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Dehumanizing for a headline

Respect for humanity
> buzzwords

By Joel MacKenzie, Contributor

Ny headlines all too often
call people who have
committed crimes like murder or
abuse something inhumane. For
instance, on April 26 the Province
declared Adam Braidwood, the
former CFL Edmonton Eskimos
player recently sentenced to over
four years in prison, a “hero”
turned “monster.”

It’s sad that a writer has
to resort to dehumanization to
create a snappy headline. Name-
calling such as this should never
be tolerated. Yes, this man has
allegedly done some terrible
things: he was sentenced to this
prison term for sexual assault
against his former girlfriend,
and he’s also been charged
with aggravated assault and
kidnapping. But these charges
do not make him any less of a
person.

Am I overreacting to

the harmless name-calling

of someone who deserves

to be publicly shamed? We
can’t write off this name-
calling as harmless, whether
it appears on the front page of
an immensely popular British
Columbian newspaper or in
casual conversation. There’s
no difference between this

This alienation, in fact,
encourages that same negative
behaviour that the person is
being punished for. When
people who have been violent
in the past, for instance, are
made to feel unequal to others,
what motivation do they have to
change? What would make them
feel they could come back into

tempting. When people are
different, it’s easier to hurt
them: when enemy soldiers are
made into monsters, it’s easier
to kill them; when an abrasive
co-worker is a bitch, it’s easier
to hate her. And then the nature
of the “other” is easier to make
sense of. The fact that they were
raised in this society and turned

When people who have been violent in the past, for instance, are

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made to feel unequal to others, what motivation do they have to
change? What would make them feel they could come back into

the society thats pushed them so far away?

and the bullying that too often
sends high school kids into
depression, and has caused too
many to commit suicide. While
it’s perhaps less acknowledged
in the adult world, there’s

no reason it would be any

less hurtful, or that it would
cause someone to feel any less
alienated from society.

That sinking feeling

Lilgerts defense
not going to sail

By Eric Wilkins, Staff Writer

t was March of 2006 when

the Queen of the North
sailed into Gil Island and
sank, presumably resulting in
the deaths of two passengers,
Gerald Foisy and Shirley
Rosette. Someone has to
answer for their deaths, and
with the trial of Karl Lilgert
wrapping up, it looks as
though justice may finally be
served.

Lilgert’s only defence
against the two charges of
criminal negligence causing
death that isn’t shot down
immediately is the fact that the
bodies of Foisy and Rosette
were never recovered. There
have been rumours that they
made off on a fishing boat
following the sinking, and
others have suggested they
may not have even been on the
boat. But smokescreens aside,
the two have been missing
ever since the sinking, and

 

Queen of the North | Photo courtesy of
Becky Verbruggen/Glabal BC Graphics

coincidences like that generally
aren't coincidences at all.
Lilgert doesn’t have a case.
He’s tried to hide behind
a lack of proper training, poor
equipment, bad weather, and
inadequate staffing policies,
but all of these are dispatched
quite easily. In the period from
1990 and 2006, Lilgert had
sailed past Sainty Point 795
times. Granted, he wasn’t at
the helm for all of those trips,
but there should still be a
strong familiarity with the area
and the entire route. To say
that he still wasn’t comfortable

the society that’s pushed them
so far away?

The lowly bullying of name-
calling is what adults should
be mature and compassionate
enough to put behind them.
People like Braidwood deserve
to be put through the legal
system, not mocked.

Labeling is undoubtedly

with his position after 16 years
sounds a little outrageous.
Even the most incompetent
employee knows to ask for
help or manages to get fired
by that time if anything is still
muddy.

The poor equipment and
weather argument fails to hold
water too. Records have shown
that all of the equipment
on board was functioning
properly; Lilgert just failed
to pay attention to it. As to
the weather, Andrew Flotre, a
seasoned veteran at piloting
large ships up and down the
coast, testified that strong
winds and rain would have
been unlikely to have altered
the vessel’s route. Flotre also
noted how Lilgert should have
slowed the ship if conditions
made visibility difficult. Lilgert
proceeded at 18 knots for 12
straight minutes prior to the
crash. No effort was made
whatsoever to change course.

The final point about
inadequate staffing has
since been addressed by BC
Ferries—with three crew
members now required to be
on the bridge at all times—but

out this way is due to the fact
that they aren’t people, not like
you and I.

It’s harder to accept the
truth that they are people.
They aren’t going to be easy
to understand and they aren’t
going to be easy to deal with,
but they also aren’t going to stop
being people.

is irrelevant all the same. If
Lilgert truly needed help, there
was nothing preventing him
from calling up another officer.

The persistent suggestion
that Lilgert was engaged in
sexual activities with crewmate
and former lover, Karen Briker,
appears to be the only logical
explanation for the sinking,
despite both parties denying
it. With the ship’s equivalent
of a “black box” showing zero
course changes even during the
collision with the island (Flotre
noted that if Lilgert had tried
to change course as the island
loomed large, the hull would
have been damaged along the
side of the ship), it is obvious
that something was distracting
Lilgert from his duty. Whether
that something was a heated
argument—the pair had ended
their affair some time before—
or something more physical
really doesn’t matter.

Lilgert clearly neglected
his duty and if he isn’t deemed
guilty for both charges,
this case may become of a
laughingstock.

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