To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION'; > [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Futurework] FW: Riot as Performance Art > > > So could we call this a Facebook age event. Where it doesn't matter > what is done, almost, as long as everyone can see it. And can we look > forward to more? Smash this, burn that, loot this. Kind of a > graffiti riot where everyone can play and be playful in their > destruction of their playpen. > > Arthur > > Ps. I think the city fathers (and mothers) hyping the game along with > the CBC that earned revenues from the telecast are part of the > problem. Building up expectations to some sort of outcome. > > Also, there is something sad about people cheering for corporations, > which these teams are. Yup businesses. (but as my wife says better > cheering for corporations than throwing bombs) > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of michael > gurstein > Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2011 2:59 PM > To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION'; > [email protected] > Subject: [Futurework] FW: Riot as Performance Art > > > Datapoints re: the Hockey Riot in Vancouver observed after the game > finished for about an hour. > > 1. The gender ratio was roughly 50-50. > 2. Women seemed as aggressive as men. > 3. At least half the folks had cameras of one sort or another and were > constantly taking pictures. 4. The crowd overall was cheerful. 5. Lots > of alcohol and marijuana but not a lot of falling down drunk people. > 6. Almost no one was covering their faces. > > What does that sound like. To me it seems rather more like a concert > audience than the makeup of a serious riot. > > I think the key things though was the gender equality, the cameras, > the general good cheer and the uncovered faces. > > What made this different from a rock concert was the presence of the > police. They were costumed differently from normal rock concert > security-kitted up in riot gear complete with black uniforms, shields, > weapons etc.etc. > > But nor was this Seattle, the G20 Toronto or Tahir Square. These > folks weren't afraid of being seen and recognized, they were going out > of their way to be recognized and they wanted that recognition, > captured and presumably re-presented to the world via SMS, Facebook or > Youtube and the tv news. > > This wasn't a riot. It was a performance with much of the violence as > far as I could see it being done for photo capture and transmission > rather than out of deviltry, rage or simple youthful destructiveness. > On one of the news shows a reporter passed along a story that the > original truck which was burned near the hockey rink had been > deliberately brought to the site and left exposed there so that it > could be torched should the Canucks lose. > > What is televised will not be the revolution. > > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
