But I get irritated when I feel that people try to dismiss my points with the help of irrelevant arguments.
Ann, you do have to remember that what seems irrelevant to Person A may seem very relevant to Person B when discussing the very same issue. It's all a matter of perspective. You are looking at this from your POV which, although it may have a lot of points in common with others, is still unique to you. As does every single person who comments on these boards.
So maybe the gender ratio of men and women in that engineering school in Montreal was really 50-50. That doesn't explain why the gender ratio of male and female victims at that school was 0-14.
I was living in Montreal at the time this occurred, although I don't remember very many details now. I have no idea about the gender ratio at the Ecole Polytechnique at the time, but there is no denying that this particular instance was a case proving exactly the point that you want to make, Ann. From the Wikipedia link you provided:
"His suicide note claimed political motives and blamed feminists for ruining his life."
Lépine made a point of seeking out female victims. I don't know if this is true in any or all of the other cases you cited, but that was established in this case.
Let's assume for a minute that you are correct, Ann. Certainly I don't know of any instances where a person systematically sought out male victims that would counterbalance the Lépine incident. So what now?
We know that males tend to be more aggressive and violent than females due to higher testosterone levels. So it is not surprising that there are more males committing these violent crimes than females. This is not something that I keep track of. Have there been any females shooting up a school/business/etc?
Lépine blamed women for his problems, so it was logical - to him - that he targeted them. Other criminals on these rampages may also have deep-rooted issues with women (eg. a relationship gone bad might sour one of these unbalanced individuals against the whole gender). Also, due to their very nature, females are more likely to scream and run about when threatened with a shooting like this - if the perpetrator wants to feel power by seeing fear and panic in his victims, he might get a bigger surge from females than males.
So there may be reasons for it, and perhaps a thousand others that I can't think of. But I'd like to know what to do about it.
How can we change this? How can we get the psychiatric help to these people who need it before they "lose it"? How do we restrict weapons to these people? I'm all in favor of stricter gun control, but I can't honestly say that that will make a difference. In 1989 the gun control laws in Canada were stricter than in the U.S., yet Lépine legally purchased his weapons. I know that laws were tightened after his rampage, but that still doesn't mean that this can't happen again.
I am not an activist. I don't set out to make change happen. If you view that as a bad thing, that is certainly your prerogative. But assuming that you are even halfway correct, Ann, I'm not sure what you expect me to do here.
Kathy
