Protesting a Protest

In an earlier post I said that a lot of the media coverage of the G20 situation was overblown. Since then, I've been proven wrong. I've seen the streets on which I've walked for years turned into somewhat of a battlefield & am honestly baffled as to why. While these rioters claim to have several, they've done nothing to further a cause of any sort. Notice I said rioters & not protesters. There were several protests held peacefully throughout the week & one can't argue with that because it's well within our rights to do so. However, how does smashing windows along Yonge & Bay prove a point about womens rights, poverty or clean drinking water? So you can cause a kerfuffle & turn a few heads. What exactly did you do after those heads turned to you? From this view, you did nothing. In fact, you undid much of the work that the peaceful protesters had done because now, you all get lumped into one group: crazy people. Days before the G20 weekend, many protest groups were unwilling to denounce any violence that could potentially occur. They claimed that the security measures taken were "provoking" them. Were they not aware that such unrest would only further justify the enormous cost of security? One can't help but feel like certain parties had no goal but to cause a panic. Side-note: When can I start calling this domestic terrorism?

Where our focus should be now, is with the people of the city. There were businesses forced to close without any financial reimbursement & I've heard stories of insurance companies refusing to cover damages to restaurants because they weren't covered in cases of "civil unrest". We've seen the streets in a state never before experienced, but I've also seen good people come together & agree on something that they felt was wrong. I've never seen this many people actually support the police either. Now I hope to see the city come together & move forward from this ordeal. Whether the rioters were from here or not, these streets belong to us all & we have to keep moving. We may even have to embrace that "Bun all bad-mind! T-Dot to di world!" attitude that we seem to be known for. I guess that "Screwface Capital of the World" moniker might have to stick around for a little longer. Stupidity doesn't impress us, around here. If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself & then make a change. Word to the King of Pop.