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Where were you?
19 years ago gunman Marc Lepine confronts 60 engineering students during their class at l'École Polytechnique in Montreal on Dec. 6, 1989.
He separates the men from the women and tells the men to leave the classroom, threatening them with his .22-calibre rifle. The enraged man begins a shooting rampage that spreads to three floors and several classrooms, jumping from desk to desk while female students cower below. He roams the corridors yelling, "I want women."
Before opening fire in the engineering class, he calls the women "une gang de féministes" and says "J'haïs les féministes [I hate feminists]." One person pleads that they are not feminists, just students taking engineering. But the gunman doesn't listen.
He shoots 14 women women and then kills himself. Almost immediately, the Montreal Massacre became a galvanizing moment in which mourning turned into outrage about all violence against women.
December 6 has officially become known as the national day of commemoration and action against violence against women.
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I've often thought about what might have driven Marc Lepine to do what he did. Obviously I do not condone it, but for somebody to snap like that, he might well have suffered some pretty nasty treatment himself. In recent years, we've had things like the Columbine and Taber school shootings, which have turned up things like ostracism and bullying put on the perpetrators of these horrific events. As someone who had to deal with similar nastiness at school and beyond, I can understand how and why they could have snapped, and in a culture where violence is accepted and gun availability is high, where that can lead. Was the same true of Marc Lepine? I remember hearing that he was someone who had to put up with that nastiness, but nothing was speculated about that as a factor.
People of all ages need to understand that bullying and ostracism are not acceptable in today's society. If you treat someone like shit, you might very well get shit in return.
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