Gang-gun-violence

Sadly, another two people died. Many seem to think it is ok that these two died, rather than the two 'innocent by-standers' at a shooting in Surrey, a few weeks ago. The life of a gang-member does not have the same value. They deserve it. They asked for it. Besides. Living in Shaughnessy and driving a silver Mercedes, come on. You know something's not right.



I bet you, though, that their mother grieves just as much as the mother of the by-standers.

Interesting to listen to the phone-in session at the CBC's afternoon show.

Caller #1. "I am a 64 year old man. I find that I was more sure of things when I was 17, much easier to know what's what and have opinions. I am fit, I take care of my body, I own my own business. The problem with the shootings is, of course, the drugs."

(My prejudices kick in. Of course. Here's another senior calling for tougher drug laws)

"The problem with drugs is that there is too much money to be made. Prohibition doesn't work, and it is bound to create problems. Like i said, I'm 64 years old. And at this age, I don't need the government telling me what to do, I can take my own decisions. I don't need the god-damn government saying I can't choose to do what I wish with my own body, I can put into it what I choose. If I want to smoke a joint, I don't need the government to tell me I can't. We need to find solutions to drug use and abuse on a social level, and not make it a law issue"

(Wow that went quite the other way. Good for him!)

Caller #2. "I heard that the guys that were murdered are Chinese. What I wonder is, how did they get into the country? How did they get into our country and break the law? How come those immigration officers let them in?"

Caller #3. "The problem is the guns. It's all the guns in the country, and the gun lobby preventing the government from acting to stop it . How come the border officials let in all these guns? How come peace activists with some literature are stopped and detained at the border, while they can bring in their guns?"

Interesting. Within a few minutes, we have the different angles. It's the prohibition. It's the immigrants. It's the guns.

Simple, isn't it?

This morning, an RCMP officer shared his wisdom. "We need to do more research to find out what makes gangs so attractive to young people".

Right. Because we can't imagine, have no clue, why.

Because I can easily buy a house in Vancouver, on minimum wage. Hey, if I work for starbucks, I'll even have free coffee!