School shootings in Montreal

[jaerdaph]

He regularly played some sick Internet game called "Super Columbine Massacre". More here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060914/ap_on_re_ca/canada_college_shooting

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

He regularly played some sick Internet game called "Super Columbine Massacre". More here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060914/ap_on_re_ca/canada_college_shooting

Three points:
1. Correlation does not indicate direction of causation. That he played this game is, I suggest, symptomatic rather than causal--not that I'm saying that you're suggesting it is, I just think that the point needs to be made when stuff like this happens.

2. A friend of mine left Dawson a mere 10 minutes before the shooting began. She's pretty shaken up.

3. I was having a bad day of epic proportions yesterday. It seemed as if I were getting a month's worth of bad luck all in one day. But things like this remind me that no matter how bad my day is, someone's having a worse day, and I should consider myself lucky that I'm dealing with only my own problems.

 

[jaerdaph]

Three points:
1. Correlation does not indicate direction of causation. That he played this game is, I suggest, symptomatic rather than causal--not that I'm saying that you're suggesting it is, I just think that the point needs to be made when stuff like this happens.

Yeah I agree, games like that are more of a symptom, but it's still sick and in very poor taste nonetheless.

I am very relieved to hear your friend got out okay though. My thoughts are with you and everyone up in Montreal. I've been to Montreal many times, and I really love that city.

 

[Arnwyn]

A terrible tragedy, indeed.

But, not tremendously surprising - it is Montreal, after all. While having a comparatively lower overall crime rate than Vancouver (and Edmonton and Winnipeg, though not Toronto, Calgary, Hamilton, or Ottawa), the number of crimes against those who do not have "risky lifestyles" [a police/crime definition] is ridiculously high, and skyrocketing. Further, Montreal has had the unfortunate claim of being the center of a number of "high profile" crimes over the years, along with being a hotbed of 'questionable' support for certain 'foreign organizations' (lots of cute euphimisms, here!) as well as being the site of the only home-grown terrorist group in Canada.

For example, Winnipeg has one of the highest crime rates in the country (in cities over 500,000 population), but is actually safer than many of the above listed cities for those who do not lead the so-called "risky lifestyles" (i.e. homicides against innocents is pretty much negligible in Winnipeg).

That's the crime rate one has to look at when determining how safe a city is to live. Unfortunately, since that data is more difficult and time-consuming to collect, it isn't as widely reported as it should be. (At least a couple of newspapers reported on this through investigative journalism not too long ago, actually.)

 

[Banshee16]

This morning they mentioned that the shooter had pictures of himself with guns on a vampire related website. He had a comment about how bad life sucked, goth and metal kicked a**. No other info that I heard yet.

Apparently his blog is pretty disturbed. It's not possible to view it unless you register an account at www.vampirefreak.com first, and I didn't want to look at it enough to make me register.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

A terrible tragedy, indeed.

But, not tremendously surprising - it is Montreal, after all. While having a comparatively lower overall crime rate than Vancouver (and Edmonton and Winnipeg, though not Toronto, Calgary, Hamilton, or Ottawa), the number of crimes against those who do not have "risky lifestyles" [a police/crime definition] is ridiculously high, and skyrocketing. Further, Montreal has had the unfortunate claim of being the center of a number of "high profile" crimes over the years, along with being a hotbed of 'questionable' support for certain 'foreign organizations' (lots of cute euphimisms, here!) as well as being the site of the only home-grown terrorist group in Canada.

Does Montreal have a higher crime rate than Ottawa and Toronto? It didn't used to. And having spent a fair amount of time in each of the three cities, I think I've always felt safest in Montreal. But Quebec overall has seemed somewhat less violent than Ontario.

Banshee

 

[Arnwyn]

Does Montreal have a higher crime rate than Ottawa and Toronto?

Yes.

But Quebec overall has seemed somewhat less violent than Ontario.

The crime rate is higher in Quebec than Ontario, but only marginally.

 

[Banshee16]

Yes.


The crime rate is higher in Quebec than Ontario, but only marginally.

In all honesty, sure doesn't feel like that in Ontario.

I've never seen so many assaults as when I lived here.....never had that problem in Montreal, from what I remember....and I know that I used to feel safer living there than living here.

Banshee

 

[caudor]

Call me old, but I don't understand why many of the disturbed (or crazy) people that I read about in the news are into wearing trenchcoats. It worries me because my son likes to wear a trench coat as a 'fashion statement'. I occasionally have to make him take it off it in hot weather.

Do the coats represent some kind of click or status symbol now days? Or, is it just the style chosen by today's youths, or those who want to be viewed as rebels?

 

[Banshee16]

Call me old, but I don't understand why many of the disturbed (or crazy) people that I read about in the news are into wearing trenchcoats. It worries me because my son likes to wear a trench coat as a 'fashion statement'. I occasionally have to make him take it off it in hot weather.

Do the coats represent some kind of click or status symbol now days? Or, is it just the style chosen by today's youths, or those who want to be viewed as rebels?

I'm honestly unsure. After Columbine, it was claimed to be inspired by the Matrix, but at the same time, I'm not sure if that was just looking for something to blame.

I would suspect that for a lot of kids, it's a fashion statement...nothing more than a desired "look". I'm just guessing, but a disturbed person looking to go on a rampage, might perhaps find a trenchcoat useful to hide a gun in, carry ammo, etc. Maybe that's why these murderers chose to use them.

The most important thing a parent can do is talk to their children. Be interested in some of the things they are, so that you can keep the lines of communication open, and get a sense if they're being unduly influenced by an outside source, or having trouble with adjusting to something. Many parents are apparently out of touch with their kids....in my area, there are property crime problems, and they're caused almost entirely by local teenagers...generally aged 13-17, yet none of the local parents believe their kids are involved....even when there's physical proof.

My personal theory is not that psychos wear trenchcoats and play violent video games, but that the mainstream media is trying to create an issue. I think that we're so horrified by some of the things that happen, that we look for something, anything, to latch onto that could try to explain why someone would do something so horrible....and sometimes this means noticing an external sign or characteristic, because it's easy to codify....all the while missing darker signals that people might notice if they talked to each other more.

Of course, I could be completely wrong about all of this...I'm just making a guess.

Banshee