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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1977-05-11, Page 13:appoi new CAS director THE BRUSSELS POST, MAY 11, 1977 —13 R. the 5woe up to )ects, e no it the S as Mr, press n the Toter, dings tf the ature Watching hockey play-offs lately, and discussing the brutality of the modern gartie with other .former aficionados, I began to ponder on that 'subject which is of such recent concern to our society — violence. It is certainly nothing new. History is a long and often sickening record of violence.. In the great Greek epics, treachery and murder and NN'ar and killing are celebrated,. The bible is loaded with people "smiting" each other. The Romans reveled in. cruel and bloody spectacles.. The Crusades of the Middle Ages. under the blessing of the Church, were sagas of loot and raping and fire and killing. Wars and piracy and vicious colonization occupied Renaissance man, under the guise of exploration and spreading the faith, Torture and burning at the stake were the treats in store for anyone accused of treason or heresy as State and Church struggled for supremacy in the western world And speaking of the Westj, that great American state to the south, under the various cloaks of freedom, peace and the spreading of law and order. but spurred by greed and hunger for land, practised a ferocious type of genocide on the original natives. Then came World War 1, when slaughter and mud and blood became a way- of life, for years, for millions of men, in a holocaust that made a mockery of the notion that man was becoming civilized, and paled all previous violence by comparison. Next feature was Son Of World War I. While not as devastating •in the score of human life, it reached new pinnacles of perversion and horror, culminatingilt the 'unspeakable death eaMps of Germany; and the terror bombings .cif the Allies. Things haven't,improved. Cold war, with the building of vast stores of deadly and; dre adful weapons. Arabs and JeWs. The Congo, Ireland, Lebanon. You name it and modern man is capable of it. 'Hijacking, kidnapping, torture," bombings are commonplace. What are. our favorite movies? At least the ones that Make money? Disaster films, the bigger the better. Air Crashes, earthquakes, towering infernoes. Or vicious portrayals of mad killers as in Taxi Driver. Or seeing two humans punch each other into bloody ribbons, as in ' Rocky —. Or watching violence, physical and verbal, carried to the point of parody, as in "Slap Shot." And that brings us neatly, and inevitably, back to professional' hockey. And af ter thinking over a few thousand years of violence, it's a Sunday School picnic. that spectacle on the ice, in my mind, Why should I become exercised over it? The owners ate interested chiefly in either a big buck or a tax writeoff. Fighting and iendship ub meets ussels Senior Friendship met with a good attendance ntly, The group sang 0 ada with Mrs. W. Kerr at the o. Win Martin, president, was hatge, ate McNabb read the minutes previous meeting. A reading given by Jessie Engel. The meeting is to be held one earlier on May 18. tire was played following ,Ing with 13 tables taking otters were: High Lady Shaw, High Gent Made , playing as nialu Low tdria Backtvellt LOW Gent Retiiingway, Izo, for lone hands WOnt to e 146Patlatit, high sticking and blood fill the arenas, So it's a free country and capitalism js the economic system,' Why should 1, worry about the managers and coaches encouraging blood and brutality? Those people arc mere stooges for the owners. They have to fill rinks and win games. or it's "Slang, Charlie." Why should I feel contempt for the referees when they fail to honor their hypoeritic oath 'and tutu a blind eye on' some gby trying to tear out another guy's guts with the modern equivalent of a spear? They don't encourage mayhem. but they tolerate it by ignoring the rule book. if they don't turn a bli nci eye, they're fired. Simple. Do the media people and the sports writers attack the viciousness in hockey'? Not on your next year's contract ,,with Hockey Night in Canada. buster. They mention it, chuckling. Should I feel some sympathy for the players, forced into fraudulent ferocity by owners, coaches. fans? No way . I pity them for the punishment they take, but at the same time pity them for being patSies for everybody else: for being dumb, in other words. They're well. paid. If they •want to be actors, let them act. If they want to be thespians, let them thesp, thrOugh their missing front teeth. If they want to be goons. let theni goon away. as long as they goon on each other. and not on me. And should I feel contempt for the fans, who scream for blood, who curse colorfully the Opposition when it is winning, who blaspheme bitterly their own team when it is losing? Nope. 1. feel no more contempt , for them than. I do for the Roman mob, _ suckered by' the Caesars into going to the Games; instead of asking, who is looking 'af ter *the `store these days. I guess in the long run we're a violent , p6oPle. We don't throw Christians to the lions. We throw figurative tigers to the -nominal Christians. Those of us who don't li ke it should move to Switzerland, where they don't tight wars, and have lousy hockey teams. That 90 pound 60-.year-old lady who screams at the professional wrestler, "Stomp on him Killer!" is merely exercising her democratic right, and her hatred of her big • fat, overbearing . husband. That little pot bellied bald headed middle aged guy who is st aring at the .screen waving his beer and shouting "Hit him:Tiger!" is not a sadist.. He's a good citizen, kind father, devoted husband. He is merely remembering the time he was a scrawny runt, went r over on, his ankles and was always chosen last for a pickup game of-hockey on the outdoor rink, • It's a great country we live in, and we're all entitled to at least a modicum of violence, a smattering of blood, and 'a few teeth knocked in, as long as they are somebody elk's. The Board of 'Directors of the Provincial Ministry,of Community Children's, Aid, Society of Huron. and Social Services. County has confirmed the Appointed supervisor of the appointment of John V. Penn, County Society in 1976, Mr. Penn M.S.W.,. A.A.M.F.C., as local was on the staff of the Niagara director, effective May 27,1977 to Region Family and Children's succeed Bruce Heath who leaves Services from 1968 to 1976, and the Society to join the.staff of the previously had social work Children's Services Branch of the experience in Great Britain. SOFTBALL REGISTRATION Friday May 13 Brussels Library 7 -.9 p.m. Al! interested boys and girls under age of 18 Anyone interested in helping or coaching please -get in contact with: BOB RICHMOND 887-9340 Archie's Senior Citizen's Club Gives Seniors_ a Savings. t' REBATE ON Octlion ALL. GAS pURCHASES ARCHIE 'S SUNOCO Sdafott.h. Opeh 24 HOW'S Fresh • BEEP LIVER . Round STEAKS si Steak Roasts Fresh Pork RIBLErt Front Charters of BEEP. Ctit & Weapped THOMPSON and STEPHENSON MEAT MARKET Moho 147-6294 FREE DELIVER s.