One of my pet peeves is swarming. No one fights one on one any more. They’ll swarm a guy, pepper spray him and then stab him and give him the boots. In the Michael Levy case they hit him three times in the back of the head with an axe. That is absolutely deranged. There is certainly no honour or manhood involved in that.
Ganging up on someone, using weapons and kicking him when he’s on the ground is senseless, cheap and dirty. Not something that someone wants to brag about. If people find out you swarmed someone then you will likely get swarmed.
One of the good things about all these shootings is that it tends to reduce the swarmings. If a gang of bullies is going to swarm someone they’ll think twice if they think that guy might pull out a gun and blow their head off. Yet in reality, all the gang violence is directly related to swarming.
Someone with small man syndrome joins a gang to become a bully. Nothing more nothing less. "Don’t mess with me, I’m with the Hells Angels." However nowadays that simply means shoot me I'm a deranged crack dealer. Yet the swarming intent still exists within the gang mentality.
If we can’t beat you we will outnumber you and or shoot you. At least with the gangs there is a motive. Selling drugs to make money. With swarming it’s absolutely senseless violence yet neither have any honour. They’re just bullies no matter how you rationalize it and no one likes a bully.
I agree that the youth of today don't have the balls to fight one on one. In my day that was how we sepparated the men from the boys. If you went toe to toe and won, you were reveered. You then move up in rank and fight the next tough contender. You actually earned respect. There was no jump ins or outnumbering unless you were a skinner or pettifile.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that bothers me is the fact that the facts arent correct. I am a mother and my son grew up with T Nguyen. I know him very well. Even though he was charged in this crime, he never participated the way the charges claim. He was a bi-stander that got caught up in the bullshit and actually is a very fine young man. I am appaulled that his picture is streamed through this blog along with all of the others. He is barely out of high school and has been labled a monster. Mr. Nguyen himself cringes at what has happened. It is unfortunate what happened to Mr. Levy but in all fairness, people should know what lead up to this attack.Is he guilty of his own demise?
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to Michael Levy was shameful. A group of thugs crashed a party, pulled him aside, pepper sprayed him, then beat the tar out of him and finally one of the group pulled out an axe and hit him in the back of the head when he was on the ground paralyzing him for life.
ReplyDeleteIf my son was in that group that did that to Michael Levy I would be ashamed. I would not somehow try to rationalize or minimize that abominable event. None of the kids that swarmed him are innocent. None of them received an appropriate consequence from the courts for their participation in that crime.
What led up to the attack? Oh do tell. Somehow nothing you could fabricate could rationalize several kids jumping one kid, with pepper spray, with an axe. Three strikes. Those are the kids that laughed at a reporter who slipped chasing them on their way to the elevator. If they were remorseful they wouldn’t have been so quick to laugh on camera.
I am appalled at the fact that T Nguyen's picture is streamed through this blog. He is barely out of high school and is deemed a monster. My son is a friend of T Nguyen and I have know him since kindergarden. Always a loving young man. I have been fortunate to call him one of my own. He's like a son to me. The problem with these public forums is that the fact is, that the facts are wrong. You get what they want you to know.T Nguyen cringes on what has happened and would not wish this outcome on anyone. His conviction is in part correct but the only way to know what really happened is if you were there. I hate to think that this unfortunate incodent happened at all but it has. We must look at where Mr. Levy's actions may have brought this confrontation to as well.
ReplyDeleteYou failed to answer the question. What were Michael Levy’s actions that warranted him to be attacked? The fact is your pal crashed a private party with a group of guys that had pepper spray and an axe. Do you expect me to believe that he did not know the group had pepper spray and an axe? Do you expect me to believe that he did not know they were going to the party with the sole intent of assaulting someone? Do you expect me to believe that the witnesses who said they saw him hit Michael Levy as the group swarmed him were lying? Clifford Olsen might have been a real nice guy. That doesn’t change what he did and what he really was.
ReplyDeleteBTW is your son the friend that used to attend Johnston Heights and joked about if you get a girl pregnant you should push her down the stairs so she miscarries. What a nice group of kids indeed.
This is really disturbing. It is a prime example of why we need to fix the judicial system to bring in more accountability. This “mother” claims her son is a friend of T Nguyen. She claims Nguyen is a nice guy and cringes whenever the assault on Michael Levy is mentioned. Yet she clearly contradicts herself when she states Michael Levy deserved it. Aside from being a lie, that is outrageous. Are we going to say Jesse Cadman deserved to be stabbed next? That is absurd and offensive.
ReplyDeleteQuite a while ago there was a rally in Bear Creek Park for two innocent lives lost to gang violence. They released doves as a memorial to lost loved ones. One mother of a known gang member spoke. She too lost her son to gang violence but he was involved. She at no time tried to rationalize the loss of innocent life. She gave a good glimpse into the other side. She said her son was a good son who always remembered mother’s day. She said he started getting into trouble when he started associating with a bad group of friends. She explained the frustrations of a mother who loves her son and sees him walk down a wrong road.
This other “mother” claiming Michael Levy deserved it is proof that neither she nor the kid are remorseful. It is clear that the only reason he cringes when the assault is mentioned is because his picture made it to the media and the world thinks he’s a monster. Rightfully so. For him to participate in that attack he is a monster. For this “mother” to rationalize the attack she is a monster too as is her son who exploited the attack.
We saw her son’s friend and perhaps her son laugh on camera just outside court room when the slap on the wrist sentence was issued. The only regret came when the public starts to see the offenders as monsters not tough guys.
There was a white kid who was friends with this Nguyen. He strutted around like a tough guy exploiting the reputation that savage beating carried with it. He thought he was a tough guy for hanging around with that group. “Don’t mess with me, I’m with the crew that axed Michael Levy.” That is savage and shameful.
There was another incident where another kid was beaten unconscious after attending a party at Lionel Courchene park in Surrey. He was left for dead in the bushes across the street from Johnston Heights. He wasn’t found until the next morning still unconscious. All the kids knew who did it but were afraid to say anything. I spoke with the kid left for dead’s mother. She said the kids all know who did it but no one is talking. She had heard the same kids did it again to another kid and broke his leg. The pattern of bullying continued because kids were afraid to talk and the judicial system does not provide public safety.
I wonder if it was the same group. It was the same location. Were the kids afraid to talk because they didn’t want to “deserve” an attack and end up like Michael Levy? The moral of the story is that we need to reform the judicial system and we need to get kids to report this kind of obscene violence anonymously to crime stoppers. Swarming is bad. To dispute that is nonsense and offensive.