How to start a fire:
- consolidate flammable material
- provide adequate oxygen to burn
- spark a flame
Riots are nothing new, and often we hear about them happening in far away places and there's a sort of subconscious shrug as we dismiss it as "the way those people are". The Vancouver Riots last night are different for a few reasons, not the least of which is that they took place in Vancouver. Canada. It's not often that we see the social fabric pulled back from our northern neighbors. The country campaigns on its friendliness and courtesy, even highlighting those qualities in the 2008 Olympics (also in Vancouver). Of course, with a slightly longer memory we may recall the 1994 riots, again over the loss of their precious Canucks hockey team and again during the Stanley Cup finals.
The race riots of the 1960's, the riots we've seen and read about in middle eastern countries still embroiled in their "Arab Spring"; I understand those. I understand that people fighting for their basic rights, or fighting to provide future generations with a better life, are fragile and angry and volatile. But hockey? Or for that matter, soccer? What the hell, people?
To dismiss this as mere hooliganry (that quality in young men that forsakes the frontal lobe in favor of their animal brain) is too easy. Yes, many of the people (I'd say the vast majority) pictured in the riots last night were young, and most were male. However, there's plethora of circumstances that contribute to an explosive event like this.
First, Vancouver has a highly congested downtown area and when game 7 of the Stanley Cup, in which the Canucks lost to the Bruins 0-4, nearly 100,000 fans clogged the transit routes and became stuck. (1. Consolidate flammable material)
Second, during the 1994 riots police cracked down brutally on rioters, beating and arresting with impunity. Any show of force by police last night was likely seen as provocation. Also, Vancouver has suffered similarly to many other large cities from the economic recession and many young people are out of work. (2. Provide adequate oxygen)
Third, the Canucks have never won a Stanley Cup in their 40 year history. That said, they were favored to win the game, not to be shut out 4-0. Since the team had come so close only to lose so badly, it was likely a major letdown. (3. Spark)
One of the inherent dangers of large cities, particularly congested metropolitan areas, is the specter of mob rule. There are several psychological factors in play during a sporting event riot. Disindividuation is the process of subverting one's individual identity in favor of rallying to a larger communal identity; such as wearing a jersey, painting your face, and screaming your ass off for your home team. Projection is the act of substituting one emotional trigger for another. Often the emotion is the same, and may even be heightened by a new sense of justification. (I'm going to set fire to this squad car because the Canucks lost, not because my dad raised me not to trust the police and I was just evicted from my apartment.) Finally, there's the emotional contagion, or the process by which once one person has vented their frustration, others are likely to join in and participate. To me, this last one is the most fascinating aspect of mob mentality. It's literally the tearing off of the social bandaid; where people give into their animal brains and disregard all semblance of civilized social behavior because everyone else seems to be doing it too. This is the point within a riot that the "if everyone else was jumping off a bridge, would you?" argument goes out the window. Yes. They would.
It should be noted that police acted very transparently and professionally this time around, and though the pictures and video on most media outlets show fires and violence, the worst was perpetrated by a relatively small group of people that were also pacified relatively quickly. This, according to Bleacher Report. A cost of doing business with modern civilization? Sometimes we just get medieval.