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Using Crowdsourcing To Identify Vancouver Rioters
Fudge Factor 3000 writes "The Canucks' loss in the last game of the Stanley Cup Finals resulted in complete mayhem in downtown Vancouver. Everything from upturned cars set alight to looting was commonplace. Unfortunately, most of the perpetrators were able to maintain their anonymity by disappearing into the crowds. Fortunately, bystanders took several pictures and videos of the carnage. Now, websites (including both Facebook and Tumblr) have set up pages to use crowdsourcing to identify the hooligans."
Hey guess what. Fuck you. No seriously fuck you. In Canada we generally have a well ordered, and well behaved society. Lets see we got one guy who got the shit beat of him by 15-20 people because he was trying to protect property. And we have idiots who have this idea that public mischief, rioting, and in general being a danger to everyone else is not worthy of your time?
It wasn't a few cars, it wasn't a few businesses, and it sure the fuck wasn't a few people who got stomped in the face because they tried to stop the fuckers from ruining businesses and looting. And if you are a Canadian. Get the fuck out of the country and go somewhere else. Maybe europe, where they let you destroy someone elses property because your "sensibilities" can be offended, because a sports team lost.
Om, nomnomnom...
Before you comment, perhaps you'd like to do some research and educate yourself. Here: http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=369127
Coles Notes: 150 people injured, some quite seriously. Millions of dollars in damage, which tax payers and insurance payers (translation: the populace - you know, the people who are working together now to help find the criminals) will have to pay for. Perpetrated not by a crowd going insane over the angst of a lost hockey game but by anarchists and professional criminals taking advantage of a large crowd of people which could provide cover for their activities while blame was placed on the hockey fans rather than the criminals perpetrating the crimes.
Forgive me if I disagree with you, strongly, and am very happy to see initiatives like this to catch the criminals and happier still to know that the hockey fans often stepped in to try to hold back the criminals from their desired goals.
Crowdsourcing? Sometimes you don't even need that, sometimes a muppet hands himself in because he LOVES FACEBOOK SO MUCH! Honestly. Read it and weep for humanity.
Please consider this account deleted, I just can't be bothered with the spam anymore.
People care about hockey? And enough to riot?
Different people, different worries
Vancouver is similar to the worst US cities before the housing bust. It costs 11 times the average income to buy the average house. This would put servicing housing debt at 72% of your gross income. There isn't much industry and therefore job prospects aren't the greatest. The average young person is likely to live in debt their entire lives if they stay. I don't see how people can live without drawing equity from their homes to pay daily expenses. Add on top of that foreigners driving up the price of everything.
As someone mentioned about the hooligans trying to start a riot during the Olympics, it didn't work. A riot only happens when you have enough pissed off people in a large group. The end of a losing hockey playoff is just a catalyst that brought a lot of already morally defeated people together in one place.
Saying the hockey game caused the riot is like saying the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand caused World War I.
Or, US: Your team wins a hockey game.
While the Canadian police erred on the side of respecting civil rights, the Boston police erred on the side of being jack-booted thugs. There were almost riots in Boston, too. But because in Boston, the police aren't concerned with minor things like "human rights," anyone who looked like they might possibly be celebrating outside a designated Free Speech Zone was hauled off the street.
No chance to celebrate, no chance to riot. Which didn't stop a Bruins fan from being killed, incidentally, but apparently no one's bothering to cover that. Apparently sports fans being killed in Boston is no longer news, it's just the status quo.
Two different police departments aren't necessarily going to handle things the same way.
There were 2 groups that started the rioting. First there were the hard core rioters. These were the same bunch who riot at G8 meetings. The "Black Bloc". Actually they couldn't give a fuck about politics or hockey. For them, rioting and looting and mixing it up with the cops is a sort of urban "extreme sport". They came equipped with bandana's and geologist hammers.
:) :) :) "
The second group were a new bunch. The facebook rioters. Riot 2.0 as it were. These were the dumbasses who came downtown so they could take pictures of themselves standing in front of burning cars so they could post them on their facebook. Status "At A Riot. Epic
Add to that a huge number of 18-25 year old kids, rat-arse drunk and happy to participate as long as the group is big enough to give them some sort of anonymity.
Angry Canuck fans may have been there but were probably a minority. Groups 1 and 2 would have rioted win or lose.