The strange phenomenon of students engaging in violent fights just so they can post videos of the clash on the Internet is something for parents to deal with, not Canadian lawmakers, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said Thursday.
Orangeville District Secondary School in Orangeville, Ont., a small town north of Toronto, is the latest to have its students featured in fight videos posted on popular websites like youtube.com.
“As parent, I think it is completely reprehensible,” McGuinty said.
“The only word that comes to mind is it's sick for people to attack each other as some form of entertainment, either for themselves or for others to somehow, in some perverse sense, enjoy later.”
And while police in Orangeville say they can't lay charges because the fights were consensual, McGuinty made it clear he believes it would be wrong to outlaw consensual fighting in order to stop the teens.
“Rather than resort to the Criminal Code at the outset, I think parents ought to understand what it is their children are doing, and ought to provide them with the appropriate guidance and direction,” he said.
Opposition Leader John Tory, whose riding includes Orangeville, said he agrees that the problem is for parents to deal with, not legislators.
“There are some things that government just can't legislate,” said Tory. “I think if it gets out of hand and trespasses over the existing Criminal Code line, then police will deal with it.”
Tory said police should be keeping an eye on the videos being posted to youtube.com to make sure the situation doesn't get any worse.
“Mr. McGuinty's right, and we should be trying to deal with it at home first as opposed to legislating it,” he said. “And maybe give kids some other things to celebrate and glorify besides consensual fighting. What kind of a way is that to spend your time?”
The fight videos from Orangeville District High School posted on Youtube.com show different pairs of teens punching and kicking each other as others cheer them on and use their camera phones to record the action.
There are similar videos from high schools across North America posted on the popular video sharing web site. A search for ‘school fights' turns up over 3,000 videos on youtube.com, including several from Orangeville, Ont.
Users of the video-sharing web site can also post comments about the images they see, and most of those talking about the Orangeville fight club were full of profanities.
“I can't believe the cops are making a big deal about this,” reads one post.
“I am sure when you cops were little that you had your skool (sic) yard fights. You probably witnessed a few or was in some yourself (everybody was).”
Some students at Orangeville Secondary have said that the fights take place because there isn't much to do in Orangeville and they are bored.
