We now know the name and more details about the man who went on a shooting rampage at Montreal's Dawson College on Wednesday, killing one young woman, 18 year-old Anastasia De Sousa, leaving 2 still in extremely critical condition, 6 in critical condition and several others still suffering from various gunshot injuries.
Wednesday was an incredibly sad day and my thoughts are with all affected by this horrendous display of violence - an occurance that will have a chilling effect on the thousands of students who were directly impacted for many years to come. The shock and grief reverberate throughout Canadian society as we once again try to come to grips with the fact that there are disturbed people in our midst with no regard for others lives.
The shooter, 25 year-old Kimveer Gill, has already been widely profiled in the Canadian media as an anti-social loner with an interest in guns, goth and vampire culture - a reflection of the perpetrators of the Columbine massacre.
And, in fact, one would have thought that when this story broke on Wednesday those parallels would have been first on peoples' minds. The initial reporting via eyewitnesses described the person responsible as wearing a black trenchcoat, having multiple piercings and looking 'goth'.
That was not what was on the minds of many right-wing bloggers however.
Over at RightWinged.com, Randy quickly scratched out an attack screed against Michael Moore (as did others) who had presented Canadian culture as less violent in his documentary Bowling for Columbine. The fact is that school shootings have been a much more common occurance in the US than in Canada, our overall crime rate continues to decline and, in comparison to the United States - sorry right-wingers - but Michael Moore was right - our country is still safer than yours and we have never claimed to be perfect.
When that argument failed over at RightWinged.com, the blogger then went on to speculate, as did Atlas Shrugs, that this shooting targeted Jews so they could conveniently stuff the shootings into their popular Muslim Jihad files because they are so entrenched in their own 'Islam is a death cult' rhetoric that they'll try to make that connection to as many breaking crime stories as they can.
It was a very short leap then for some to try to rewrite the history of Montreal's 1989 Ecole Polytechnique massacre in which Marc Lepine killed 14 women. Despite the fact that he said he hated feminists, the right is now highlighting the fact that his father was an Algerian born Muslim therefore, as right-wing logic goes, that was a Muslim jihadi type hate crime as well. Wrong.
Today, following revelations from Gill's internet postings, the right-wingers have now labelled him as a 'Left Wing Nihilist Murderer' because his list of 'dislikes' includes Republicans and capitalists. They ignore the fact that his list includes 'jocks' as well - just like the Columbine shooters because that doesn't fit into their need to blame all things left for the evils of the world.
Grasping.at.straws.
Look, for those of us old enough to remember the day that Marc Lepine went on his horrendous rampage and the shock and horror that followed, along with the Taber, Alberta school shooting that happened far too close to home for me, the feelings that resurfaced while watching the news coverage of Wednesday's Dawson College shootings were simply those of immense sadness and grief. During those hours, while searching for more information online, my senses were assaulted by the fear and hatred spread on the right by people who had absolutely no idea what had happened or why. Yet, they just couldn't pass up the opportunity to attack all of their usual enemies via their speculation in order to make themselves feel better. How many of them actually whispered one prayer or one thought of concern for the victims while they were busy patting each other on the back - congratulating each other for once again aiming their venom towards the usual suspects?
It was and is insulting. It was rude. It was baseless. It was false. And it had no place on a day when so many of us were so deeply affected by what was going on. For them, however, it was just business as usual.
The blogosphere is a blessing and a curse. No matter what happens or where, however, is it too much to expect some respect for those who are traumatized? To expect some compassion for the victims? To actually wait for the facts? To channel some of that zealousness into actually caring about those who are suffering?
Apparently so.
This man was not a Muslim jihadist.
He was not after Jews.
He was not a 'left-wing nihilist'.
He was not a counter example of some faux crime-free Canada that some right-wingers seem to think Michael Moore described in his documentary.
He was a disturbed young man with a passion for guns who obviously went over the edge.
Now, let's move on and concentrate on the victims and mourn for Anastasia De Sousa, the beautiful young woman he killed, while we all hang onto hope that the rest who suffered injuries will not only survive, but thrive.
*****
P.S.: Let me tell you - if I wasn't so damn sad about all of this, my anger certainly would have gotten the best of me and I would have belted out a scathing post about these damn right-wingers who treated these shootings as an opportunity to play their political games and further their agendas of paranoia and hate. But, I just don't have the energy to do that today. They should consider themselves lucky.
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