Illegal or Legal?

Cindy Cely-Cardenas

The city of Vancouver is currently experiencing an all time high of gang related violence; it is escalating great concern to its citizens. On the March 4, 2009 edition of the North Shore News there was an article titled “Drug Legalization Lobby Lacks Business Plan” which discusses the options the government is considering in order to reduce the violence. The following are some illustrations that I have created interpreting the options offered: either continue with our current illegal drug policies or legalize drugs in order to have control of the drug trade.

Recent Gang Violence in Vancouver

Jessica Brodeur

Last Tuesday I was hanging out with a few friends when the topic of the recent gang violence in Vancouver came up in the conversation. Two friends from separate areas of Vancouver both brought up the fact that there had been shootings within a five minute walk from their houses. Instead of looking horrified, however, they high-fived.

You know how people say that issues never seem real until they hit close to home? I’m starting to doubt that a little. I don’t think that gangs have necessarily been glamorized or idealized in any way. I do, however, think that people aren’t getting the sense of fear and worry that the press is madly trying to display.

In the article “Time to Stop Buck Passing” on the North Shore News website, the word “gang” is mentioned 6 times. Words describing “gang” or anything gang related are:

-”free ranging”
-”rampant”
-”murderous”
-”horrific”
-”dirty business”
-”brazen”
-”beyond the pale of human decency”

Yet, when I Google image searched terms used in the article, I get very different results than “murderous” or “horrific.” Below are the top 10 results I got in Google Image searches for the following terms:

“Gangland”

“Gangster”

• 

• Runner up: 11th picture was of actor Russel Crowe.

“Gang”

“Shooting”

In conclusion, these are very different results as I’m sure the media surrounding the recent gang stories would like to see. Over time and space, the feeling of threat in relation to gangs has lost it’s potency, and has been replaced with a bit of mockery and high fives. As far as I can assume, as long as gangs exist, so will the impersonations of them in both video game and other forms.