When dealing with such social ills as rioting, I often struggle to understand what is going on. I notice that I'm not the only one, as there is a tendency after such events to search for simple answers, or even spin things a certain way. As I mentioned in one of my earlier essays, there were a ton of responses to the Katrina disaster and related crimes and looting with much resulting debate that included both facts and myths about the disaster. Despite there not being a single confirmed murder or rape by civilians, I still commonly see people on the Internets insisting that post-Katrina events were an orgy of murders and rapes. In any case, the looting was certainly real enough, but some folks reacted by implying that this is to be expected when there are brown people in your city, a convenient and perhaps comforting explanation that keeps things simple.

Such notions are perhaps encouraged by other events such as the LA riots after the Lakers wins, where in video footage one can easily see young Hispanic men waving an over-sized Mexican flag in front of the violence (I'm sure Mexicans everywhere just loved being associated with kids rioting in the streets.), to what purpose I don't know, though there was actually a variety pack's worth of different races involved in those riots, including "whites." Not sure what Mexican nationalism has to do with a Lakers event anyway, but I do recall seeing some odd non-Canucks related t-shirts during the Vancouver riots too. Perhaps some folks take any media event and try to use it for their own ends. Just as some of the rioters and hangers on do this, so do bloggers and columnists after such events, trying to claim that the riots were "really" about this...or that politics related cause, or are somehow a reflection on the entire society.

When the Vancouver riots happen, people are less inclined to reach for the same explanations involving race, general notions of uncivilized Americans, and social divisions though, despite similar confirmed events, such as violence, property destruction, and looting. Some lean towards arguing that not much really happened and that what little did happen could happen in any big city. But with insurance claims for vehicle damage over the one hundred cars mark, obviously, something not very nice happened to quite a few cars that day, and though Miami lost the recent basketball championship, they did not have riots there the same evening. The local authorities suggest that the rioters were actually anarchists "posing" as fans. And some bloggers have suggested a lack of economic and social justice as the "root cause" of the rioting. But even as such claims are made, it makes national news that one of the people caught on film setting fire to a police car was actually a college-bound elite athlete with hopes of making the Canadian Olympic team. Mmm...I somehow doubt he was rioting on behalf of disenfranchised poor people or the general cause of anarchy.

Robbed of the chance during a Canadian riot to narrow matters down to race, some try to suggest a specific age group or even gender as being at the root of the troubles. But while the riots may have been led by young people, the overall age range seems varied and some of the looters were reportedly women robbing cosmetics from local stores.

Indeed, when watching footage of the riots, it doesn't even appear that people are all that angry at their team's loss. It's true that there was an outpouring of rage at the end of the game, but later misbehavior seemed surrounded by enthusiastic jumping up and down, and smiles and hooting and hollering that didn't much resemble the looks of real anger and desperation seen in riots over issues other than sports in other parts of the world. In the following days, people have been embarrassed by photos of themselves smiling while they set things on fire. Some of the authorities have encouraged this and have even openly suggested that employers and others should know of what these people did through social media, which brings up issues of an Internet mob mentality possibly replacing the street mob, as the family of that car burning athlete have reportedly had to flee their home in fear for their safety.

With all the coverage of the violence, the people who showed up later without invitation or pay to clean up the downtown area after the riots are not mentioned so often. But they were still there, selflessly and quietly trying to repair their city.

I have to wonder if rioting is just something human societies lean towards on occasion. As the author of the old book The Human Zoo points out in his famous sociology study, humans penned up in urban areas have a lot in common with animals kept in cages, from sudden bouts of frenetic activity at certain times, to violent crimes that happen less often or easily in smaller social settings than the urban sprawls we have today. For all our self awareness, we are living beings after all, and maybe being penned up all the time with our frustrations and fears being our most constant companions may contribute to bouts of suddenly bad things happening.

But I don't mean to do as other bloggers are doing and suggest one simple explanation. There were probably a variety of factors that combined to make events unfold as they did, alcohol having something to do with it. And I certainly don't mean to make excuses for anyone. Thinking about what it takes to build a business or buy a car should have been on the rioters' minds before they decided to smash and torch other peoples' stuff just for the hell of it. But still, you have to wonder what it is about humans that makes violence and destruction the way to go when letting loose on a weekend. I recall seeing friends getting drunk in their youth and suddenly deciding that throwing a television set off a balcony just to see it destroyed was a good idea, and a good time. Huh? Years later, I still don't get it. And if not understanding the appeal of random destruction makes me more of a geek, then so be it. I'm not sure I want to be cool after seeing the latest riots.

Rave