STORY posted on February 22, 2010 by eharlow
"BUILD RESUMES NOT TENTS!"
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Big deal this week: the Red Tent campaign.
Once again, the theory of “anti-Olympic” perceived as being interchangeable with “anti-Canadian” was proven correct as a the residents of a neighboring condo stuck out a Canadian flag when the protesters settled in Monday, Feb 15th into the lot at 58 W Hastings. Others confirmed their ignorance by hanging this sign that read "BUILD RESUMES NOT TENTS!".
In the time the residents of this building took in creating the sign, they could’ve easily read up about the homeless situation in Vancouver and where it stemmed from: the closing of Riverview, a mental institution. Incredibly long and convoluted story short: mentally unstable people are pushed out without anywhere to go, stumble across drugs and alcohol in the streets, and inevitably reproduce. So naturally, hang those signs guys, hang the flag!…yeah, you, crazy person! You too junkie! Ya’lls should get jobs!! Get on a computer and type up a goddamn resume!!
There’s a reason “ignorance is bliss” is a sentiment so often repeated; most people live in the state. Buying one of those cool necklaces Aldo sells to support the fight against AIDS is much easier then going down to AIDS Vancouver, because then that’d be admitting that Vancouver’s Downtown East Side (DES) has problems that need fixing. Instead, funding gets cut, Riverview is rented out as a location for movies, and we get cute 2010 mascots. Related, but not really: it’s like someone adopting a child from Africa or China instead of one from where they live. I find it difficult to believe there exists a place where there aren’t orphaned children. Yet people have the need to adopt from an arbitrary, exotic country because what, it looks better on your resume?
Similarly, people will be outraged by the shanty towns in third world countries, but ignore the problem when it comes to taking care of those who live in the very same conditions and on top of that need medical care in ones very own city, and the Canadian flag and “Build Resumes Not Tents!” is flown in opposition. I say maybe it’s time to adopt a little less from other countries and look at our own abandoned children.
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