[Newsbot]

Filibuster Cartoons
Title: Canadian stereotypes circa 2011 (click to view)
Date: June 17, 2011
My friend asked if I wanted to go downtown to watch the final game of the Stanley Cup playoff, and I politely declined. Though for the last few games the city had set up massive big-screen TVs at several key gathering points, rumors had drifted back to suburbia 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. S0me 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.

[andyt]

I think that nihilism in the youth is fuelled by the economic situation, and the fact they're the first generation since WWII who can expect to do worse than their parents. Couple that with the ever greater materialism and status derived from it, and that's why there was so much looting this time vs 94.

Kinda the case made by that one blogger who bragged about taking part in the riot.

[DanSC]

andyt wrote:

I think that nihilism in the youth is fuelled by the economic situation, and the fact they're the first generation since WWII who can expect to do worse than their parents.

As they take pictures of themselves with $200 smart phones with $100/month voice and data plans.

Of course, that's one reason they'll be worse of than their parents. Fools and their money are soon parted.

[martin14]

When we get riots weekly, people barred from traveling by their local police,
passports being seized, ankle bracelets, and Canadians being refused all kinds of services
while abroad, the we can start to make comparisons with England.

We have a ways to go yet.

[DanSC]

Quote:

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.

Much like the United States, people have associated drinking with "being Canadian," even in a confrontational sense.

[FuManchu]

martin14 wrote:

When we get riots weekly, people barred from traveling by their local police,
passports being seized, ankle bracelets, and Canadians being refused all kinds of services
while abroad, the we can start to make comparisons with England.

We have a ways to go yet.

Some things they say about England are true: for example, as I look out of my window it's cold, miserable, and wet. On the other hand, I'm sure we've managed at least a fortnight between riots. I'd have noticed otherwise.

[bootlegga]

These stereotypes are ones Canadians like to put out there, but their about as real as unicorns or leprechauns.

We like to consider ourselves humble, quiet, reserved and all that, but the reality is that while most Canadians might think they are more humble/reserved/tolerant/etc than our neighbours to the south, the fact is we're more like Americans than we want to admit. Some people are hyper-critical of Americans chanting, "USA, USA, USA!" at sports events, but we come from a country that created "Da, da, Canada!" and "Nyet, nyet, Soviet!" We are just as patriotic as any other nationality out there.

And we have every right to be too.

Canadians have as much ever right to be proud of their national sport and nationality as anyone else is, and like every other nationality, we have our own sports hot button (hockey). For some, it soccer (oops football), for others it's cricket, or baseball or whatever.

I'm not in any way justifying the riots, but the riot in Vancouver is no different than the hundreds of other sports-related riots that have occurred around the world in the past century. Heck, it could be worse, we could go to war like Honduras and El Salvador did because of soccer in 1969.

[andyt]

bootlegga wrote:

I'm not in any way justifying the riots, but the riot in Vancouver is no different than the hundreds of other sports-related riots that have occurred around the world in the past century. Heck, it could be worse, we could go to war like Honduras and El Salvador did because of soccer in 1969.

Now that's a good perspective. I've sort of lost that perspective because it happened in my town tho.

[DanSC]

bootlegga wrote:

I'm not in any way justifying the riots, but the riot in Vancouver is no different than the hundreds of other sports-related riots that have occurred around the world in the past century.

And that's the point of the cartoon. The stereotypes presented are, in this case, inaccurate. Will the stereotypes continue, or will Canadians adopt the stance of "Canada: we're just like everywhere else?"

[RUEZ]

A couple hundred rioters don't represent Canada, much less Vancouver.

[andyt]

RUEZ wrote:

A couple hundred rioters don't represent Canada, much less Vancouver.

It's more than a couple of hundred. I'm counting the cheerleaders as well, they are part of the problem. It does represent one part of Vancouver (in the Metro sense) these dickheads are always about, and this sort of thing allows them free rein, especially when the cops are slow to react.

[DanSC]

RUEZ wrote:

A couple hundred rioters don't represent Canada, much less Vancouver.

Just like the Klan and Deliverance don't represent the United States. Good luck convincing anyone of that however.

[Canadaka]

this represents my city
http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?&id=118382

[PublicAnimalNo9]

Thanks for showing the true spirit of Vancouver Trev. Great video

[Zipperfish]

DanSC wrote:

bootlegga wrote:

I'm not in any way justifying the riots, but the riot in Vancouver is no different than the hundreds of other sports-related riots that have occurred around the world in the past century.

And that's the point of the cartoon. The stereotypes presented are, in this case, inaccurate. Will the stereotypes continue, or will Canadians adopt the stance of "Canada: we're just like everywhere else?"

I'm not sure how the rest of Canada got dragged into this.

But to answer your question, no, we're not going to adpot a motto that we're just like everybody else. I think a better motto would be "Canada! We're unique. Just like everybody else."

Every country has its mythologies. I think the US truly believes it is a peaceful country. England still sees itself as a world power. And Canada thinks it's the world's dependable good guy. Not much to support any of those on the face of it, but myths, like gods, serve a purpose. They don't necessarily reveal what a country is but what it wants to be. They remain important because it is that for which we strive.

JJ made a good point about the gross excess of the playoff run, and I hadn't thought of it before, but I wholeheartedly agree. I would literally blanche at the sight of a beer right now, because I've had a full one in front of me for just about every Canucks game for the last two months. My wife filled the place up with Canucks gear.

But the Canucks themselves weren't gorging themselves on chicken wings and Molsons. They were making enormous personal sacrifices.

So thanks for that insight, JJ. Next playoff run I'll treat a little more like Lent, and give something up rather than revel in gluttony.