It was One Year Ago – The Loss of the IGA Store

January 5th, 2012 Thomasso

It was in the early morning hours of January 4th, 2011 when the IGA store burnt down in Fort Langley. Looking back on that day, I still get a little upset as the loss of that that store has made life a little more inconvenient for myself, and for most other residence who I have spoken to in this small community.

According to the “The Fort” Winter 2011/12 issue, the fire was caused by a “botched burglary.”

Construction of the new store on the same property started around November 2011, but the store itself will be built on the parking lot at the corner of Mavis and Church Street instead of Glover Road and Mavis. We are waiting with anticipation.

The image above (taken with a point-and-shoot Kodak M1063 camera) is the newly laid foundation of the IGA over top of the former parking lot (Mavis and Church Street).

I know for myself, seeing progress on the site is welcomed news, and I just hope that I am still living here when the store finally opens.

If you want to view some of the photos that I took of the IGA Fire back on January 4th, 2011, please click here for my photo gallery.

Posted in Around Town, Criminal Law, Events, General, Photographs | Comments Off

Social Apathy, or a Psychological Problem

October 29th, 2011 Thomasso

I have been desensitized over the years with news stories of human suffering and tragedy. In my academic studies in criminology, I have read, encountered, and studied both the purely bad and truly evil acts that humans have done, and through this, I have built up a resistance from these deviants, and often criminal cases. However, once in a while, a case pops up that adds a new level to this playing field that supersedes my definition of sick and twisted. The news story of two year old Wang Yueyue who was run over twice on October 13th, 2011, and then eight passers-by walked by her as she lay in the back alley injured from the first vehicle impact (CBCnews, ABC news & BBC news Television, October 14th to October 21, 2011). All of this was captured on a security video camera.

The video footage was grainy, and CBC News censored the image of the child, capturing from the time that she was impacted by the first vehicle, all the people that walked passed her body a she struggled for help, then a second vehicle hitting her, to finally a woman who grabbed her and took her to safety. Even with the child’s body blurred out, the image still shocked me. I had to turn off the television and retreat from what my eyes had just seen.

I knew right away. I knew what had happened as to why so many people walked by as I remembered my lessons in psychology on topics such as “Group Think” and “Passers By” conditions. Could this be prevented, say training people to stop and care?

China is by no means the only place where this has happened. It has happened in Canada, the U.S., Europe, just about anywhere around the world. Some argue that laws and cases where the victim has litigated by the rescuer for causing further injury, is a reason for not getting involved (CBC news, “Was the law at fault in Chinese toddler tragedy?” Oct 22, 2011). Others say that they just do not want to get involved and bare the responsibility and the time that it would take and to deal with the repercussions afterwards (CBC News).

There are people who just do not want to get involved. Simply put, most people in large groups will not even look directly at a victim of need because this would mean taking time, diverting from one’s course, and blending in, following the flow of the crowd. So hiding in numbers makes it easier not to look.

In Canada, we have the right not to rescue in some circumstances. This means that if I see a person drowning in the ocean, and I cannot swim, the Criminal Code protects me from not rescuing the drowning victim because I would then be also putting myself in the same danger as the drowning victim. In Canada, according to the Supreme Court of Canada:

According to the trial judge of a modern case, later affirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada, “the law is clear that there is no general duty to come to the rescue of another person … the law leaves the remedy to a person’s conscience.” (“Duty to Rescue,” PSW Law Website: 2009)

However, there are some circumstance that would tie a duty to rescue under statutory law, such as a parent, a person of trust, a life guard, and so on (PSW Law: 2009 Website).

My point to this post is why so many people walked by while the little girl lay on the road at the point of death. Perhaps, as many have said on the media, we must change our values and take action. Some have gone further and saying that laws need to be rewritten to reflect a high moral standard, while others are saying that the law is not the answer, but teaching people to be proactive rather than being nonactive.

I also need to add a legal disclaimer here too: This post is not to be used as information for legal advice, and I encourage you all to do further research on this topic if you need to find a specific legal issue about this. Also, these laws vary from country to country. According to the media, several people were charged in China who injured the little girl while driving their vehicles, so the law enforcement authorities did enforce the law in accordance to that country’s penal code (CBC news, Oct 24, 2011).

This post was originally written on October 24, 2011

Source

ABC News, 2011: “Chinese Toddler Ignored After Hit-and-Run Dies” Oct 21, 2011: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/chinese-toddler-left-bloody-hit-run-dies-14784046

BBC World News, 2011: “Anger and debate over hit-and-run toddler Wang Yue,” Oct 21 2011: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15401055

CBC News, 2011: “Chinese toddler run over twice dies,” Oct 21, 2011: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/10/21/toddler-china.html

CBC News, 2011: “Was the law at fault in Chinese toddler tragedy?” Oct 22, 2011: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/10/22/f-china-yue.html

PSW Law, 2009: http://pswlaw.ca/2009/06/duty-to-rescue/

Posted in Criminal Law, Criminology, Diatribe, General, Law, Law and Order, Socail Media, Social Justice | Comments Off

The Rightness of Wrongness: The Canadian Right

October 25th, 2011 Thomasso

Earlier today I sat in on a gathering of people who talked about the changing evolution of corrections (prisons) that Canadian society was moving towards. A lot of what was said falls into the category of classical social fear; crime is getting out of control and safety for property and person were at the top of the list from almost every speaker who lead the discussion. The dynamics of the meeting was subtle, but from person to person who gave their input, I could see that each changed to fit the “group think” attitudes that prevailed until everyone just agreed.

Am I surprised?

No.

Categorically, the meeting ended with each speaker making a statement that issued an appeal to the government, law enforcement, and to their fellow citizen to pull together and help clamp down on the crime menace. None of the speakers would, however, answer the one key question that hung over the entire meeting, “have you ever been a victim of a crime within the last twelve months”?

The speaker that I thought was the “most out to lunch” was actually the star of the show, so to speak. He was loud, captured the audience, and made tens of statements in less than three minutes before he sat down. His introduction was extreme, and waisted little time getting to the point. He said, “The only real experts on crime are C.O.P.s (sic), and those academics have no clue what is out their in the real world… to create a bunch of theories does not fix anything, we need action now…, and we need to do something about the issues instead of thinking like a bleeding heart Liberal (sic).”

Obviously I cannot argue with someone who has closed their mind to the openness and vastness of human society and the intricateness of human psychology. However, I can make him think further, and go beyond the single brush stroke statements, and make him see that the issues cannot be painted with just one colour. But time is the great definer of getting that message across, and time was not on my side–time ran out for me.

There were several issues that really concerned me that came out of this meeting today. Most are very serious in that they are false and misleading from the truth based on scientific facts. To discount peer reviewed studies, is like going back to the Witch Hunts of the Dark-ages, ignoring the enlightenment of human ontology. To invoke fear, well, that is in itself is a criminal act depending upon the level of unsighted accusations being made, and this gathering came close to breaking that threshold.

In terms of rhetoric, the foundation of my friend’s logos, cited the media as proof enough that crime has gone beyond what anyone organisation can manage to deal with. And with that, came the pathos of his argument, that we should fear, becuase the changing face of our country is diminishing, and we (his group) will be swept a way if we (he) sit back and do nothing. And finally, his ethos of his closing statement was based on his next door neighbour being a police officer, and confiding in him (the speaker) of the moral dilemma of why even the police are powerless in the war on crime.

What I have witnessed today is typical of a group who are trying to deal with a problem that goes beyond the scope that most care to deal with today at a complex level. The study of crime and deviance is a huge field, with many branches that stem into a vast array of specialised fields, as each field has developed into its own faculty or discipline, and few have studied under all of them. I studied Criminology, and I continue on today with that study, looking at both the social and psychological perspectives of humankind; so I try to go to these gathering in hopes that I can broaden the mind of the general public and move forward to a better society. “Baby steps” as an old friend used to say to me, “baby steps.” Not everyone is an academic.

Posted in Criminal Law, Criminology, Diatribe, General, Law, Law and Order, Socail Media, Social Justice | 2 Comments »

Shamming

June 24th, 2011 Thomasso

When I was a first year university student doing my major in Criminology, I was introduced to the concept of shamming through a method of alternative sentencing called Restorative Justice. Back then, the term Restorative Justice was thrown around a lot by various stake holders of both academics and the criminal justice system, as each side had a slightly different take on what it meant to them. All sides incorporated a certain amount of shamming in this concept.

Shamming for the Purpose of Healing

I was introduced to a form of restorative justice that focused on Sentencing Circles and restoring the community and its values of maintaining a relationship between all parties. We would work in groups, primarily with those those offenders who have already been found guilty, and processed through the criminal justice system. We would then gather in a circle and follow various exercises that would help the convicted go through a healing and punishment processes by involving the victims, law enforcement and members of the community, who all participate in this circle. Everyone would work to directly have input and then become involved with the healing/sentencing process too.

The goal of the sentencing circle was to have both the victim and perpetrator express their feelings about that event, and hopefully share, and start to build a bond that was damaged from after the criminal event. This goal was to heal, then restore the lives, and the community, back to it former self. The success of the this method was dependant upon the participants who not only had given up a huge amount of their time, but would also have to endure an emotional taxing experience through the process as well. With the man hours and willingness needed to have success, organising such sentencing circles is a full time job in itself, but everyone who agrees to participate does so with a “mindset” before hand of what they expect the healing and restoring ought to be. It could be healing, forgivingness, shaming, or curiosity – the list can vary from group to group, but each member would have their won reasons for wanting to participate.

Shamming is part of this process. I have seen it take some very ugly turns in the some of the circles that I have worked with. When I first started working in circles, I was very apprehensive about this phase of the sentencing processes becuase I felt, and I still do, that the shamming process should not be apart of it that it would reverse the achievement that was being sought. Latter, after doing several sentencing circles, I found that shamming was almost an integral part of the process but it would have to be tightly regulated with well laid out rules that needed to be agreed upon before hand.

A Culture of Shamming

Shamming is a well practised offensive tactic that we do to elicit an emotional response from our victims, and we all do this very well. Our mentors and guardians use shamming to teach us and correct us when we were young. We then carried and learned more advance techniques of shamming when we are among our peers, and then we reach the stage where we learn to do it to those we never knew before, and carry it out into the public realm.

Public shamming is, in our culture, an almost natural reaction to various forms of crimes and behaviour that we would find unacceptable. The best example, and the reason why I am writing this post out, are the Vancouver Riots from last week after the hockey game, form the Stanley Cup Play-offs. All this week people have been posting their images and naming those in them as part of the public shamming process. The hope is that by naming, or shamming, each of those who participated in the riots, would be embarrassed and ultimately, would be deterred from doing any further act of civil disobedience again.

From Shamming to Vigilantism

The problem is, is it right to do this? Is this public vigilantism? Could this be an offence in of itself, those who are shamming through naming those on social networking sites?

When the Vancouver Police Department asked the public to send in their images and video of the riots, they also asked if anyone could identify those, and send them in, via their Face Book page, their names. I do not believe that the police intended the public to post those names publicly, to start their own shamming sites in the form of there own law enforcement initiatives?

Although I have used shamming for healing, shamming in the context of public humiliation can have considerable negative repercussion, and I my opinion, have the same effect as Labelling Theory suggests, when the harm done is greater than the intended good that was sought as punishment. The publicly defame someone is a life long effect that exceeds the damage done during the criminal event before hand.

The Courts and the Justice System

So, what about criminal justice system, and the wheels of justice in a court of law by a Judge who is unbiased, and who will weigh the scales is justice to fit the crime?

We know from experience that the majority of those who participated, and charged, are not going to be held by police, or convicted in a court of law. We also know that for those who are prosecuted and sentenced, the time and reparations will seem light and mild to the public’s liking. The greatest effect for those sentenced will be the labelling that each person convicted will have in the form of a criminal record which will be with them for the rest of their lives.

It is common knowledge that in out justice system we give the benefit of doubt in a court of law when trying the accused under criminal law. We also know that the standards of criminal law also is vastly different from that of civil law where the scales of justice weigh the amount of rightness and wrongness based on entirely different standards. So only then when that accused has been found guilty that we can say he or she has being convicted and now must be sentenced in accordance to the laws of the land. This is a far cry from the court of public opinion, where shamming maybe tipped towards vigilantism.

Conclusion

Although I do not condole what the people of Vancouver did on June 15, 2011 right after the home town hockey team lost the final match and started rioting causing million of dollars in damages, but I caution people who take it upon themselves to voice their opinions through social media networks of publicly identifying those that they know who participated in the riots rather than going directly to the police. Should those in the riots have to go through the court of public opinion, and be subjected to public humiliation before they enter the justice system?

I think we have started down a slippery slope now that social media devices are common place and people can express themselves, with almost total anonymity, of their feelings and opinions with almost total conjecture and responsibility for their actions. Perhaps there could be a second groundswell of law suits very soon of those who were shamed, as they start to fight back in those same courts, armed with Tweets, Blog-posts and Face Book passages of their defamers.

Posted in Criminal Law, Criminology, Diatribe, General, Law, Law and Order, Social Justice | Comments Off

Was it a Riot? My City is in Shame.

June 16th, 2011 Thomasso

When I got home from work, I prepared myself for the game, as millions of other Canadians did becuase this was the final big game to prove which team was number one. Hockey is, after all, Canada’s game; our favourite past time as most of us as kids played some form of it at one time or another. In anticipation, I made my dinner early and made sure that I was not going to not be disturbed while watching the game. I did, however, know that the momentum of the Vancouver Canucks was on a downwards roll, so everything was on this final game to decide who was going to take home the cup.

I also knew that Vancouver has a history of rioting after such events, for example,  back in the 1994 Stanley Cup play-offs, when the Canucks lost to the New York Rangers, people turned into hooligans then and went on a rioting rampage through the streets causing millions of dollars in damages. But every city has had its share of riots in one form or another. What makes this so embarrassing is that Vancouver was just on the world stage hosting the Olympics, and that seemed to go fairly smoothly with just little hiccups from a few idiots. So what happened to our peaceful attitude?

Some say, from my Twitter stream, that it was from not enough police on the streets, to the police and the city totally under estimating the potential for such violence to occur. Either way, it did, and we now have a huge P.R. problem becuase of it. But could the police have gone further to at least contain last night’s situation?

I argue that, no, the Vancouver Police could not have gone to point that they could have totally stopped the violence and rioting that we seen last night. Controlling that many people would have required something on the order of what we seen in the G20 protests in Toronto several months back, and that would have being very unacceptable both in terms of Vancouver’s image, and the cost to the taxpayers.

What was intriguing was the use of social media that was given to the police, by the public, so that the police could start identifying and using these images, and videos, as evidence in order to prosecute the accused for their acts of hooliganism. So the age old question of private freedoms versus public rights popped up. The terminology that was used by my Twitter friends was the use social media as a form of surveillance in such cases as last night riots to lay charges by the police.

I am in full complete favour for the use of such media as a tool for laying criminal charges and the prosecution of such individuals by the police. My argument is two fold.

First, police already use such tools out in the public sphere for catching and bringing to justice people who are committing a crime. The courts are already equipped with the tools in the justice system to handle the difference between arbitrary issues and the weight that such evidence is placed against the accused. Photographic evidence is very difficult to use in the courts as it is. The photographer literally must be there as a whiteness if the image is in question, but then now you have a whiteness, which is the strongest form of evidence there it in Canadian Courts, testifying against the accused.

Second, as the use of cameras from smart phones and other devices become the mainstay of everyone around the world, so too does the way these tools are used by all parties in cases of criminal events like rioting. Perhaps the court of public opinion is the most serious for seeing the electronic eyes of these events. The the armchair philosopher who is tying to critically analyse these images, this is secondary to the pure entertainment value that the media gives them while these scenes are played repeatedly every hour of the day until the news losses its splendour. You do not go to a major event without your social media device. Protesters use them, police used them, and the value that we give them changes, from recording history making events, to tools for presenting your side of history, from your point of view. So now the question of surveillance rears its ugly head from the use of social media.

Like yourself witnessing a criminal event, the electronic eye’s gaze is also a party to the criminal event, and at a moral level, and under law in our Criminal Code, you do have an obligation to come forth and  present what you have seen to the police and court of law. But people seem to have a fear of authoritarian governments, and the use of surveillance over the general public they seem to bring with them. (See the movie, or read the book, 1984 as an excellent example). I believe today that the conditions have being met in Canada that justifies the use of such tools for bringing to justice those who cause such damage during acts of great civil unrest. We have balance in our justice system, and a very strong media and public process system that polices the police.

I strongly request that anyone with images of rioters from last night come forward and share your eyes with the police so that justice can be served. For the few people to created such distasteful acts in our city is unacceptable. There is a moral judgement that each person must make, and it is between the public good versus the private rights that each Canadian holds dearly. I hope I have convinced you to make that choice and move forward with it.

Posted in Around Town, Criminal Law, Criminology, Events, General, Law, Law and Order, Socail Media, Social Justice, Twitter | 1 Comment »

The Carrot Stick, and the Pay Cheque

May 4th, 2011 Thomasso

Today an old friend of mine from University popped by to discuss some research I did for her regarding some suspicions that she has about her current employer. It took me about fifteen minutes to hit pay dirt, or find the dark and dirty secrets of this individual. When I presented this information to her with the data, she was not as devastated as I thought she would be. But this exercise brings up many ethical questions about our ideological needs and social concerns when dealing with offenders, and how we react to them.

So here is the first question. Would you continue to work for an employer who has been convicted of a sexual assault in the past, if you just found out about it today, and you are a woman?

I was surprised by my friend’s reaction as I handed her the file to read. Now for me, I deal with this all of the time so I am some what tempered by the many types of people I work and deal with in the prison system. I have interviewed, worked with, and being involved with various programs that are centred around people who have committed very heinous crimes, so I am use to it. In the rule of law circles, the belief is, once a person has fulfilled their time and punishment, then they are free to rejoin society and we as the public should take them back with open arms. As a Criminologist, I know first hand that that is not the case. In most circumstances, the opposite happens. My friend was not as concern as I thought she would have been about this news that I gave her.

So, the next question is, would you quit your job if you found out your boss is a known sex offender who has served his time and has been released?

Sex offenders are held as the lowest of the low in Canadian society. With this mark, you do not have to go far to see the public outrage that is generated whenever an offender is released from prison after serving their time. When my friend decided that she would continue to work for this guy, I was shocked.

This beings up a very interesting aspect about our society. On one hand, we have a woman who just found out that her boss is a convicted sex offender, yet, because it is a job, she will continue to have this relationship with him. So this has got me thinking that there are some huge philosophical dynamics being played out here between someone’s moral and social values on this topic.

If she had know that this man was a convicted sex offender from along time ago, then she probably would have never worked for him. Yet, because she has just found out, and confirmed this, this changes everything. Her tie, as part of her relationship as an employer employee connection with him exists, it appears to be a far stronger tie than I would have expected. The level of merit between her and her boss has changed significantly. This change is so strong that she is even willing to forgo the fear and anger of what this man is in her mind, based upon his past, that she has told me that she will decide over time rather than making her decision based on anger on the spot.

I can see that this has changed the quality of the relationship between her and her work, as I can assume that she will be looking over her shoulders continuously now. But, before this, being employed by this man for roughly a year now, what has really changed?

I hope you, dear reader, can make your own informed assumptions about this post. I have left the names of both people out of this, but felt that it is an important topic to blog about. This is after all one of our biggest social fears today. Your comments are welcomed.

Posted in Criminal Law, Criminology, Diatribe, General, Law and Order, Social Justice | 1 Comment »

Politics and That Bin Ladin Guy from 9-11

May 1st, 2011 Thomasso

I was reading some tweets from friends when I noticed a huge surge of tweets with the trending topic of Osama bin Laden in them. Around 7:30pm (pacific time) these tweets started popping up. Then the grand-daddy of all tweets coming from President Barack Obama, who tweeted that he was about to do  a rare late night public announcement live, streamed live on the web. So I waited with bated breath.

It was announced that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by American forces, issued by the President (10:30 Eastern).

Oh Twitter. I laughed, I cried, and read with intent. There were so many perspectives on this event that I had to stop my stream to read them all in real time. As I type, our Prime Minster is speaking about the 9-11 and the death of Osama Bin Laden. His speech was short. I understand that he is, after all, in the twilight of an election.

Here is the President’s speech in its entirety:

So, I will continue to pick this up for tomorrow.

Election Fun:

On a Humours note, poking fun at the election, I present a YouTube clip of this acapella group, “The Tra La Las,”  poking fun at the Harper Conservatives. This is for some members of my family, who are staunch Conservative supporters–you know who you are… Heh heh heh. So get out there and VOTE tomorrow! Vote, it’s your right and privilege!

Harper is the Root of All Evil

As the night progresses, and if I have more energy, I will probably add more to this post. But I must get back to Twitter.

Posted in Criminal Law, Criminology, Events, General, Humour, Law, Law and Order, Socail Media, Social Justice, Twitter, Video | Comments Off

The Underground Economy

April 10th, 2011 Thomasso

I have been trying to help an old friend from moving back into the realm of criminal activity, and convincing him to keep his life on the straight and narrow. My efforts have been doubly difficult as the economy is making the search for legitimate employment more difficult for him. As our self melodious Prime Minister touts, Canada is in good economic terms compared to the rest of the world, but that is coming from a politician that wants to get re-elected. OK, if that is the case, then we are in big trouble as the Canadian economy is hurting, to use the lack of a better word. That is not going to help my friend who is on the verge of moving out onto the street.

My friend has done time in prison before. He was convicted of possession of illegal narcotics, and served less than six months, then three years on parole, where he was finally let free, back into society, basically to fend for himself. He has managed to keep himself in good shape, and has been working, earning a legitimate wage for over the last three years. His good fortune turned when he was laid off and now has been unemployed for a couple of months. He is now keeping himself going by selling what he can of his own personal belongings for cash, and feeding himself by going to the local food bank in Langley City, when he can. He will be homeless after this month, as all of his savings are almost gone.

I have taken some time study the underground economy in Canada. Partly because I did a lot of research way back when I was a second year Criminology student, writing a paper on this topic. I learned then that the public associates the underground economy with drug dealers and organized criminal gangs, while revenue Canada view it as any money where taxes have not been paid on it through profits and income. I see it as a hybrid of the two, mostly pertaining it to both organized and White Collar crime. As I gathered more statistical evidence, I found that the numbers of dollars circumvented from the tax man seem to be neck in neck with White Collar criminals as compared with the drug trade; although finding the true measure of the dollar amount will always remain a mystery as any research on criminal activity will be classified as being involved in the criminal activity itself.

For my friend, the ease, and the lure, of moving back into the illegal world of commerce has never looked so good right now for him. Based on my research, the underground economy is very much alive and well in British Columbia. Sadly, some predictions say that there could be a spike in people migrating towards the underground economy, as never seen before. As money and services start to contract, companies start cutting corners to remain competitive, or current market wages could be undermined by the cheaper available labour, citing some examples of what is happening. Under the table labour is becoming the next bastion of life for many people who are on the brink of becoming homeless in the Vancouver area. My friend is struggling with these temptations. He is down to the choice of feeding himself, or going hungry.

In his mind, if the means are available, then how be it a broken social system dare tell him what he can and cannot do to survive.  Even he knows that the resources for law enforcement are stretched so thin through under funding by all three levels of government that resources for White Collar crime is almost nonexistent, and adds to the legitimacy of doing such crimes here in Canada.

I continue to appeal to my friend, asking that he keeps on trying, searching for the legitimate job. However, I too can see the strain of his temptation to dive back into the criminal world. He told me that as of last week the crime world is the only world that is hiring! That shocked me when he said that. I guess it is true, in a sad and truthful tone.

My hope is that he can find some work soon. Like so many, our economy is collapsing, and the bottom economic strata are always the first levels to fall in times of economic hardship. His criminal record, by the way, does not seem to deter him, as he told that most of his former employers never asked. So, as he said, it is the availability of work that is at play here. The last thing I want to see is him moving into a cardboard box sleeping out in the elements somewhere in Langley City as a vagrant. So I am really hoping that he finds something soon!

Posted in Criminal Law, Criminology, Diatribe, General, Law, Social economics, Social Justice, Story Telling | Comments Off

The Slut Walk in Toronto

April 5th, 2011 Thomasso

On April 3rd 2011, just last weekend of this writing, hundreds of women, men and youth rallied along Queens Park in down town Toronto to protest remarks made by one Metropolitan Police Officer. The officer in question said something to the effect that if you (women) want to be safe, then you should dress accordingly, directing his statement to women at a campus information session, at York University’s Osgood Hall (Slut Walk Toronto, 2011). This implies that women who dress in a so called way, deemed provocative, or dare I say like sluts, then subject themselves to being raped, sexually assaulted and treated in such a way as inferior.

Although the spotlight as being on the hundreds of women who have taken to the streets in protest, I have found that none of the commercial media outlets have focused on the real issue, and that is, this is a  men’s issue, or Male problem, of our society. The wrong doing here is that the Toronto Police officer  took an all to subjective point of view and a male chauvinistic stance on a problem that should have been driven towards the men in the audience. It is not the women who dress in such a way that is the cause of the problem, but the attitudes of men towards women who view them as subjective and perceive them as a specific stereotype. It is the men who should be given the attention of police in recognizing that this sort of conduct will not be tolerated in a free and democratic society such as Canada.

Yes, I am a male. A man who studies bad people, and social problems, for the last eight of my life. Academically, my field of expertise is in Criminology. My insight into various social problems has enlightened me to an understanding that I take seriously that deal with looking into root causes of problems. I pay close particular attention to the policing organisation in Canada. When I first read of this story, I was not surprised that an officer would make such accusation. This has happen in numerous occasion in the past, and more will continue into the future, but this is a social, and seemingly weak cultural norm, an attitude shared with many, from various groups, even today.

So, would an organisation such as the local police force dare tell an audience of its Male peers that it is they who should be warned, made vigilant and be reserved?  My point comes from an story a first year prof who told me of a case called the Boston Strangler, where police then proclaimed that a curfew of just women had to be made. The rational was that all of the victims were women who walked the streets after dark. The culprit was a male who first raped his victims, then strangled them afterwords. Instead, the curfew should have being for the men, not the women. The logic is, then only the one male would be walking the streets, and his capture would be better guaranteed.

I am on the fence with a public event of people like this.  I believe in education, starting a young age, then working it through all facets of society. However, sometimes it takes a march, or parade, to educate, and bring to light this social problems such as this. I believe that there are many cultural norms that need to be purged because of their underlying harms and discrimination that they ensue. The best example are the Gay Pride events. In less than forty years, homosexuality came from being a criminal offence, to a level of openness and acceptance in Canadian society today. There are groups today who wish to revert back to the days of darkness and run the world in ignorance, but hopefully the human race has risen above that for good.

LINKS

• CBC News: Toronto ‘slut walk’ takes to city streets April 3, 2011
• TheSTAR: Mallick: What to wear for SlutWalk March 30, 2011
• The Toronto Star: ‘Sluts’ march against sexual assault stereotypes April 3, 2011

Posted in Criminal Law, Criminology, Diatribe, General, Law and Order, Social Justice | Comments Off

Preaching Promiscuity Bastard Style

March 24th, 2011 Thomasso

I was visiting a friend of mine of whom I have not seen for a while. This was one of those unannounced visits. I knocked on the door, he invited me in, and he offered me a tea. But before I go further into this event, I will be purposely leaving many details out, and will not name names. In fact, just the very fact that I am writing this out could spell disaster for some people, especially for my friend. But I do not care because I have taken a stance, and if you read the title, it involves a certain level of promiscuity and adultery, and you should understand why I have posted this. But first, the story.

So we sat down in the living room (I am making this part up) and started talking about the latest gossip and how everyone is doing in and around town. About an hour into the visit, my friend suddenly proclaims that I have to leave at 2:00pm. Then he tells me that he is using me as an excuse to tell his wife that he will not be home until late tonight because we are supposedly going to be talking all evening. A certain woman that he met three years before was coming over and they were going out for dinner. He invited her out for dinner!

I was shocked! “What about your wife,” I asked?

He told me not to worry about that. But I could not. Instead I kept hounding him about how wrong this was on so many levels. But he continued on, totally unabated by the terrible act that he was about to commit. At 2:00pm he asked me to leave so that he could get ready and they would meet. So I left.

This got me thinking while I was walking home from his place about how we are monogamist creatures, and that our social structure is totally based on this idea. I really had a hard time putting this into perspective. But then my mind focused on purl marriage. That popped into my head as I remembered my studies in social law, looking at the Mormons in Bountiful, British Columbia as a case study, and the current legal challenges that are going on there. These are people, the Mormons, are fighting a legal battle in Canada to have the right to have purl marriages as they claim it is part of there social order. But this argument does not hold water to my friend’s dilemma as his wife did not enter into this agreement to be shared, or share with, another woman.

I am still numb as I cannot believe that a man could throw his marriage out just to search the green grass on the other side of the river?

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