Breaking my own rules real quick, this will be a real quick blog. Something happened last Friday and last weekend and it bugged me and it points out so many issues that I just gotta rant! I will touch on a few things "News Media" and journalism, social media, a little politics, Edmonton, gun control, the justice system and racism. Not really edited so sorry if it isn't the easiest read.
Start with YEG wave, anyone else know who that is? I'll pretend you don't. They claim to be #1 in Alberta Culture and Entertainment pages. I personally found them because they have had news up on Edmonton way before the mainstream does. A quick scroll shows maybe it isn't culture they are into but crime and politics. I have seen them called racist online, that of course isn't true, let me explain. A view of their page and you can tell they are right leaning for sure. However nothing they post has been untrue. Also they rarely post anything of their thoughts just actual videos from the Edmonton area. Do they have an agenda, yes. Like ALL media now it isn't news, its their spin. Look at wash outs like Rachel Gilmore and Dean Blundell. Everything they say is also true but spun, my point is shining a spotlight on things isn't racist or untrue. Recently people in Edmonton thought they had a gotcha moment on Yegwave, supposedly it was a Russian troll account. I believe we have moved past that but I dunno. If I was a betting man, its local. It might not be balanced or fair, sadly no "news media" is anymore. Anyways I had no issues with Yegwave until this weekend.
So a 20 year old security guard Harshandeep Singh was murdered, shot in the back by Evan Rain and Judith Saulteaux. Of course this is brutal, what Yegwave did was post the murder online. Security cam footage where we can see Harshandeep trying to get away and Evan blasts him. I am not sure but from what I read with a shotgun. Then we see his body laying in a stairwell. WTF!? Seriously!! I remember when I was in high school-ish and the Faces of Death movies came out. Or maybe that is when I first heard about it but it was a banned thing. All this death and such but now we just post it on social media? I can argue for freedom of speech and things like that IF it has a point. This doesn't. It is simply someone being murdered and people seeing it. Will it be great for court (Ya we will get there) sure, does the general public need it? Not at all. I will never think video games or music make people do bad shit but it does desensitize people to some extent. Now we can watch actual murder, I wonder why the world is going to shit? On top of that, what about his family. Do they really want the world seeing that, do they? Its classless, its trashy, its not journalism, its gross. While I do think Yegwave is a decent outlet, this is too much. What the hell is wrong with social media?
I started reading comments on social media about this murder and right away Edmontonians jump to was it a hate crime? What is wrong with you people? Why are so many people here so annoying? Not everything is about race or whatever. A lot of crime is just crime. Edmonton is so bad for it. I don't know if it is because we are overly "woke" here, an NDP stronghold or why but I find it so annoying people here jump to that. Not every crime is going to forward your agenda, some just really suck! Then that of course leads to the "Oh its Alberta, its probably a hate crime" Go fuck yourself and move if it is that bad here.
How about that gun control! Sure stopped this guy from getting a gun and blasting an innocent man! I am beating a dead horse here but seriously wtf. We have seen gun bans that are going to make us all safer and yet..... No all these liberal gun laws have done is target law abiding gun owners. As I am writing this we are seeing yet more guns outlawed but has it done anything?? I am not going to go to far into it, just stating again, these policies are a failure. I can't say for sure but I believe in all this the short shotgun he used in the murder isn't even a banned gun. That may or may not be correct but if anything is banned that one should be!
What about the justice system. At this point we know both of the accused have criminal pasts. Rain was involved in a kidnapping a few years back. You read that right, a woman escaped being locked in a trunk got help and Evan was arrested. Along with that also charged with theft of a motor vehicle. That was 2018, only 6 years ago. Somehow he is already out and walking the streets, murdering people?? Actually 17 convictions in the last 12 years. A fun list here... assault, unlawful confinement, drugs, weapons possession, and fire arms charges. Seriously What in TF?? So the kidnapping I mentioned earlier got less than 3 years in prison. Our justice system has failed. Looking for facts on the case I read violent crime is up 45% since the liberals have taken power. I would take that with a grain of salt but I could also see it being true. With good intentions for some their policies have let people out of prison much sooner and had lighter sentences, seems like a failing policy. So I am going to get to capital punishment. In general I think it has too many ways to go wrong and we shouldn't have it. For instance there are MANY cases over the years were the wrong person did the time. Can you imagine finding out we executed someone who was innocent? That is the ultimate fail on society. On top of that what about people like Vincent Li. There is no way to convict the wrong person. He killed, beheaded and started to eat someone in front of people. He is a murderer. In what is a rare ruling, he was found not guilty by insanity. He was treated and now lives free.... That part is actually kind of scary but I digress. He is a murderer, without a doubt but should he be up for capital punishment? This blog isn't on capital punishment but these actions have had me thinking... HOWEVER you do get to actual evil people. Robert Pickton, Clifford Olson, Paul Bernardo. There is no doubt these men committed the crimes they are convicted of, should they be kept alive? What I am building towards here, we have video of an execution... where do we land on that? There is no possibility of a mistake, there is a clear pattern, this wasn't a insane person acting out. I don't see how this could be anymore straight forward a case for capital punishment. Lets move past that though, if we as a society are not about to have capital punishment these people should never be free again. I think that much is very clear.
Of course we see the race card played. Online we see a ton of white people saying awful things like "typical natives". That is 100% wrong and honestly racist, skin color had nothing to do with this crime. Also far less but out there we see people saying it really wasn't his fault, society did this to him. Made him the way he is. DO you know what Gladue factors are?
In 1999, the Supreme Court ruled in R v. Gladue that courts must consider an Aboriginal offender’s background when he or she is being sentenced for a crime. Factors that are considered include discrimination, physical abuse, separation from culture or family, or drug and alcohol abuse.
Probably not going to be my most popular opinion but that's utter shit. Gladue factors are considered because first nations often face systemic racism and discrimination in and out of the justice system. I 100% agree with that as well. (I went to an Oilers game with a native friend and before we got in we got a very thorough pat down. Within a month I went with a couple white guys. I looked the exact same, hoodie, hat, jeans. I stopped at the door and put my arms up for the pat down I thought would be coming. Security looked at me like I was nuts and waved me through. I did not look different at all, it was just the company I was in that changed and security's attitude sure changed) That does not excuse anything. I would argue many of the WORST offenders out there have had many of these issues, be they native, white or whatever. In fact I would think some people new to Canada have lived and dealt with MUCH worse but that does not give them an excuse. So why is it so for first nations? Well it is because the white man was an asshole for a long time.... The honest truth is we did come to a new land and take it. That's the way the world works sorry. That isn't saying anything is right or wrong but if you look at the overall history everywhere in the world, this happens. However some of what we did was truly horrific. In Canada the residential schools is the biggest example. It was to kill the Indian in the person. It is the darkest chapter in our nation. The fact the last school closed in 1996 is truly amazing, that this was still going on within the last 30 years. That has been used many time to excuse bad behavior. Generational trauma. It took sometime but I do believe in it, to an extent. I have some close friends whose parents were in Residential schools. When they open up about it, it did affect their parents and some of their earliest memories are not happy ones. Parents dealing with traumas that do end up affecting the kids. The truth is this isn't fair to the children and it isn't right. I do understand you have a terrible childhood, chances are you act out and the cycle continues. Now a couple things from this. First and not really related, there are no mass graves. Or there hasn't been. Mass graves imply mass murder and bodies in pits like the Nazis or Commies and while the schools truly were horrific they weren't that. YES there have been unmarked graves and that should not happen, that should be fixed but it isn't mass graves. Also I Metis. I am a terrible Metis but the fact is I am. I have very distant uncles who went to the schools AND they are all normal. They are older now but live normal lives, had children that are grown and became fine members of society. There are thousands of cases just like that. So how does that happen, some can be traumatized for life and others are fine? Support afterwards maybe? I honestly don't know or have an answer but I am saying we cannot continue to blame history. What we can and should be doing is offering real help. Not monetary settlements. You give someone with an addiction issue cash, to help fix things do you think it really will? Addiction treatment, mental health counselling, education, homes, anything that actually helps is what we should be doing NOT giving Gladue factors or $10,000 and then $3,000 every year after. It would be much more useful to break the cycle. However I am way off topic here. What I am getting at is in the long list of things wrong with the world today this case touches on racism and that is one of them. First it wasn't a racially motivated crime, so woke dumbasses in Edmonton calm down. Second to the racists twats saying things about first nations, you too need to stfu. Last there is a racism problem in Canada and there is a terrible cycle for first nations, which CAN lead to poor choices and a terrible life and we are not tackling the problem at all. While we can't continue to blame the past, we do need to do better things to help people move forward.
I did have more to say, thoughts come and go on this but I am going to post while it is still kind of current. It just shocked me how many issues we have that this single case highlights.
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