Yes, and now Montreal -- twice.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
All Too Credible Violence
Douglas Coupland published Hey Nostradamus!, a novel set in Vancouver with roots in the high-school massacre at Columbine, Colorado, and a British reporter who interviewed him wrote that murder of the kind he described was just not credible in Canada, putting Canadians in the untenable position of having to say, Hold on, man, what about Clifford Olson, Karla and Paul -- or, just down the road, Robert Picton and his gruesome pig farm? Noah Richler, This Is My Country, What's Yours?
Yes, and now Montreal -- twice.
Yes, and now Montreal -- twice.
It is truly shocking. The only positive that I'm drawing out of this Dawson college thing is that the Montreal and Quebec Provincial police had changed standard operating procedures just a short time ago such that immediate action is permitted by them rather than being handcuffed to act until a SWAT unit arrives. I'm sure lives were saved and injuries minimized due to their quick and deadly response.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be interesting to see if there's any outcry about blogs because of this. The shooter had been quite active on his blog and someone may have seen this coming. If folkks will start to jump on blogs, I hope they also jump on the general media. The mis-reporting yesterday on the CNN, CBC, Montreal Gazette, AP Wire, and other sites was unbelievable. 4 dead, 3 suspects, 2 suspects, 1 dead. After a while, you knew something happened but had no clue what due to the conflicting information.
But, what a tragedy.
Re: police response, I've been thinking the exact same thing. All this guy needed to make things much, much worse was a police force that had been trained to sit outside and wait him out. Not only did he not have that opportunity, his spree was interrupted by officers who were already in the vicinity.
ReplyDeleteAs for blogs, it will be perversely interesting to see what the media - never ones to pause for verification, nevermind a moment of applied consideration - makes of it all. ugh.