Vancouver riots

The Vancouver Riots, a Moral Deficit English 1100

The article “Vancouver Hockey Riot is a symptom of a Larger Problem” by Adrian Mack and Miranda
Wilson is a public interest essay which comments on how the Vancouver hockey riots of 2011 began, by describing the decadence of the behavior of some Canuck fans, and the lack moral fibre in our society at large. Mack and Wilson portray our society as a bunch of ravenous and debauched people reveling in mayhem. As a result the authors contend that this riot was an outgrowth of a larger more serious problem we as a society face.
Published in the Georgia Straight this article addresses the general public, and the authors arguments are formed in this context. Despite some generalizations the authors effectively assert that there is something wrong with our society. We anger easily, and turn to violence readily.

Mack and Wilson begin the essay by explaining the atmosphere and factors at work before the riot started. The authors felt the general atmosphere was ripe for mayhem by “Inviting 100,000 people into the downtown core” and closing the liquor stores early at 4p.m., guaranteeing people would be drunk on arrival. Also a faulty transit system was unable to provide adequate escape routes.
Prior to the hockey game the media was hyping up the population, and constantly reminding everyone of the 1994 riots served to exacerbated the situation. With all these factors it wasn’t really a question of why, but when the riot would occour. The authors were shocked by the riots and they attempt to explain the behavior of their fellow Vancouverites

In this essay Mack and Wilson Aim to convince their readers that this barbarous and psychotic like riot is a societal symptom of a more serious problem. The authors effectively express through descriptive and violent rhetoric, the larger problem that society faces and that the riot is a symptom of those problems. The savge rhetoric and cruel tone is very primal and emotionaly charged, this establishes the essay as informal and personal. Also the diction is dark and sinister espousing the deep animalistic mentaility of the riot showing a deep dark look into our citizens. Our youth have been brought up to want more and more of what advertisers tell them they need. They also have less economic opportunities to do so. The actions and mindset of the people during the riot are described in depth , we are to look at how we can possibly change it, “Unfortunately there’s no simple Band-Aid solution that will fix a sick society.”

The essay also reveals how society has fostered the actions of Generation Y and its background of copingwith a terminally ill economic system, where people won’t be able to have a financially viable life as well as an educational system which is financially starved by the government. Generation Y has become spiritually dead, as well as Academic underachievers. It is a great way to garner the interest and attention of the reader, and to make them feel more emotionally invested with the essay. Also the anecdotes of Vancouverites’ feelings leading up to and after the riot set the tone for the general opinion of the document. The authors feel the atmosphere was ripe for mayhem.

The document espouses how the riot was a focal point in demonstrating the social ills of our society. The document is laden with a “”smash and grab mentality” describing the citizens of Vancouver are borderline psychopaths with narcissistic desires of a mob mentality. This document hopes to account for the poor behavior of some citizens who brought disorder into our city. Is this really what a Canuck is? A viscous savage more concerned about seeing his picture on Facebook in a riot than being a decent human being and letting things be. The document shows the authors are incredibly skeptic view of our current society as a whole and on the individual level as well. While observing our society, it seems the future, especially for young people, seems hopeless or at best bleak.

This riot occoured because Generation Y has turned into a genesis of savages without morals. Unable to express their emotions, suffocated under a mantle of oftem false praise and encouragement, they were trapped in a perfect universe. In such a society madness is the only freedom.
At the end of the essay I have to admit the authors make valid points in the essay about the society they reveal, and that there can be no quick fix to society at large. Also there is a large underlying problem which must be resolved. If not, society will only continue to slide down into the gutter even more than it already has. It wasn’t just physical damage of the riot, but the emotional toll it took on our city.

The authors question “Is this what it means to be a Canuck? The authors definet the critical juncture of the society in which we find ourselves, and how there will be no quick fix to the problem, but a slowly evolving idea of being better people within our lives and city. We need to evaluate what consumerism teaches our society, and realize that our own actions contributed to the riot.
We have become so insular, negative and isolated by technology. We need to reach out to each other in a personal way. We need to change our thinking to a more communal rather than idividualistic society.