The blame game

I don’t know if you’re having as much fun as I am watching and listening to the analysis of the hockey riots in Vancouver. It’s like a pathetic game of musical chairs as various agencies try to shift responsibility.

The police say it wouldn’t have happened if they had been given more financial resources; the city government says it will call an inquiry but it’s not responsible; bar owners say they had a business to run so couldn’t shut down. The list is endless. The rallying cry is that “the system let us down”.

Nope.

The blame needs to be bound to the individual who chose to participate in the riot and destroy and steal property. The “system” was NOT responsible for what happened on those Vancouver streets.

Consider the case of Nathan Kotylak, the teenaged water polo player who had hopes of becoming an Olympic athlete. He was caught on camera apparently trying to set a police car on fire. His father made him go to the police and issue an apology. Now, there are people saying it was an important lesson for him and he should be given a chance to continue with his sports career. LESSON?

Is this someone we want representing Canada on ANY stage? This wasn’t a childish prank. This was wanton destruction of public property worth thousands of dollars.

It’s the same with all the others who were caught on camera destroying and looting. Once they’re identified, they start with the apologies – about how they got “caught up” in the fever. About they’re so sorry for what they did. The crocodile tears are flowing faster than the Red River in Manitoba. Bullshit.

They made a choice to do what they did and no one else is responsible for their actions. They did the crime, now they pay the time. It’s too bad if you made a stupid decision to set a police car on fire. Don’t come crying and pleading for lenience now you’ve been caught.

What it does is expose the dark underbelly of a self-centered, immature and irresponsible generation who are so adept at shifting responsibility that it has become the norm. The child destroys a classroom because the teacher made her angry. The upper class teenagers beat up a homeless man because he insulted them by asking for money. Pop stars can beat up their girlfriends and then sanitize it by blaming it on anger management issues. A kid shoplifts expensive merchandise for the thrill of it. A student cheats on an exam because she was stressed. The excuses are supposed to make it all somehow “right”.

I keep thinking of the video of the young woman who stepped out in front of the crowd and single handedly stopped them from breaking the windows in a store. The video showed her standing in front of the store pleading with the crowd not to do more destruction. It was several long minutes before other people joined her in front of the store, but she was the one who deserves the credit. Interestingly, in that video, there were no signs of police.