I generally abide by a pretty simple philosophy: don't bother other people. By that, I don't mean we should not be involved in other people's lives in a positive way; I simply mean that we should not feel compelled to share opinions that serve no constructive purpose. For example, if you don't care for the fact that some may have an orientation different from your own, or a skin colour that is not white, just keep it to yourself. The world really is not thirsting for your views.
Today, of course, thanks to the ubiquity of corrosive social media, far too many see it as their mission to criticize and denounce others who don't meet their 'standards'. For reasons known only to themselves, they believe they are in possession of the key that unlocks the door labelled Truth. It amazes me, for example, of how many claim to know the mind of the deity and take it upon themselves, with Taliban-like ferocity, to try to dictate standards of behaviour. One look at the furor that has ensued from the repeal of Roe Vs. Wade amply illustrates that fact.
But perhaps I digress. What has prompted this post is an ugly incident that occurred recently aboard a bus in Hamilton. The perpetrator, a man named Chris, is pictured below.
Although no longer available, I watched the entire video in which Chris, an obviously unhinged, intolerant hatemonger, unleashed a barrage of his bile on two young HSR passengers, and later made a racist suggestion to a young man of South Asian descent.
In the video, Chris is sitting on an HSR bus headed toward Gage Park's Festival of Friends. He had also livestreamed at the festival for the past few days.
"I don't know what this goofball, weird, transformer looking fool is laughing at," Chris says, pointing toward a passenger seated in front of him.
"Does anyone love you?" responds the rider, seemingly in defence.
Chris could be heard mocking the people he is filming, asks the rider what their pronouns are and insults the rider some more.
"You're deflecting because nobody gives a s**t about you," the rider responds to Chris in the video.
Chris tells the rider to "get off the bus and say that to me" before threatening to hit the rider and making more transphobic comments.
"If you're a man, I'll smack you out," he says in the video.
Chris then starts to insult another rider for the next minute or so of the video.
He then looks at a third rider, who is a person of colour, and makes a racist comment, suggesting the rider "go back to Pakistan."
As Chris begins to exit the bus, he accuses one of the first two riders of kicking him.
"Do it again, motherf****r," he says as he holds a clenched fist to the face of one of the riders.
"I'll kick your f***ing head off," he says while exiting the bus and starts walking into Gage Park, swearing some more.
The video is hard to watch, but what especially bothered me, in addition to the vituperation, was that no one else on the bus (an older woman, a young woman and the South Asian) did anything to stop this attack. While one does not expect heroics, the very least they could have done was to inform the driver and insist that Chris be put off the bus. If that failed, I would have taken his picture and called the police after telling him to stop.
I am by no stretch a hero, but intervening in a situation like this should be our default position as responsible citizens. Full stop.
UPDATE: I am happy to cite a CBC report about an arrest being made by Hamilton Police in the above incident.
On Wednesday afternoon, the police service said officers arrested 41-year-old Christopher Pretula, charging him with assault and utter threat.
The police service is also applying to lay a hate crime charge.
"We recognize the impact hate has in our community.... We continue to encourage people to come forward to report in order for police to investigate and charge accordingly," police spokesperson Jackie Penman told CBC Hamilton.
"Reporting is an important step in addressing and rooting out hate in Hamilton."
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