Punish Nathan Kotylak, But Forgive Him Too

First I’d like to say great work to all the sites that popped up that allowed Vancouver citizens to report or post pictures and videos of the riots that occurred recently, after the Canuck’s lost the Stanley Cup to the Boston Bruins.

With that out of the way, I’ll state the obvious – we have to pay for our mistakes – it’s just natural law, but so should the act of forgiveness be. I’m not going to try to pursuade you to forgive all the seriously and truly atrocious acts against humanity but in this recent case of Nathan Kotylak, who was caught trying to set fire to a police cruiser, I think after a just punishment we can safely forgive him and move on.

Why should be forgive Nathan and the other rioters?

The recent Vancouver rioters weren’t mere rebels, they weren’t intent on bringing down the government (like the G20 rioters in Toronto (note I didn’t say protesters)) and quite possibly were too intoxicated to understand that a precarious situation was developing and dangerously escalating. Not to mention there was a definite plan before hand by a few riff-raffs that were posting in Facebook pages ideas about rioting after the game which means in the midst of an alcohol induced state, well, anything can happen.

Have you heard of “Mob Mentality” (Crowd Psychology)? Even Nathan referred to it in his official apology to his city. Crowd Mind is a serious and dangerous phenomenon that some how turns normal, gentle people into raging animals bent on destroying everyting in site – seeming all for nothing!

Nathan seems to have understood this phenomenon and by the sincerity and embarrassement he expressed in his apology we can sincerely forgive him – him and the rest of the other kids, men or woman that took part in riot.

Of course they should be punished but to imitate communities that show hatred and a lack of a decent understanding of the human condition, with it’s flaws is just something we Canadian’s don’t usually do. At least I haven’t seen it.

And finally, to the people who created forums for reporting the rioters in Vancouver or those who did the reporting, don’t let anyone call you a Rat or a Snitch as those two words refer to a person that has committed a crime with another party and has then reported the other party for the crime. What you did was report a crime, just as anyone (who calls you a rat or snitch) would call the police to report a crime (such as someone breaking into their neighbours car). Just consider such attacks pathetic and mindless attempts at intimidation and move on.

Readers Note: I understand there actually are people that decided they wanted to incite a riot even before Game 7 started – they have serious problems especially considering there was absolutely no cause except to cause trouble and violence – these ones need their heads checked, until further notice.