I wouldn't equate the riots with Christianity, but I will say it does reflect on our culture.
We're spoiled, we have it easy. Other countries fight for a real cause and freedoms, we tear shit up over a hockey game. Despite what they say about it being anarchists, maybe some, but most of the rioters had Canuck jerseys on, so I'd say they are hockey fans.
We like to say Canada has this reputation for being nice guys...ahhh, only in our mind. We're not that nice, we're actually a pretty violent and self centered society.
You've hit a huge point. Modern society has most of us living in ways our psyche was never meant to live.
We don't struggle to survive.. we don't have to search for food and shelter every day. We don't walk miles a day to do so. We have everything handed to us on a silver platter and feel entitled to a life of leisure.
Without the struggle to survive, we must find other ways to feel that struggle by exerting ourselves on some one or some thing.
Most people do okay with the occasional bickering with friends, family or colleagues. Some will be too nice for that and turn the fight inward... with mechanisms like depression. Some people are rageaholics, some are just cynical bastards. It really is just too easy to live.. so we must make it difficult for ourselves- this is the plight of mankind.. the essence of our egos.
There is also a lot of fear in our lives.. now even more than ever. As a kid I was afraid of alien invasions and nuclear war. Both not too likely.. Now, economic meltdown, and actual nuclear meltdown is reality. We're watching the world die slowly at our hands, more and more species extinguished, huge dead zones in the ocean. The image of a huge catastrophic fall of society is looming. People starving in the streets, chaos, horrific anarchy-- all greatly possible with the continued fall of Western civilization.
This is the image of the future our youth have. We don't mean to give them nothing to live for, but actually this is what our media does with the way news is reported. Add to the bad news super hot sexy performers that give us permission to behave as we wish. Kind of like: The world is SO FUCKED, there is nothing we can do, we may as well party it up like it's the end of the world, CUZ IT IS.
There must be a lot of anger in a young man's heart when he believes all these things we are actually telling him. All that anger has to go somewhere.
I hope and pray we can turn things around.