Filibuster Cartoons
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My friend asked if I wanted to go downtown to watch the final game of the Stanley Cup playoffs. I politely declined. Despite the city’s courtesy in setting up big-screen TVs at several key gathering points, rumors drifted back to suburbia warning that staking a spot anywhere close to the viewing zone had become progressively less possible for anyone but the most obsessively pre-planned fan. Tens of thousands stood shoulder-to-shoulder by the CBC building and downtown library, packed tightly within closed-off roads and gated blocks. Friends who had tried to head downtown for game six reported that there was no room to stand — to stand — within screen-viewing distance, and had to sadly return home after hours of block-circling, like a car in a crowded Costco parking lot.
These ever-more dense crowds had become iconic, proud symbols of a city thoroughly swept up in Canucks fever. “It’s like the Olympics all over again,” everyone kept saying. Mobs of face-painted, jersey-wearing fans were the lead story in every night’s evening news, and were plastered on the front page of every newspaper. They still are today, but for very different reasons.
Vancouver, like any other, is a city with its mythologies, some of which, like the 1986 Expo and the supposed coming earthquake that will kill us all, I depicted in a flattering comic last year. But the city has its dark legends as well. For the last 17 years we’ve all whispered to each other about the rioting that followed our 1994 Stanley Cup loss to the New York Rangers, in which angry, drunken thugs inflicted all sorts of late-night property damage upon a disappointed city. The idea that a second riot could break out if we lost again was thus never far from the popular imagination. Some have even blamed these lingering memories for the riot that did, in fact, follow our second loss. We all talked about rioting too much, they said, without explicitly implying it was a temptation we planned to resist. There was too much of a sense of inevitability about it, too much of a shrugging blasé that this was just something that “could happen.”
You have probably seen the photos of the horrifying and grotesque violence that unfolded in my city Wednesday evening. Here are some more. I watched the coverage all night, in a state of weird mental dissonance. It’s a very odd sensation to witness photogenic, Hollywood-style carnage when you recognize the backdrops so clearly. The drugstore where I buy chocolate bars was looted. The windows of mall train station where I always meet my friends were shattered. No one stood up for the bookstore, so it was looted too. Near another store I often visit, the cameras caught a particularly horrifying spectacle: over a blazing car, a man attempted to leap, Jack-be-Nimble style. He failed, and fell face-first into the flames.
Stereotypes are like a stretched-out sock, in the sense that they’re usually too easy and comfortable to be willingly discarded. But the longer you keep them around, the more warped and useless they get. The idea that Canadians have some inherent predisposition towards calm politeness, some sort of Dudley Do-Right, Anglo genteel ideal, is a cliche that is proving very difficult to contest, even as the contrarian evidence steadily racks up. The fact remains that, in Vancouver at least, it’s increasingly difficult to attend any public event associated with patriotism or civic pride without encountering a thoroughly vulgar, aggressively chauvinistic, grossly macho, swaggering crowd of screaming, swearing, alcohol-fueled young men (and in growing numbers, women). It’s certainly been true of every Canada Day celebration in recent memory, and was even more true at the Olympics. Whether or not such people are honestly motivated by any genuine feeling of pride or allegiance, the reality is that these are the folks who are increasingly serving as the face of Canada to the world — and their legitimacy in doing so can’t be so easily denied.
Vancouver’s vast league of arm-chair quarterbacks, sociologists, and psychiatrists have been working furiously over the last 48 hours to devise some manner of dominant narrative to explain why our city, and culture in general, is so rapidly losing its claim to labels like “most-livable” and “most tolerant” that we so eagerly court. Some of the supposed causes are too esoteric and British Columbian to get into here; narrowly specific matters like rising housing prices breeding alienation among middle class youth who can’t afford any of the nice things they see around them, or some sort of class and values divide between “real” Vancouverites and the unrepresentative suburban dreck who supposedly flood the city just to take over and ruin its parties.
Others, however, have raised the possibility of a broader social phenomenon of rising nihilism across a youthful populace who simply don’t live for any moment but the present, or possess any identity but their own. Far from being a true “mob” event, under this analysis, things like sports fandom have become mere pretexts for selfish indulgences; more drinking, more buying, more sex, more violence, more looting. The remarkably vain overtones of much of the rioting seems to provide ample proof — though some of the trouble-makers did, in fact, wear masks, or in some cases, lamely pull their hockey jerseys over their noses, many more did just the opposite, running around with grinning faces proudly exposed, taking lots of self-photographs with awkwardly outstretched arms. Though Vancouver police continue to peddle the comforting thought that the riots were simply the result of a small group of committed anarchists, officers can rest easy knowing that Wednesday’s crime spree was probably one of the most voluntarily self-incriminating in history.
In England, another country that’s used to coasting on a long-outdated reputation for excessive civility and order, the concept of “anti-social behavior” has emerged as a contentious campaign issue as politicians seek comprehensive solutions to combat the vile, pukey hooliganism that is tainting the British Isles. It might be time for Canada’s political class to follow suit. Homelessness, drug abuse, sexism and racism are all social ills which we assume require a comprehensive strategy to combat. Surely stemming the tide of growing sociopathy among the nation’s youth is a cause equally deserving.
In any case, the first step is admitting we have a problem. And that’s something Canadians, whose culture derives such a tremendous sense of purpose from a perpetually imagined state of sky-high moral superiority, may find very hard to do.
June 17th, 2011 at 10:47 am
DH has a good analysis of the Canucks as Vancouver's team, not Canada's team, bringing in themes of Western alienation and Vancouver as a frontier town. A bunch of us are planning on getting together to talk about it. Want to join?
June 17th, 2011 at 10:48 am
This video is the other side of the coin: http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?&id=...
June 17th, 2011 at 10:55 am
We need a new Joe "I am Canadian!" commercial from Molsen, considering just how much alcohol contributed to the riot.
June 17th, 2011 at 11:21 am
This is my favorite article on the Riot so far. Well done!
June 17th, 2011 at 12:31 pm
Maybe it's a good thing Nashville isn't so much into hockey.
June 17th, 2011 at 12:51 pm
And you Canadians mocked us for ruckus celebrations when bin Laden was killed.
June 17th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
Though Vancouver have a history of civil disobedience and riots, going back to the 19th century, with the anti-Chinese race riots or the bitter labour battles in 1930s. Don't forget about the APEC protests in 1997 too.
When the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers lost in the NHL playoff finals in 2004 and 2006, there were no riots in downtown Calgary and Edmonton. Same for Ottawa. The other Canadian city with hockey riots is Montreal
So what's the differences?
June 17th, 2011 at 3:12 pm
And over sports no less. SPORTS.
June 17th, 2011 at 3:17 pm
By coincidence, I was in Boston this week for vacation and witnessed Games 6 and 7. I was rooting for the Canucks, but honestly I think I'd rather be in a celebrating city, with crowds roaming the streets high-fiving passersby, cheering, and honking horns, than… in a riot.
Although it seems to me like Vancouver actually had more spirit. I walked to the stadium assuming there'd be a big-screen TV there too, but no luck. I don't know if there were tens of thousands of people, either.
I've never been to Vancouver, but I've been to Seattle, so I sort of blur the two cities together – urbane, laid-back, friendly, sophisticated yuppie cities. Meanwhile, Boston has a reputation for mob violence, heavy drinking, the working class, and fanatical sports fans. But I guess the truth is more complicated…
June 17th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
Uh, there was plenty of rioting in Edmonton in 2006, although you are technically correct that it didn't take place after the last game specifically.
June 17th, 2011 at 7:06 pm
I grew up in the suburbs of Vancouver and I can garauntee you that "social ills" did not drive this riot. If you took a look at the pictures of fans on Robson and Burrard during the game, they look like young professional Vancouverites. If you look at the pictures of the rioters after the game, they are most certainly the trash that I grew up with in the suburbs (Langley, Surrey, etc). They are not homeless, opressed or poor; these kids are just bored and looking for a way to break the law and get away with it.
I admire the way the VPD and emergency services handled this riot, they were well prepared and kind. After pepper spraying and determining that people were not a threat, they immediately flushed out the eyes of the "victims". They did not incite further violence by provoking the crowds, they just did their job and provided crowd control and emergency services. Now I hope they back it up and ID all of those hooligans who burned and smashed on film.
But if you want to see the real Vancouver, I would encourage you to visit this facebook photo collage of the cleanup effort. It really does embody everything that we Vancouverites *really* stand for. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.21583414....
June 17th, 2011 at 7:25 pm
That's why I don't understand "true" sports fans. I mean, you either win or lose in a game, so just admit defeat and move on. Those rioters weren't even part of the game, they contributed with nothing, except their so called support for the team. Breaking stuff out of spite will not change the situation, but only make it worse. Those "dedicated" fans need to grow up, seriously…
June 17th, 2011 at 11:50 pm
It’s humankind’s innate tribalism, pure and simple. We like to pick a side, we feel safe when we know who to call us and who to call them. Pro sports are precision crafted to instill just that feeling in viewers. I know I rooted for the Canucks, even as I never watched any of the playoffs and forgot about game seven until someone told me about the riots.
I’m not sure I buy that a wave of nihilism sweeping the nation’s youth is responsible though. Ours is only the latest generation to grow up in good times and experience the ennui that comes with having your path paved for you. Not to say that misdirected young people isn’t a problem, only that it is recurring, and that the wisdom we claim today will be earned by the young tomorrow. Who was it who rioted in 1994 again? Is the sky falling, or should I just get off your lawn?
June 18th, 2011 at 12:25 am
What do you expect? Between the Red Sox, the Patriots, the Celtics, and the ever-growing Revolution fan-base, there's little time to care about hockey.
Plus every major league sport's been coming in second to baseball by a wide margin in the US since the dawn of the new millennium. No idea why, but it's hard not to notice.
June 18th, 2011 at 4:37 am
Thank you for the video, that felt good after watching what happened to the city.
Speaking as a Bostonian: good game.
June 18th, 2011 at 5:53 am
Reading things like this always turn me into an elderly 19th-century robber baron. I've surprised myself by the number of times I've used phrases like "ought to be shot for sport" or "the police should aim for the face".
June 18th, 2011 at 11:20 am
Someone there claimed Boston was "a big hockey town."
June 18th, 2011 at 11:47 am
Really now? I wasn't aware that a few Canadians who mocked said celebrations represented the vast majority. I was among the group of Canadians that celebrated, personally.
June 18th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
Ah, J.J., you’re more “Canadian” in your thoughts and behaviours than you let on. Don’t you know that being ashamed of being Canadian whenever something socially disgraceful happens involving Canada is the norm? Try out most any comment thread of a news story involving something bad in Canada, and you’ll see a truckload of those kinds of comments. You’re playing into your default culturally-appropriate response! :P
Also, I think it’s a pretty far stretch to imply a grand shift Canadian mentality and behaviours across the country through a very specific subset of the population in very specific circumstances. Hell, does every riot over something stupid (like a rock concert being cancelled or sporting event) say something profound about the entire population of a nation, or does it merely reflect a specific set of circumstances on a specific crowd of people? Let’s not get TOO broad with our brush-strokes here…
Also also, you really seem to discount the response from the “good” people of Vancouver in the wake of this event. I don’t recall anything like that happening from riot of ’94. The fact that a very small fraction of the population of the city created such a tangible and beneficial reaction from the rest is a pretty big deal and says a hell of a lot more about how the “average” Vancouverite feels about the whole thing than if they’d simply shrugged and went on with their lives.
Also also also, as a guy from the Interior, I predicted MONTHS ago that Vancouver was going to burn, win or lose. “If they win, they’ll burn it down in celebration; if they lose, they’ll burn it down in anger” I said. It doesn’t exactly take a particularly jaded or cynical person to look at a dense collection of frenzied fans with access to alcohol to think about what might happen. In pretty much ANY country, you’d be hard-pressed to say that this kind of thing wasn’t kind of inevitable (the only country that jumps to mind for the exceptions list is Japan at the moment, but even then, I dunno…). It’s not some kind of lack of moral fibre in our country for this sort of thing to happen, for cryin’ out loud.
Jeez! Psychology and human nature, people!
June 18th, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Historically, it has been. The past eight or ten years, not so much.
June 18th, 2011 at 11:31 pm
Your response is perfect man. It made me realize I'm totally living up to the Canadian stereotype. Except, I wasn't being so harsh as the article writer. I think it was a few bad people, and that honestly the average Canadian doesn't look highly at these riots. Everywhere and everyone I've asked thinks it was ridiculous that it happened. It's just too bad alcohol is so accepted when marijuana isn't. If only cannabis was allowed at the event there'd be happiness LOL.. maybe.
But yeah in general I feel bad for the rep this gives us. I'm in Edmonton myself and it doesn't change my plans to move to Vancouver, but man I just get pissed at those people who ruined it for everyone else… most fans were fine, some did cave to the anarchy with a lapse of judgement on a mind-impairing substance. If I lived in Vancouver, I would have gone to clean up.
June 19th, 2011 at 7:07 pm
Well of course they are polite! See? They censored the F-word on the sign!
June 20th, 2011 at 3:35 am
Funny comic. I think more Canadians should take a look at what people are really starting to think of them and spend less time with that silly "kiss meme" picture that they think they are awwing us over with.
June 20th, 2011 at 4:53 am
Um, yeah. Boston resident here. People love the Bruins no matter what…it's just well…guess what? Sports media and recent championships from the Sox, Pats, and Celts had just overshadowed the Bruins for a short while. Since 2006 they were a team, but there was always fine-tuning. People here still immortalize Orr and Neely and people still care about hockey. Ebbs and flows.
June 20th, 2011 at 7:56 pm
There was an organized group that planned and came prepared with the tools and people to start a riot. They saw the opportunity and took it. There were people that brought duffel bags full of rocks and pre-made moltov's, for chrissakes. I met a guy on the bus from Seattle bragging that he'd come up specifically because he'd heard there was going to be some "fun". Then the energy carried over to drunken idiots that were all ready to party. It could happen anywhere that there is a large crowd. If I was trying to start a riot at a sporting event I'd wear a jersey too; doesn't mean I'm a sports fan.
The fact that more people participated in voluntarily cleaning the streets the next day than participated in the riots says so much more about Vancouver. Those were the locals. I remain a proud Canadian, even more so after these events.
June 21st, 2011 at 12:07 am
Well done Canada – at least it has gotten you on front pages around the world.
I can't imagine such a thing happening here (Perth, Australia) but who knows.
However, I do have to congratulate you. Of the famous kissing two-some Australia contributed one side (the kisser) but Canada contributed the far better side – Ms Thomas' backside.
June 21st, 2011 at 4:31 am
Weve complained in the past that the so-called idea expression dichotomy thats supposed to protect copyright law from seems to be getting so blurry as to in some arenas. A district court has by the trust that owns the rights to the Cornell Woolrich story Rear Window which they claim Spielberg infringed with the movie Disturbia…..Theres no doubt that there are some similarities between Disturbia and Rear Window which was also famously made into a Hitchcock film in the 50s…
June 22nd, 2011 at 3:18 pm
[...] light of the recent riot in Vancouver, J. J. called for a self reflection as Canadians. I am referring to his article not because it’s a particularly insightful analysis (though [...]
June 22nd, 2011 at 11:56 pm
As for not having the giant screen. 'Twas quashed by the city, they wanted to hold a viewing inside the arena (the Garden as we locals call it) and all parties were game for it… the Bruins, NBC, the Garden and everyone else. The city killed it because they didn't want the celebration getting out of control like it did in Vancouver and like it has in Boston, there's a been few celebrations that turned bad this past decade here. They wanted to avoid that.
But nonetheless, Boston is a hockey town but like it was said… the feeling just died off because the team fell into a slump with bad management and ownership, trading away star players for ones that didn't pan out and just being overshadowed by the other teams. Boston has long been a hockey town and will be forever.
June 24th, 2011 at 1:12 am
It seems to me that in most first world riots, theres a core of disruptive rioters that get the action started, followed bya slightly larger group that gets swept up in the energy and are impaired by alcohol, and then there's the vast majority of people who stand around and watch — not actively rioting or looting, but still hanging around out of shock or morbid interest.
Screw anarchists. All they want to do is destroy everything.
June 26th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
That s why I often say that ideas are worth nothing until they are put in the context of a business plan and real people committed to executing the plan..In fact you can find websites full of ideas like these by serial entrepreneur Kim E. Most investors will tell you that they rarely see a new idea that they haven t heard before..I m sure you all realize that there is quite a distance between a good idea and a good business or even a plan for a business.
June 29th, 2011 at 5:38 am
[...] Canadian stereotypes circa 2011 » Filibuster Cartoons » Archive June 17th, Comments;http%3A%2F%2Fwww.filibustercartoons.com%2Findex.php%2F2011%2F06%2F17%2Fcanadian-stereotypes-circa-2011%2FCanadian+stereotypes+circa+ +17%3A28%3A08J.J.http%3A%2F%2Fwww. to attend any public event associated with patriotism or civic pride without encountering a thoroughly vulgar, aggressively chauvinistic, grossly macho, swaggering crowd of screaming, swearing, alcohol-fueled young men (and in growing numbers, women). [...]
July 3rd, 2011 at 8:05 pm
h-c-g…
Lovely day for blogging huh…
August 8th, 2011 at 10:45 pm
DH has a good analysis of the Canucks as Vancouver's team, not Canada's team, bringing in themes of Western alienation and Vancouver as a frontier town. A bunch of us are planning on getting together to talk about it. Want to join?
October 4th, 2011 at 2:44 am
DH has a good analysis of the Canucks as Vancouver's team, not Canada's team, bringing in themes of Western alienation and Vancouver as a frontier town. A bunch of us are planning on getting together to talk about it. Want to join? I think so !
October 4th, 2011 at 2:45 am
It seems to me that in most first world riots, theres a core of disruptive rioters that get the action started, followed bya slightly larger group that gets swept up in the energy and are impaired by alcohol, and then there's the vast majority of people who stand around and watch — not actively rioting or looting, but still hanging around out of shock or morbid interest. I think so !
October 4th, 2011 at 2:46 am
Weve complained in the past that the so-called idea expression dichotomy thats supposed to protect copyright law from seems to be getting so blurry as to in some arenas. A district court has by the trust that owns the rights to the Cornell Woolrich story Rear Window which they claim Spielberg infringed with the movie Disturbia…..Theres no doubt that there are some similarities between Disturbia and Rear Window which was also famously made into a Hitchcock film in the 50s… I think so !
October 4th, 2011 at 5:26 pm
DH has a good analysis of the Canucks as Vancouver's team, not Canada's team, bringing in themes of Western alienation and Vancouver as a frontier town. A bunch of us are planning on getting together to talk about it. Want to join? I think so ! I think so !
October 5th, 2011 at 11:45 am
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