STORY posted on June 16, 2011 by d.
Riot! smashing spectacle: Report Back from Downtown (on fire)
HBC- looted and burning!
Also posted by d.:
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Before the history is written, let me say just this; before the pepper spray finally weeps out of my eyes, while the tear gas covers me; let me just say a few words while this smile is still smeared across my face.
Tonight the social peace was exploded. How many will say it was just a hockey riot, as if one could say just one thing about the tearing apart of the relations that bind us to command. Just a hockey riot, where tens of thousands moved threw the belly of commerce and took what they desired, smashing what was in their way. Hockey fans, fuckin-eh we are! And we fucked shit up.
I haven’t been bamboozled by any media coverage yet. In the smashing of spectacle, the spectacle response in its operative ways. From there we usually draw our analysis and shape our positions. But I just remember what just happened. Not all of it, not even close. I pulled up end of the game, beginning of riot. At its origin it was very much colored in the collective rejection of fans who had again been disappointed. Whereas in life we are expected to take the kicks to the teeth when we are down, there are exceptions, and in such moments when the anger is shared, it expresses itself generally.
Cars on fire brought us together, seeking the light. The smoke signaled that we were not alone. The edge of alienation cut threw the cop lines and sliced a crevice between all of us against the few of them. The fires grew with our entitlement. Single acts of defiance become the more heroic as one window gave way to another. Finally a hole big enough to get threw. After streets walled off by partitions of gas, the buildings opened them selves to the street. Trickling in at first- stripping the manikins and then hurling out their husks to be used as projectiles, the mob began to pour in. It was the Hudson’s Bay that split wide open. Window after storefront window offered new entrance, one after another. Each window leading to another then turned around the corner, where more windows yield to the boots and bats.
We were being blown forward by black smoke. It bellowed threw the frenzy. A car here-and-there smashed and burning. Parking garages bellowing the stuff. We all took it in deep breaths and let out cheers.
By the dozenth store to be looted, an open market had established itself. Trade and gifts where given and made. Piles of merchandise where left on the sidewalk for whomever. Gifts where presented to any who wanted some, many having more then they could carry (fortunately a high end bag shop got-its, and folks where able to load there newfounds into travel cases).
Before it is said that this was a jock riot. Drunk white guys. A hockey riot; It should be asked why are some so quick to dispel social war. This was not a politico riot. For the most part it seemed like kids from the peripherals of central Vancouver. If it were a race riot, as a white guy I’d a been strung up. My shade of white-ass was few and far in between.
‘Fuck 94’ was a popular expression. A refusal to be compromised by a hollowed event-, which was considered by the cops to be long dead. It did not rise to suck the blood of the riot- this was war against the day. The day-to-fucking-day.
The violence I witnessed was conscious. It attacked the citizen-cops who morally upheld the inequalities of every day life. These citizens received a taste of the violence that they uphold. Many found that taste on the heel of many a boot. Between them and a window, they both got smashed.
Amongst it all, a cluster had formed. A circle around a fight. In the middle where masked up ‘rowdies’ trying to make an escape. ‘Kill the fuckin anarchists’ was the slogan shared by a few. These anarchists where too self-conscious, and in a riot where the everyday was ruptured in the clothes put on that morning, these black uniforms became totally alien. Suspect. Ridicules. As for security culture, the logic was lost in the conspiracy of numbers. As a vandguardist adventurism, it had them running away from the riot and towards a riot cop line.
From Sears rained down cheap jewelry. Pungent perfume choked me, as every display case was smashed and contents delivered out the front door. Piling up on the streets, commodities, which had been striped of their fetish, became trophy’s, but for the most part garbage.
Chapter’s bookstore windows seemed to be made out of lace. From inside rioters threw hardcovers back at the glass, smashing in at both ends in a race to complete its implosion down the block. Here I found a dented can of beer, a failed projectile, that allowed me a moment to take it all in. What joy we where all having. A carnival. The language of destruction was sung in smashes and accompanying applaud. But in the rubble of downtown there was nothing that could be made. We lived for the moment. We all knew that tomorrow is coming. With it, everything that leads to today’s desire to destroy. The cops began to make their kettle, and most folks took the opportunity to get gone with their hauls.
Every store had its guts spread out on the sidewalk. Every trashcan gave light and warmth. The night sky was black as the smoke from a burning cop car. A full red moon, red like fire. Helicopters strobe lights. The rhythmic banging on street poles. Objects streamed overhead, others fluttered down. We made our festive retreat in the wake of a beautiful storm, which itself was borne and remains in us all. There is no telling when the storm will again tear this shit down, or how long the next will last. Every moment contains in-itself a rising wind.
http://momentofinsurrection.wordpress.com/
The site for the Vancouver local of The Media Co-op has been archived and will no longer be updated. Please visit the main Media Co-op website to learn more about the organization.
Comments
You are the kind of person
You are the kind of person that makes me jaded about living in Vancouver. This article reflects what happens when people who have so little to worry about grab hold of some social cause, no matter how ridiculous, and run with it blindly to feel "alive" and/or useful. You are one of many who could choose to channel your energy in a positive direction, and yet you seem to revel in destroying things for no reason because it has some vague symbolic significance for you and your empty life. I hope something real and jarring happens to you so that you can do something more meanngful with your life. Maybe you'd feel happier and less inclined to encourage senseless violence.
I feel like I'm reading a passage from a J.G. Ballard story, for crying out loud.
I feel sorry for you :(
You clearly weren't loved as a child, I feel real sorry for you. Thanks for wasting our tax dollars. I hope you take all the stuff you stole and sell it on the black market to help pay for your Hooked on Phonics.
http://www.hookedonphonics.com/spelling?C1=19
hmm...y'know, i don't really
hmm...y'know, i don't really like the article but i must say: these comments are eff'd.
learn to spell?
get a job?
i hope you go to jail?
where's the dialogical response everyone (and yes, everyone: no one has commented positively) says is lacking in the article itself? no where. just a string of ad homenims and classist slurs.
do the commentators read the other, well-written and researched, articles that appear through this co-op to realize how silly such attacks are?
see above comment
- critical but dialogic
I Agree!
I agree with Sean M. While this is a very poorly-written and poorly-argued article, calling for it's author to be raped in prison is crossing the line of "open commentary".
"Get a job" is nothing more than a poor bashing, reactionary slur used against (usually radical and progressive) activists and organizers. I don't think I've ever been to a demonstration where at least one moron hasn't yelled "Get a job!" to those assembled (unless its a union demo in which case they yell "Get back to work!"). The irony is that most people at protests and rallies (even riots) are working people with jobs, along with pensioners, people with disabilities, students, unemployed, migrants and the homeless.
Most of these comments are of the same quality as those in The Sun or Province.
http://anarchistnews.org/?q=n
http://anarchistnews.org/?q=node/14801
No one comments positively
No one comments positively because this "article" does not deserve it. It's one looter publicly admitting that he/she broke the law.
In Canada, if you break the law, you get fined and/or jailed. Pretty simple concept - one that any moron like Zig Zag ought to understand.
There are no more barriers to
There are no more barriers to cross. All I have in common with the uncontrollable and the insane, the vicious and the evil, all the mayhem I have caused and my utter indifference toward it I have now surpassed. My pain is constant and sharp, and I do not hope for a better world for anyone. In fact, I want my pain to be inflicted on others. I want no one to escape. But even after admitting this, there is no catharsis; my punishment continues to elude me, and I gain no deeper knowledge of myself. No new knowledge can be extracted from my telling. This confession has meant nothing.
Anarchists Are Stupid
For those of you that want to know what the Anachists point of view is, go to the link below.
This article was reproduced on the Anarchist.org page, and includes much comment by real anarchists following the piece.
http://anarchistnews.org/?q=node/14801
Take a long, hard look in the mirror
"Hero (slang): A citizen who tries to maintain the current oppressive order of society. A hero someone who will tell the boss of your mistakes. A person who can't mind their own business and calls the police when they see someone committing crimes against property. The "hero" thinks calling the cops will better the community, and are often part of a class in society that benefits, rathers than suffers from this economic system. Heroes are usually middle aged caucasians or yuppies.
synonyms: snitch, rat, ass kisser"
Really. Save this. Put it away for ten years or so until you grow up and grow out of the political cliche phase you're obviously going through. Hopefully in that time you'll have had a chance to travel (beyond your keyboard and monitor) and see parts of the world where people really are oppressed and you won't throw it around so casually here. You're in Vancouver. As someone else said, for this silly little boy who wrote this absurd article to end it by linking to a site dealing with areas that are truly desperate and in real need of revolution really just proves what dilettantes you guys are. How do you get through a day without being so embarrassed by yourself that you don't weep endlessly and flog yourself with a copy of AdBusters?
Signed,
A middle aged Caucasian who hasn't, but would, report someone to police for destroying property.
To any anarchists here
I'd like to engage you seriously with a couple of questions.
1. What does your ideal society look like?
2. What gives your life meaning and value?
just more consumerism
People who smash in windows to steal useless commodities are just as pathetic as people who work all day to save money to buy useless commodities.
Stop kidding yourself that you're some kind of revolutionary. This was just another consumerist orgy, but without the money. Big dif.
Ignorance
Is bliss.... such a shame that you use oxygen on our earth...
Fearless Coward
I am an ex-commando who has had the experience of visiting REAL civil unrest that was brought on by REAL oppression and tyranny.
As I read your sorry excuse of an "article" and your just as sorry use of verbs I could only help but think how you would manage in a country where the police and state do not protect your right to protest. I mean let's face it, at the end of the day you know that in Canada the worse youre going to get is a baton and possible arrest, followed by some lame sentence based on extremely liberal guidelines.
"Pepper spray weeps out of my eyes"......jesus Hemingway, I'm pretty sure your "activism" in other countries would be written quite differently once the troops started firing weaponry on yourself, or even gassed you with chemical weapons. Perhaps; "I have shit myself. The stench of my feces is billowing up from my ass and into my nostrils. Gunfire is erupting around me and the bursts of fire are matched by my very own bowel movements. I'm so very scared. Soldiers are firing indiscriminatly into the crowd and I now have someone else's brains on my Sex Pistols t-shirt. I loved that shirt. More shit down my leg, when will it stop? The question has been answered, it is stopping now as I have just been shot in the fucking head". The end.
That my fearless coward is the reality of "social activism" in certain countries where REAL and brave people stand up for their rights. Their is NO Stanley Cup or Olympic Games. Only the reality of oppression. Every single day of their life.
In a nutshell, you are a coward in my humble opinion. If you really want to change the world, what the fuck are you doing at the Stanley Cup final you ignorant punk. Why not jump on a plane to Libya and fight with the rebels in Misra.
I think we both know the answer to that question.
Apologies in advance for the grammar, I'm not the best writer out there.
You can sing any song you
You can sing any song you want
But you're still the same
You're a full time looser.
You're a full time looser. You're whole routine is so artificial it makes me want to vomit.
Well nice job ensureing that
Well nice job ensureing that I will NEVER give a single cent to any org or person associated with this joke of a site.
Exactly what are you trying
Exactly what are you trying to fight against?
Do you deal with authoroties so much in your life that you feel this need to rebel against them to prove your point and gain some sort of social justice?
How are we so oppressed in Canada that you feel such a lack of freedom and confinement?
It's clear from your blog that you love to observe how people in third world countries, who actually don't have any rights at all, fight against their government. And seeing these people as heros - people who have the balls to stand up and fight for their rights, you want to be that hero too and do the same here.
Wrong place and wrong timing dude. Those people's actions are justified by the fact that they actually DON'T have any rights or freedoms. They are fighting for something true. If you really wanted to fight for something and be called a hero, help those people who need it fight for the even the most basic human rights.
We are free here in Canada; we are lucky. Heck, YOU are lucky that in a country like ours the cops are mild. If this were in Asia you'd probably be shot dead with the first act of violence because it was endangering innocent civillians. Complete lack of authority, which seems to be what you rioted for, in any city would be just a stupid mess. Every day would be like Wednesday night.
Go fight for a cause... you had and have none here.
Wow, really?
You are really celebrating the fact you broke windows, trashed product and think you're better for it? Really? You're probably a bored, spoiled, rich white kid that got used to getting everything you wanted. I certainly hope the police catches every single one of you and throws each of you in jail. You probably won't learn anything, spoiled kids usually don't. Maybe we'll get lucky and someone will use you as their "girlfriend"
Here's hoping justice and the VPD will prevail! Rioters can suck it.
I supported the G8/G20 civil
I supported the G8/G20 civil disobedience in Toronto.
This was NOTHING like that.
You're a douchebag.
This article is
This article is self-fellating fiction for the "I'm the living insurrection" crew. Fuck you, "D.", fuck the Media Co-op, and fuck every manarchist chest-thumper that publishes here. You want to know why we don't have a movement? Look no further.
Anarchy
An anarchist is anybody who doesn't need a cop to tell him what to do.
And I don't need a cop to tell me that what happened after the Canucks game was wrong.
Gandhi and his ilk are the true revolutionaries.
Rising Winds
You're right D there is a "rising wind". It's in the thousands upon thousands of citizens who unanomously reject your ideology, your cause and your methods. It's in the hundreds upon hundreds of people who've left messages of peace and defiance against your actions on boarded-up shop windows. It's the dozens upon dozens of grassroots efforts to expose, shame and capture you and your lot.
Face it D you failed. Whatever twisted ideology you follow and whatever message you're trying to envoke was lost in the sounds of smashing glass and burning cars. It was lost on Wednesday night. It was lost at the G20. It was lost at the Olympics.
And while you sit back with a smirk and predictably reject all comments and logic put in front of you on this board, don't kid yourself into believing we're all brainwashed victims of "the system". Smart people are able to see the world for what it is. They may not like all they see, but unlike you and your lot they have enough sense to distinguish between right and wrong, justice and injustice, and what's a rational and irrational response. You are clearly incapable of such a thing, and should be ashamed of yourself.
I didn't find the article so
I didn't find the article so bad. It seemed pretty interesting. I'm thinking that all these comments are just one bored cop lol. But, really like sean pointed out I find the criticism extremely knee-jerk reactionary. "Get a job", "learn to spell". This criticism seems to be mostly a conditioned response that most of us have when somebody steps out of line or dares to live what they want without the approval of the big man up top. We jump on them and try to tear them apart hoping that those people that occupy much more powerful positions in society will congratulate us on putting old blacky back in line. "I mean if I can't steal from The Bay, you can't either!" And more than likely if that's not where you're coming from it's because you feel that you have a vested interested in people not exercising their five finger discount. Maybe you hope to be one of those folks up top one day. So then you can stomp on all of us below like they did to you. Or maybe you are already up there and just don't want anybody to rock the boat.
I find a lot of peoples comments about it being disgusting that people could find any political-ness in this riot rather short sighted. How could this not be political. This riot is an amazing piece of commentary on our society. Sure people were mad about the canucks loosing but I think this anger was quickly transformed into an expression of their boredom and dissatisfaction with this society, daily lives and general state of the world. Sure some of it was definitely stupid, disgusting, careless, fucked up etc. but this is all motivated by something and I don't think it is "human nature". If people were truly happy, stimulated, excited and in control of their lives today, and the potential of tomorrow and don't think they would see much use or fulfillment in trashing their home and fighting with and stealing from their fellow community members. However, that is not the case in this society. This society is completely built on theft, greed and external control. I thought it was actually quite fitting that people were looting The Bay. You really couldn't find a better perpetrator and symbol of theft and destruction in this country (other than maybe the state itself) than is embodied in The Hudson's Bay Company - the original folks who stole this land from the indigenous nations and have been exploiting it with their fellow corporate and government buddies ever since.
This riot was a classic example of people finding, not necessarily consciously, a rare moment in their lives to express these desires and indignities. Sporting events have been spaces for this type of expression for ages. The creation of carnival was largely for this reason. To let some "pressure" out of society. That is what, at the root, I believe happened the other night. Of course you are not going to hear too many people on the CBC or CTV or from the government saying such things. They would prefer that this pressure be released in much more benign and anti-social activities like getting really drunk by yourself or maybe isolating yourself in a cabin in the middle of the bush. Whatever, just something that doesn't threaten their hegemony and their profits.
Finally, I would like to propose that we re-instate carnival back into our society! Let's make every hockey game, every Halloween, every new years, hell - every Christmas - front page news!
I seriously dubt the average
I seriously dubt the average Canuck riotter has a clue about the real histroy of the HBC, or colonization in Canada.
More likely the riots were a result of an explosion of pent up frustration with the reality of their pathetic, flabby lives, their jobs, their roles in society as petty consumers, ignorant sheep? Perhaps a bit of desire for real action, excitement, something that can give worth and meaning to otherwise empty and plastic existances? Perhaps also a monkey-see monkey-do response to the testoronic theatrics they see in the hockey rink, the octagon, the tv, and the movies... perhaps themselves an expression of the savagerery and brutality of the overall corporate cultural produce... ilself an outgrowth of the anti-human true nature of capitalism itself.
Wow
Wow...
After I finished reading your rant, D, my first reaction was to write an angry response. Then I saw so many had already done so. And I chilled... I realized perhaps your goal was to get a rise from folks out there, and I guess you certainly did that.
But hey.... I sympathize with Anarchist ideology. I think it inspires and informs a better future, free of authoritarian coercion, whether from the state, corporations, religion, etc.... unfortunately it is terribly misunderstood by the mainstream, and your post does nothing but further the perception that anarchists are just lovers of random violence and chaos who justify themselves by spouting self righteous, ignorant, and shallow ideological dribble - devoid for the most part of a broader historical, political or philosophical perspective.
Anarchism has a long and proud history of resisting authoritarianism, fighting for human and worker rights, and freedom from oppression. I'm a great admirer for example, of the anarchist republic of Catalunia during the Spanish civil war, their vision of freedom, solidarity and human rights that was far ahead of its time, and their amazing courage in fighting the fascist armies against terrible odds.... and paying dearly for it.
Same for the Paris Commune. And more recently the Popular Assembly uprising in Oaxaca, Mexico against their brutal narco-terrorist government.
But this Canucks riot bullshit has nothing to do with that folks. Ultra-spoiled suburban brats, drunk as skunks and running amok. Pathetic is what it was. And almost as pathetic was the police 'plan', and the politicians trying to cover their ass by blaming "anarchists" for this...
Just as much as the pretty mountains and trees, the spiffy shopping malls, and the over manicured toy dogs of Yale town (and their equally flaky owners)... the alienated, drunken, brat mobs that trashed the city are just as much a part of what Vancouver really is: a place of ignorance, alienation, and rampant worship of consumerism and vacous non-culture (think Canucks)...
But I like it here anyways, it has its good sides too :)
Thank you
Thanks John for the most intelligent comment on this whole post. You've articulated many of my thoughts....
such intelligence...
so, I hope that you guys realise that there are a lot of cameras downtown...
and i've already spoken to someone on the Granville business committee. The mayor was at their meeting the day after you know. They're coming after every single one of you, they don't care how long it takes. To everyone else in Vancouver, your behaviour was unacceptable. Wow, you looked so coooool mannnnn... idiot.
So what if you're sick of your everyday life. Only YOU can do something to change that. You have no right to beat another, destroy property or loot because YOU are bored. Join a community centres activities, create a community garden, paint a picture, read a book... the list goes on. Go climb a mountain, go back to school, go for a swim... wow, are you enjoying your Prada bag?! Hope so cause it won't do you much good when you're doing a few years worth of community service.
I get frustrated with my low wage as well, but you know what?! I get involved and keep myself occupied in other ways, I know my neighbours, I appreciate my community. If you think you made any kind of political statement you are sorely mistaken. We eat together, we share, we make the best of a bad situation when people are feeling down. We don't go tearing things apart and looking like 'tards.
And yes, learn to spell, learn some diction, and learn how to not create more evidence against yourself...
end rant.
excellent nice alternative
excellent nice alternative view of the whole situation.
most comments on VMC ever
haha, fortunately D has years of practice being the most hated guy in the room.
I enjoyed the article and I think all the pretty words point towards something real about social ruptures regardless of the context they come from.
I do loves to see the best and bravest of the youth in the streets, smashing and grabbing, only because of how socio-economically screwed they all are. The least society can do is offer up some free goods and property to destroy. This town deserves much worse than 1 night of rioting.
Here's a free joke:
What's more repulsive than a bunch of drunks destroying everything over a stupid game?
Yuppie liberals whining about it after.
"You should all be jailed for life because I had to watch a riot on TV, wah wah wah"
STFU losers. You believe some of these PARENTS are turning their kids in to the cops?!
What. is. wrong. with. people.
You're no different
Sid you're no different than the people you accuse of labelling you, or putting you in a box. You arbitrarily dismiss people who oppose the acts of Wednesday as "whining yuppie liberals" without consideration that people from all walks of life and varrying political backgrounds are unanomously revolted by what they witnessed.
I grant you your point that people shouldn't have a knee-jerk reaction, as many on this board of demonstrated. I also grant you that there may be a deeper root cause behind the riots that goes beyond the dissapointment of a lost hockey game.
But smart rational people who aren't necessarily "yuppie liberals" recognize social injustice too, but have enough sense not to throw a 5-year-old tantrum to express their outrage in some warped attempt to make a point.
Poorly constructed and badly considered
As a journalist, I must comment on two things in your "article" (and I hesitate to call it that).
Firstly, you need to work on your tradecraft. Your spelling and grammar are atrocious, and in ways that cannot be justified with the argument of artistic merit. Furthermore, you are a hack, and it shows. You are unable to string together eithe coherency nor artistic impact. I have T.A.ed for first year students with a better command of the form and manipulation of language than you. Seriously, do yourself a favor and go (back?) to school.
Secondly, your subject matter is absolutely innappropriate. Your poor attempts to ustify the violent actions of a small minority with flawed social reasoning are laughable at best, and insulting at worst. It is an insult to the city, and to serious journalists everywhere.
Normally, I would put my name on a comment like this. But I find it abborent that Google might ever link my name to this travesty of an "article".
-An Anonymous Journalist Who Understand Integrity
Interesting...........
Amazing that it takes an articile like this to get all this "public commentary"?
What a sad bunch of koolaid drinkers WE ARE.
We are all brainwashed oppressive tools of "the state". DUH! All this "division" - most of it about as ridiculous as it gets. Telling tale of how fucked we are as a society.
Step out of your privilage and bullshit and into the daylight of non oppressive, horizontal, inclusive community organizing peoples.
Or, just keep doing the same ol' insane shit.
YOUR CHOICE. (be glad u have a fucking choice!)
Tami Starlight - organizer and shit disturber
Tami I find your post to be
Tami I find your post to be hypocrtical. You imply that the masses are brainwashed robots of "the system", whereby I can only assume you fancy yourself as one of the enlightened few who need to tell the rest of us koolaid drinkers how misguided we are.
It begs the question though - how enlightened are you when you paint everyone with such a broad brush? How enlightened are you when you assume that just because someone doesn't share your particular ideological bent that our lives are "bullshit" and "insane"? Why is it that just because someone might have accumalated stuff (or privalge) they don't have a consience or recognize and do something about social injustice? You don't have to smash windows and burn cars or generally shit disturb to be an "activist"?
Thus the hypocracy. You fancy yourself as englightened but have such a narrow view of the way the world works and the people that live within it.
Waste of sperm
So this is what welfare money buys these days? Along with all the other welfare bums who post in support. Maybe they could take their spare time to educate themselves - but that might involve effort, so I guess not. Instead they can continue to come on here with their half-baked, half-educated (and that's being generous) attempts at philosophy. I wonder how that will do them when they're old, grey, and still living on welfare? Not so much fun when you're old guys, and you'll never amount to anything better.
I came across a post in another forum about rioters like the idiot author that used a phrase I usually wouldn't, but in this case it seems eminently justified i.e.
"You're the load your momma should have swallowed!"
Short, succinct and perfectly on point.
Hey Jason, split hairs much?
Jason ... when did I say anything about people "labelling me"?
What are you smoking dude?
I also never said that everyone who takes issue with the riots is a whining yuppie, because that would be an incredibly stupid statement which clearly isn't true.
I was referring to the general tone of the reaction as portrayed by the scum on TV.
It struck me as more disgusting and naive than usual, which has a lot to do with their editing and the people they choose to interview and as always, appeals to the worst sort of intellectually lazy reactionary people who're scared to death of the big bad world outside their little bubble of privilege, BUT you assumed I was talking bout you too ... hmmm?
Also, hey zig zag, did you just out a guy in a thread full of people ready to lynch him?
Not that any of these blowhards would actually do anything! HA!
please delete the comment that names the author of this article
not cool to name names, no matter how much i disagree with this author's position. not cool to let that comment go through, administrators. please delete it.
The moderator didn't know
The moderator didn't know that the name Zig-Zag posted was in fact that of the writer, or even in reference to outing the author. We don't have a policy right now on comments outing a pseudonymous writer. I've un-published the comment to err on the side of caution while we verify.
I'd add, though, that even though zig zag provided a name, we do not have any other information proving that the name provided corresponds to the writer of the blog, or that this is even what zig zag meant, simply sid's question.
i'll write more once we have had a chance to discuss this internally
We have decided to remove the
We have decided to remove the 'outing' comment. We feel that people who post pseudonymously should (generally) be able to do so without being 'outted'. We may review this policy on a case by case basis. In this situation, the calls for 'vigilante justice' from some cornere and the aggressive nature of some of the comments in response to this post (including some that we deemed unsuitable for approval) made us wary of allowing the author to be outted.