Inside the mind of the shooter
No one will ever know what Kimveer Gill was thinking in the moments before he opened fire on Dawson College or in his final moments. On the one hand, the part of me that wanted to study Psychology wants to know. On the other hand, I don’t really care because he had so little respect for human life that I’m not all that interested in what he thought or felt.
I heard on the news today that his blog had been shut down, but as many of us know, pulling something doesn’t always mean it’s really gone between sites like the WayBackMachine and Google caches. If you’ve been wondering what he shared with the online world prior to yesterday afternoon, I’ve been provided, via Sean Bonner, the following links:
He had a photo gallery, and his profile is cached here, which should still link to entries.
This information is thanks to Xeni Jardin of boingboing, Amit Varma , and brem , thanks for that.
It’s noon now, so we’ll see what the latest is on CTV news.
Related posts:
whoa! thank you for the cached blog… was looking for it.
keep on the good work.
information never killed anybody (mostly).
looking at some of that stuff, i can’t help but wonder about the effects of certain pop-cultural trends like the kind of music, art, and expression this kid preferred.
now - before anyone jumps on me for blaming goth or goth-like culture ignorantly, i’m not. i’m just saying, there is a certain amount of discussion, for instance, among communities that are portrayed as enjoying and supporting, if not believing, emulating, or living, gangsta rap that the music perpetuates stereotypes and leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts.
clearly, even if the music didn’t *make* this kid do it, he was at least a bit mentally ill and surrounding himself with images and songs of violence, darkness, isolation, and death can’t have been helpful.
so while i don’t think music or video games or clothing choices should be regulated, i do think it’s time to be a bit more honest about that “sub-culture” and the extent to which we allow it to flourish as approved self-expression. again, don’t regulate it or unnecessarily blame it - but seriously, could anyone really say it didn’t help this kid legitimize his disturbed thoughts and actions?
I completely agree - I can think of a few other sub-cultures that have in the past caused a lot of trouble - I mean think of the number of deaths caused by “authoritarians” or “people who believe in some sort of god” or “rich people in charge of corporations”. It is obvious to me that society needs to be sheltered from them and they need to be put into re-education camps, if not simply removed via a program of mercy killings.
oooh, aren’t you clever.
if you read what i wrote, i never advocated for the irradication of any particular subculture or genre of popular music, dress, or art.
i simply said if you’re already severly depressed - which i’m guessing this kid is - it’s possible that he should have been encouraged to seek something to counter his negative nature rather than reinforce it. not all “goth” or similar genered material encourages depression and negativity - but dontcha think maybe he gravitated toward the darker stuff? those quiz results he posts - his oh so chic and original love of leather coats and all think dark and filled with non-ironic ironic appreciation of suicide.
please, get over it.
anyone allowed to completely immerse him/herself in a segment of popular culture comes out the worse for it - too hiphop, too goth, too pop, too christian - too anything. moderation is key. this kid was sick and found a highly stylized, and completely commercialized, excuse to feed his darkness.
I think that people mst focus on the REAL issues at hand here…
1) Depressed, withdrawn youth with little or no coping skills
2) Gun control and possession… why the hell should the weapons that Kimveer Gill had in his possession be legal to civilians anyway?
3) Society’s judjement, persecution and ostracizing of “different” people
Gill seems to have experienced much pain in his life as he expresses disdain for being ridiculed, judged and excluded. I am in NO WAY condoning Gill’s actions, however we as a society MUST understand where Gills actions originated from and what could have been done to prevent him from doing what he did. We need to stop judging the goth and/or vampire culture and start treating the person and the mind.
For all of you who said or thought that he should have turned the gun on himself first should be ashamed of yourselves! Promoting suicide in this way is immoral, to say the least. Perhaps people resort to this statement because the task of helping and reaching these withdrawn, depressed people is too great or seen as a burden.
If we as a society want to illiminate school shootings, lets talk to eachother and be more tolerant and understanding. Stop judging the book by its cover….smile, say “Hi”, hold the door open… The smallest effort sometimes can make the biggest difference!
Thanks for listening.
Most of us have at one time or another experienced ridicule in the hands of our peers. I believe that somebody such as Kimveer Gill probably had issues ie psychological, emmotional etc. These issues are what led him to commit such an awful act. Many people have been victims of bullying and fortunately they are not all picking up guns and killing innocent bystanders. Only a select few do. I believe that somebody like Kimveer Gill, if not due to his past of isolation and bullying, he would have acted on another issue. Perhaps an arguement with a girlfriend or loss of a job or a child who misbehaved. He in my opinion had issues dealing with emmotions and self expression. For whatever reason he lived a life without the necessary tools to cope in our society. Perhaps this was cultural, perhaps heredity, perhaps life experiences and finally, perhaps a combintion of all.