Comic Info:
June 20, 2011 - 12:51am
There's nothing to really joke about.
As usual, the media made the whole 'riot' thing seem a lot worse than it was in actual fact. I mean, it was serious and very disturbing, don't get me wrong, but I walked home through it and it was really one of those things that was easy to avoid if you wanted to. I also feel like the situation that led to riot was misrepresented, an effect that probably gets worse the farther you are from here, I imagine. Just trust me when I say that it's not 'hockey fans reacting' that doesn't represent the situation on the ground at all. I could explain more but the reality is that the event has been very hard for me to process and I'm eager to stop talking about it for now.
Many of you have sent me links to various things, you don't need to, trust me, I've seen them all.
Vancouver's fine, we're fine.
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Comments
We've had exactly the same thing here in the past (UK) with football. It's not very pretty if you're right in the middle of it, but over-reporting is the norm - it's virtually impossible for the media not to sensationalise this sort of thing if they're going to give it more than a fleeting mention. And that's all that happened here - we got a few seconds of it on the news at the end, but they didn't make a huge fuss about it, so I assumed that it was just localised. I'm sure that if the whole of Downtown had gone up, they'd have made a bit more fuss, but hey, they didn't - so I assumed it hadn't!
Despite living in Boston, I was sorry to hear that your team lost. Better luck next year! <3
ANARCHISTS!
I doubt most of those rioters had any affiliation with the political ideology but rather, were simply just drunken hooligans... fittingly wearing canucks jerseys.
The use of the term 'anarchist' is disputed by some, but yes, there was an organized group of people who deliberately started the riot. They came prepared with the tools required and a plan. They made the first big moves and then the energy carried over to the douchebags.
If they're organized, then they can't be anarchists!
On a more serious note, I'm sorry to hear about the loss. :(
Most riots happen that way. Almost never are riots actually spontaneous. What these types want, I don't know - I assume they're the kind who are embittered over something and need an enemy.
yep. Anyone watch that Seattle WTO riot movie with Nick Cage? I was there. Not at all accurate.
I watched the documentary of it in class. 'This is what democracy looks like' I was genuinely upset over it and was so mad when a few people in my class laughed at people being pepper sprayed.
I used to get very upset at that; after a while I realized some of those people just laugh because they need a reaction and are actually uncomfortable. A lot of people feel jammed when uncomfortable, and laughing covers their reaction freeze.
Eff the news media.
Sympathy hugs from Toronto. I especially emphasize with the media blowup. I went through the whole G20 buhaha here in the city, and it was all flaming police cars on the news where most of it was pretty much a few people trying to cause trouble, and most people trying to avoid those few people (including the protesters)
I've been reading your comic since about 2008 or so and when I heard about the rioting and the destruction, you guys were the first people I thought of!
The news here in California was going CRAZY over it. A lot of the representation of Vancouver was super negative and it just bummed me out that a few immature scum made the city looked down upon. Like everyone in Vancouver are rioting nutcases. ::sigh:: -_-
I DID hear about the citizens who helped clean up the day after. Faith in humanity restored! (Well...maybe not 100% restored yet..) :]
http://immd.icanhascheezburger.com/2011/06/19/funny-win-story-suzi-smoms-little-moment-of-win/
...sigh... if it makes you feel any better the only reason nothing was on fire and no cars were flipped in Boston (as far as I know) is that the Boston cops are so fucking used to it by now that they respond before it even happens. It's like they're fucking psychic. ...or they just know exactly when to be hypervigilant... after... how many riots after champoinship losses, playoff losses, playoff and championship wins...? And the media always makes it look so much worse than it was... well... at least that means that us kids who grew up around here know how to leave before the fuzz shows up if we're thinking straight...
What I want to know is the outcome of Trevor's beard.
I feel for you, I was really hoping the Canucks would pull it off. At least you beat the Presidents Cup curse. My Oilers did the same thing a while back, and we lost by one goal in game 7, so we were even closer. However we were the underdogs, so it didn't hurt so much when we lost. Oh well, at least I have my memories of the glory years back in the eighties.
I see one joke. That burning building looks a bit like it's farting. Now that you see it, the strip is forever changed. In all seriousness though, D:
Ghede's comment has twisted my brain. Oh, wow...
I'm sorry your city's getting crap because of a small group of jerks getting so much media attention. I'd say it's like how Heidi Montag is giving my town a bad rep because she's from here, but I haven't had to deal with crap from other people about that, so it's not really the same. Hopefully it blows over pretty quickly, especially since the clean-up crews did such a great job making things better.
Ghede's comment cracked me up. I am sorry to hear about the riots... but I'm still gonna laugh at the numerous jokes. Sooooorry. My sense of humor is kind of... terrible. Also, the space-needly-looking-thing looks like its saying "I don't got time for this B.S.!".
Saw the best graffiti reading about the riot:
"Why you heff to be mad? Is just hockey. Is only game."
- Ilya Bryzgalov (he's a good guy)
In the UK we had a bunch of riots surrounding the Student Protests. A lot of the media said that it was students causing it but the reality was that not a lot of the people involved in causing the riots were even students. They were either 'anarchists', people looking for a fight or kids who thought it was funny. People who were involved in the real protest were peaceful and avoided the riots as best they could, the protests after that got tricky though. People got 'kettled' by the police despite everything that said they had a right to protest there.
I get where you're coming from about people misinforming others about events happening. I give you hugs, cookies and lots of cuddly toys for comfort.
I know how it feels to live in a city that got a bad reputation from ONE thing that happened. I live in Waco,Texas and whenever I mention that to people I get the same reaction "Oh...thats where that cult was." This has happened in almost every state and in three countries (2 of which were in Europe).
I recently took a trip through Arizona,Utah and New Mexico to visit the national parks with a school group. We were on one of the busses in Zion and I was joking with one of the teachers, who jokingly pretended not to know me and introduce himself to me, and said that I was a Branch Davidian scouting a new place for a compound and we were thinking of taking over the Mormons territory. This couple walked by and laughed at our jokes and sat down. We started talking and they asked where I was from and I said "Waco" and their eyes went wide and they were like "Oh...you wearn't joking." and they looked very scared. I assured them I was joking about being a Branch Davidian.
I don't know how many times, just on that trip, I heard "Oh you're from Waco? Thats where that thing happened."
My boyfriend's parents live in Vancouver and say pretty much exactly the same thing you do.