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Opinion: Old fashioned cancel culture hits Kitsilano telephone poles, and it's ugly

Let's hope Pink Poster Man's identity remains a mystery
kitsilano-posters-1
Kitsilano poster showing a man's face, blurred by V.I.A.. Photo submitted

If you've been in Kitsilano over the past few days you've most likely noticed some... um... interesting pink posters attached to telephone poles and on flyer boards.

"CHEATER !!" and "LIAR !!" frame an unidentified man's smiling face, and while I don't wish to spread the message any further (or risk a lawsuit), I would like to point out that it's an interesting look at what used to be a not-unusual way for people to express their displeasure with others.

Remember when Gordon Campbell was the Premier of British Columbia and Main Street was plastered with photocopied posters simply showing his face, Photoshopped so that he had fangs, implying that he was a vampire?

And before that, when the Olympics were about to come to town and someone who was opposed to the games put posters up featuring a photo of VANOC's CEO as a snake getting their head cut off?

While those faces were familiar the identity of the Kitsilano Pink Poster Man is a mystery, and it's one I hope doesn't get solved.

We don't know who this guy is, who he wronged, or what his side of the story is. All we know is that someone thinks he's a "cheater" and a "liar".

The internet can be an ugly place, filled with insults and slander. However the roots of its ugliness can be traced directly back to the good ol' photocopier, alive and well and printing in Kits.

kits-posters-2Kitsilano posters showing a man's face, blurred by V.I.A.. Photo submitted