Hello To Everyone!

Hello to everyone! I am Chavette, another contributor to this blog. My expertise will lie in the issues of our current gang problem in Canada, as well as the possible solutions and direction we have been aiming/going towards. I will argue this new transition in masculinity as a perversion of the schoolboy ‘Stalky Model’ and decipher the impending issue of “what/where we went wrong” to have reached such a disastrous present. Whereas Seven Tense will be dealing with how our society perceives a gang member in present day, my main opus will be directed towards the general gang culture and how we have now come full circle to a violent template for achieving masculinity (or attaining manhood for that matter). I’m eager to hear from everyone and continue with our polemical quest.

Modern-Day Stalky School

This doesn't really belong in my area of focus, but I came across this article in the New Zealand Herald (yes, I do read the NZH on a regular basis), and I thought that it would be interesting to share.

The following article provides an overview of the top school in New Zealand. This school just happens to be run in the Catholic Lasallian style; and just happens to develop a brotherhood among their students by dividing them into 'Houses' (yes, like at Hogwarts), and having house chants (perhaps a unique language?) and competitions; and just happens to have educated TWO of New Zealand's All Blacks (the elite, international rugby team) John Kirwan and Isaia Toeava; and just happens to have a dean that has "always been there for us - always pushing us even when we don't want to do it" and is described as "a tough teacher and a good guy" (kind and sapient Head); and just happens to be rated as the best school in New Zealand.

Sound very much like a Stalky school to me (except for the top school part). Perhaps Alex of Clockwork Orange would have liked this school too.

Here's the link to the article:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=35&objectid=10491703&pnum=0

If you're interested, here is the link to the school's website:
http://www.delasalle.school.nz/?sid=1

E.

"Oh, that guy? Yeah, I knew him."

What is the least that you could say about a Gang member? How many adjectives are the bare minimum when applying this characterization? Well, if you don't know, wouldn't you at least like the Police to?

The phrase Known to Police has officially entered the public consciousness as a Gang-related term. It is found in nearly every article that has dealt with Gangs specifically. Wherever one term is used, it seems, the other is soon to follow. To cite a specific instance, I use an article from the Metro newspaper, February 12th edition:

While police have not made any connection between this shooting and any other homicides or gang activity, they say [the murdered man] was known to police.

What does it mean to be Known to Police; and why not a gang-exclusive usage? Well, to be blunt with you, my readers, I don't think it is supposed to be taken literally. It is true that our beloved law enforcement agency of the lower mainland knows many of the individuals who perpetrate these heinous crimes; however, the Police also know those who are the victims of such criminal activities, and it is not because they went to their Bar Mitzvah.

Both parties are known to Police because they are criminals, violators of the law in equal right and respect (thought both traits are conspicuously lacking). Returning to the article to which I referred earlier, I find that though a man was murdered (no doubt by a Gang's bullets) he was by no means innocent. Years earlier, the reporter writes, this individual was KTP for carrying handguns, and tens of thousands of dollars in cash. He was also evidenced as being party to a road rage incident which saw him and several of his acquaintances violently attack an unarmed driver. Citing from another article (this one from 24 Hours, February 18th edition) I find another instance of this linguistic association:

[John Doe] was known to police and the shooting is believed to be a targeted hit.... However...a resident of the Downtown Eastside who says he saw the shooting, stated that he knew the man as a drug dealer.

There is a peculiar link that we might feel inclined to draw when examining articles with such content in them. It would seem that a Gang member is someone who acts as a neighborhood vigilante of sorts. He goes from place to place and assassinates those people who only work to harm our people and our home. Drug dealers, thieves, car-smashing, driver-beating hooligans, they're no use to society, right? Why not get rid of them? And so on.... Continuing with this line of logic, we might even feel inclined to praise the Gangs for "cleaning up the streets." We might even see them as doing us a great service. Be careful, my friends, and think about this before it goes too far. This hooligan is not helping you but helping himself. If he is "cleaning up the streets" he does so only to make way for more of his kind.

Though we tell ourselves that actions speak louder than words do not let the capricious Gang member steal your allegiance even for a second. We cannot allow ourselves to believe that such an individual is doing good, or even working towards a worthy goal. Death is not the principle on which we have founded our judicial system, and it is certainly not the one which drives the hearts and minds of our society. Murder will absolutely not be tolerated, and that is what it means to be Known to Police. You are not a martyr for whose death the hooligan will be lionized; neither are you a bounty hunter among men. You are a criminal, and Vancouver is watching.

The plan is prevention.

As I was browsing for one particular article, I stumbled upon this one instead. Unlike Stalky and Co., gangs, according to this article, operate in direct detriment to the society at large. Meaning, there is no respect for any sort of system. Instead their actions have negative impacts on the system itself. This is shown in the fact that "honest businesses" are harmed by gangs. This is important as our society is propped up by our commerce. Without it, we would lose benefits such as health care, education, and other government funded programs. The article mentions that though most reactions to gangs are responses to their actions, the article argues that prevention of gang actions is far more beneficial. Though no detail is given, they list some of these preventive measures that they believe would help.

This is what I believe is the most interesting fact about this article. The notion of prevention. The reason is of course that prevention operates not on the present but on the future. To be able to do so, assumptions on members of our society must be made. The term "at risk youth", though not mentioned in this article, is one we are all very familiar with. This term is the main focus of prevention. This is important because it singles out members of society by factors such as income, where they live, education and race. Thus the notion of prevention is not just an act to stop gang violence, but it also marginalizes members of society, as they are "different" or "vulnerable" to such a life style. So response of society to the change in the model in terms of gangs, is to attack itself and quite possibly perpetuate the cycle that has already started.
This will probably not be the final word on this subject, as it is a big one. So expect a continuation of this topic as I find more available articles.
Here is the source that I drew from in this week's post:
http://www.canada.com/northshorenews/news/story.html?id=031d5d44-2248-43b3-9bed-
617d2bb445c1

Biker Gangs

While browsing the Internet for intelligent things to say on this blog, I came across the following article examining Biker Gangs. Although this article is almost a year old and this blog is not intended to focus on one particular type of gang, I believe that it is still relevant to our discussion here. Of particular interest is the list of what police call typical characteristics of biker gangs:

(1) Biker gangs show off their colours in public
(2) Biker gangs use force and violence to survive and grow. Intimidation, arms and explosives are their weapons of choice.
(3)The organizations have a hierarchical structure. Committing crimes is left to new recruits while those higher up reap the rewards.
(4)The hierarchical structure allows the leaders to operate with impunity while flaunting their image of power to attract recruits and draw them into crime.
(5)It is difficult for law-enforcement agencies to infiltrate these organizations because becoming a member involves committing crimes. North American clubs also tend to require their members to own American-made bikes, often Harley-Davidsons.

When comparing this list to the "Stalky Model," we can see quite a difference in the way biker gangs operate and the SModel. Here, brawn (#2) beats out cunning (SModel: "individual cunning and pluck - beats brawn and size"). There is no "respect for the larger system" (SModel), as leaders operate with impunity and performing a crime is a new recruit's initiation in the biker gang.

However, there is a great deal of emphasis placed on performance in biker gangs, which is part of the SModel.

Here is the full article from the website of the CBC.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/bikergangs/

Let me know what you think.

E.

Hello to You All

Hello, I am Simple Scholar another contributor to this group blog. I will have the priveledge of examining how the gangs of today fit into the Stocky Model of old (mentioned/outlined previously). I will look at what Stocky-like traits of masculinity the "OG's" of the mean streets of Vancouver (and perhaps abroad) possess and discuss how and what influences this has on gangs and the public. I will do my best to find some current real-life examples to help support my claims. I look forward to sharing with you all in the very near future and am eager for your comments and insight.

Introducing Myself

Hello, this is another member of the group for this discussion. To maintain anonymity, I will be going by the pen name Busogre. So my avenue of discussion is how the model has changed from the previous one and how has society been dealing with it.
So as my posts go on every week, I will identify at least one quality that has changed, and how this change affects society. Not much more to say really, because I am intentionally keeping this post brief as it is only an intro for myself and my topic. Anyway, I look forward to sharing my opinion with you all.

Another Introduction!

Hello and welcome!

I (Eaglet) am another contributor to this blog, and as Seven Tense has explained the purpose of this blog, I will simply limit myself to saying that my posts will be focussing on how the "Stalky Model" (based on Kipling's novel "Stalky & Co.") has changed in regards to being a gang member.

To avoid confusion, the "Stalky Model" is defined as the following, according to our professor of English (not my words here!)
>a close-knit group of contrasting male companions.
>unspoken (taboo'd) respect for the larger system.
>resistance, criticism & forms of rebellion written into the system as an outlet against revolution.
>stalkiness" - individual cunning and pluck - beats brawn and size.
>a kind and sapient Head.
>Stoic-Christian blend that is fully orthodox to neither.
>under the Stoic-Christian ethic, judicious violence is built into the system.
>centrality of performance as a defining value: its ultimate form is a rite of passage.
>an angular authority-confidante -- typically an ecclesiastic - as a personified conscience.
>exclusive and shared esoteric code of speech – i.e. slang -- & cultural artifact

As I mentioned above, I will focus on how this code is different for today's gang members.

Thanks,
E.

Where it all begins.

Hello and welcome to Deviance, Defiance, And Death, a blog examining the present incarnation of hooligan culture: the gangs of Vancouver. The objective of this blog is to provide a forum where people can engage in an inciteful, and perhaps polemical, dialectic about gang culture.

There are five members of the panel of students that will lead this discussion, who will introduce themselves all in due time. Let this christening post be my introduction, though, while we are here. My alias is Seven Tense and you can expect my posts to examine the treatment of the complex social stigma of what it is to be a gang member. I will attempt to illuminate what it means for an individual to be in a gang and how he is perceived by those outside a gang.

Outside sources, especially those of current and developing news stories, will be used often, so I ask my readers to keep at least somewhat up to date on this issue that has swept itself over Vancouver, the city we all love. Outside of that, I don't suspect it will be too complicated :p .

Comments, as always, are welcome, and encouraged.