This story, of the long-term gang raping of over a thousand girls in the English city Rotherham, is one of the saddest and most enraging things I’ve ever read.

Despite that, it’s worth reading for a reminder of some general truths about evil, and a new image of normalized, institutionalized evil, but also for the specific and painful immigration questions it raises, especially in light of the recent  and not-so-recent immigrant riots in Europe. It’s being mostly ignored by North American media but is HUGE news in England, and you can bet that it’s going to ignite a lot of debates.

Here in Canada, the Conservative government has focused immigration more on job chances than family reunification, a change that has been decried as inhumane, and supported in economic terms. But the newer model also seems likely to provide more protection against the dangerous getting through the system simply because of family in Canada, a subject neither side seems eager to discuss (and a good example of stealth politics).

Perhaps because when it is discussed, unpredictable shitstorms erupt.

There are implications in this story to keep us busy for as long as we wish, and going far beyond the apparent cultural aspect. It seems callous to turn to discussion of politics and policy in the wake of such a story, but in flailing to do SOMETHING it may be the only thing to do.

All those lives destroyed. I hope the coming months and years will see many more destroyed, of all those dozens or hundreds of rapists, and the many, many more who enabled this.