Carl Begai

By Carl Begai

It’s disconcerting watching my home town going up in flames. Particularly when the people running the place invited the violence and mayhem to stop by for a visit.

I’m not particularly well-versed in politics. I can name most of the world leaders that matter, I can tell you which ones have screwed themselves and / or others in assorted financial and pull-your-pants-down-and-party scandals, but when it comes to in-depth understanding of bills being passed and assorted issues being tabled I’m painfully clued out. Willful ignorance on my part, I suppose, based on a conclusion I reached long ago that the vast majority of the suits at the top put their own interests above the average You and Me. An unfair blanket statement, true, but at the moment I’m nowhere near feeling charitable.

Case in point with the G20 summit, which landed in Toronto this weekend and turned the downtown core into a battlefield. Defined as “an informal group of 19 countries and the European Union, with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank,” the purpose of the gathering – near as I can tell – is to discuss global financial crises (a breakdown can be found here). I’m not convinced that I fully understand the purpose of the G20, but assuming I’ve wrapped my brain around the above definition correctly the morons organizing this little soirée clearly missed their own point. By a country mile.

Over one billion dollars spent on security measures? And these people are addressing the whys and wherefores of a global financial crisis? Really? I’d call that a FAIL.

The “thinking” on the part of the politicos seems to be that measures had to be put in place to observe, mediate and control the protesters that are symptomatic of any international meeting of the minds. All in the interest of safety and security for the suits and Toronto’s populace. The protesters in question decided to give the city’s higher-ups a chance to put their money where their big flapping collective mouth is, but not even a mountain range of $100 bills can disguise the heights of the government’s naked stupidity in assuming nothing would or could happen.

A friend made the valid point that there are plenty of protesters with something worthwhile to say, well prepared to go about doing so peacefully. There are those Neanderthals in the crowd, however, that chose to go the caveman route simply because they could. Cowards and posers who deserve to be knee-capped by the Toronto police officers, store owners and residents that looked on in doubt and fear, and in case of the police, risked their lives. There’s no excuse for the rampant violence, but the blame ultimately goes back to the administrative idiots that decided Toronto would be a great place to hold a politically charged weekend getaway.

Historically, these G-Something summits are almost always punctuated by violence. With that in mind, I welcome any one of these jerk-offs with the inflated bank accounts and egos to explain to me and mine why these summits aren’t held in locales that aren’t easily accessible for the shit-disturbers. If you’re going to blow a wad of cash on these Govern-Mental Fellatio Frat Parties why not invest in setting up a tent in the middle of Death Valley, renting a Caribbean island, or building a log cabin complex in Banff? Even better, why not invest in a conference call software? I hear they have the internet on computers now.

I’ll bet the rest of the hair on my head you don’t have a single solitary valid excuse not to use said options. Ah, but the lure of five star hotel treatment and the assorted ass-kissing perks are too much to pass up.

These protesters that turned my downtown stomping grounds into a battleground are a prime example that humanity at it’s most basic level is stupid. We shit and piss in our own front yard without considering the consequences. Look at the way we’ve raped Mother Nature and tell me I’m wrong. That genetic defect doesn’t excuse this schoolyard bully behaviour from people that should know better – you don’t live in a war torn corner of the world; stop acting like you do – but it should at the very least be food for thought when “organizing” something like the G20.

As for the billion+ dollars that have gone up in smoke, call me insane but I’m thinking it could have been put to better use, for example, in attempting to fix that “little” oil spill in the Gulf Of Mexico. As international crises go I’d say it ranks somewhere near the top of the list, environmentally AND financially speaking. And mark my words, in one year, five years, or ten years, when that oil slick surfaces on the Atlantic Coast the Canadian government will be whining about not having the money to address the problem effectively. A drop in the bucket, but a useful one just the same.

I’ve always said that in order to become a politician, one is required to dispose of his or her grasp on reality at the door. Look no further than the smoking crater that is the G20′s credibility for proof.