Nah, itâs ok everyone, they were white.
When this first hit the news it was predictable how people were freaking out about terrorism, drug smuggling, and illegal immigrants, but I kind of knew from the photos it was none of those. My cousins dug a similar tunnel when they were teens, just as a project after watching âThe Great Escapeâ, and there was a homeless guy on Nantucket a few years ago who built a pretty nice (illegal) underground apartment that he lived in for free for a year (which was my first guess here.)
The comments are full of people denying that it is COMPLTELY IMPOSSIBLE anyone would just DIG A TUNNEL without NEFARIOUS reasons.
The paranoia is completely crazy, are there really people who donât understand that once in a while others might want to do something for fun and the feeling of achievement of having built something? Because itâs cool? Just because they can? What are these peopleâs lives like that they canât even entertain the possibility that some guys might just have wanted to dig a hole.
Yes, this story is strong on the (white)boys will be (white) boys stance.
I donât think this story would have the same conclusions if this had been dug by a couple of brown Muslim students or anyone else who wasnât a white dude just âhaving some funâ.
No trespassing charges ? No seizures of their computers to sweep for suspected terrorism plans ? No criminal record scrutiny for things like previous sexual assault or forcible confinement charges ?
Hmmm.
It also wouldnât be the same if it happened in America and the city and/or police thought they could get Homeland Security money if they yelled terrorist loud enough.
This guy didnât get off so easy with his mystery room construction close to Toronto:
If it takes six men one hour to dig six holes, how long does it take one man to dig half a hole?
As far as digging tunnels go, I am reminded of this chap.
I like how the reports highlight that it was âadjacentâ to the Rexall Centre without giving scale to the map. The tunnel was like 1000 feet from there, 3 football fields!
They dug about 25 feet in âweeks or monthsâ, at that rate theyâll get there in around 3 years.
A fiend and I talked about this last night. I applauded the police in not perusing charges after discovering that there was no nefarious purpose. My friend conversely thought that after all the national attention and concern, that the police should find SOMETHING to charge them with. Public mischief, trespassing, destruction of public property⌠something, anything. Unfortunately I was quite tired and didnât have a cogent argument at the time of why punishing the diggers because someone else was concerned, or because media made a sensation of it is a very bad idea.
Where does it say they were white? Or that there were no criminal record checks? The video does indicate that no laws were broken âitâs not illegal to dig a holeâ, âthe wood was refuseâ and that itâs a public ravine. I think it is well that this incident didnât mess up these guys lives.
âWe must do something. This is something. Therefore we must do it.â
Oh no ! Dudes doing something sketchy - with intent and lots of plans and effort but:
Oh the hijincks and mayhem ! Iâll be slapping my knee for weeks chortling over those crazy guys who dug a big hole/tunnel/cave - and their barely plausible excuse was good enough to get them off ! Whose drinking buddies were they ? Who has an important dad or something ? Who did they pay off ? Itâs a good thing no one fell in the hole they dug - without permission - on owned land - with only some very basic structural engineering principles. But hahaha - those boys wanted a man cave ! What were they thinking ? Itâs great there are no repercussions whatsoever and their identities have not been revealed ! I mean- thoughtlessly endangering people and animals who use this area because of their âman caveâ fantasies is just the greatest, right ?
    THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!
Well, if you look at the video in the referenced article, say from 1:50 on, you will see some of those issues addressed. The ravine they built it in (I donât see any indication it was not public land) was adjacent to the public housing one of them lived in. I donât have any trouble believing these guys might have wanted a private getaway for any number of reasons given that they may have lived in high density housing. And, some people just like diggin tunnels. Seymour Cray for instance 
You made a good point right at the start - that the benefit of the doubt, the reasonable presumption of innocence extended to the two guys in this case, was very likely correlated with their being white. Unfortunately, people of colour donât get that afforded them nearly often enough.
Where I think you went off the rails, or at the very least where you and I parted company, is where my conclusion was âeveryone deserves the reasonable treatment and presumption of innocence our society all to often affords only to whitesâ, and yours seems to have been âeveryone deserves the shit sandwich our society all to often serves to people of colour.â
