A friend who attends McGill University asked me to blog about The Montreal Massacre, which happened on this date in 1989.
I had never heard of the event until he told me about it, but basically a man who felt that “the feminists” were responsible for him not getting into engineering school went to a local university and systematically gunned down all the female students he could find. In all, 14 women died before he took his own life.
There is obviously little to say about events such as this, except to remind ourselves of the risks we take when we cavalierly deny the humanity of other people. The same mentalities of hatred and extremism motivate these sort of mass killings, whether on relatively small-scales (like here) or large (like in Darfur, Rwanda, or Germany). It is almost trite to say that we must “oppose” these acts or opinions–who doesn’t oppose atrocities? Except, of course, the perpetrators. Trite as it may be, a constant and omnipresent aura opposed to senseless violence, to mutilation and murder in all its forms, is the best way we can honor the memories of the victims.
I’m sure resident Canadian Michael could add more on how this event impacted his nation.