John R. Houk
© April 27, 2018
Alek Minassian of the Toronto Massacre infamy, had his day
in a Canadian Court where the interested found out he is being charged with 10
counts of murder and 13 counts of attempted murder. As far as I know Minassian
has not confessed to the reason for the attack. This post is based on the
speculative motive for the massacre. That being Minassian was a part of the
subculture group of mostly men who believe they are a part of the Incel
Movement. Incel = involuntarily celibate.
These dudes feel that beautiful women will only form
relationships with hunky men leaving out in the cold plain nerd-like socially
maladjusted men. You’d almost feel sorry for these lost souls except they have
evolved from a self-pitying lot to a hate group that despises primarily
gorgeous gals. Sam Louie MA, LMHC
writing for Psychology Today demonstrates the sympathetic element:
They’re teased for being virgins
(“virgin-shaming”). This is a new societal shift that has radically
changed within the past two decades. It wasn’t long ago when you may have
been shamed for being sexual outside of marriage, now you’re shamed if you haven’t had sex before marriage. … In
short, the worldview is if you haven’t had sex by 30, you must be not only
sexually inadequate, defective, and inept but also socially.
They’re also teased or bullied for
being socially awkward or being different. This oftentimes can be due to
physical disabilities, physical characteristics (weight, height, facial
features, acne, etc.), and a lack of understanding social cues (not knowing when to start or
stop talking, not knowing how much to share and possibly over-sharing in
certain situations to name a few).
Combine this with their social isolation along with hobbies and interests that
lend themselves to public mockery … Incels (short for involuntary celibate)
have a tendency to gravitate towards activities that are less socially
threatening thus online role-playing games and activities where your profile
can be anonymous such as World of Warcraft are very popular within this
demographic. Other interests include collecting comic books, interest in
Pokemon, and Japanese Manga. And for some, they’ve also have had the
additional burden of being ostracized for their ethnic background.
… READ
ENTIRETY (The Incel Movement: The sexual, social, recreational,
and racial implications; By Sam Louie; Psychology
Today; 4/25/18)
If you Google the Incel Movement, you will discover many
Leftist MSM and extreme Leftist sources that are more than happy to describe the
movement’s characteristics. The reason being Incels are not only social awkward
misogynists, but also these same guys tend to be extremely Right Wing often
described as the Alt-Right (which the Left loves to group with Neo-Nazis, Skin
Heads, KKK, White Nationalists and so on). Source – Heavy.com.
Heavy.com found a Youtube video that profiles the typical
Incel:
Posted by Wall Street
Journal
Published on May 26, 2014
Elliot Rodger, accused of killing
six people and injuring 13 others in a rampage in which he also died, published
a 140-page, biographical manifesto. In it, he chronicles the evolution of his
own hate and despair. WSJ's Jason Bellini reports.
Thanks to Left-leaning Google I found some unpleasant info
on the Incel Movement and its early development. I’m going to cross post Flare.com
thoughts. I know nothing about Flare.com, but its home
page seems to emphasize the entertainment industry. Then I am going to cross post
the National Post’s rather lengthy profile of Alek Minassian.
Other interesting posts on the Incel Movement:
Spreading
terror: How the Toronto attack echoes recent trends in extremist violence;
By Chris Meserole; Brookings
Institute; 4/25/18
A Quick
Explainer of the Incel Movement, the Saddest Bunch of Hateful Dorks on the
Internet; By Matt
Keeley; Hornet.com;
4/7/18
***************************
What You Need to Know About the Incel Movement & Its
Potential Role in the Toronto Van Attack
By Sarah Boesveld, Chatelaine
Apr 26, 2018
A post about an “Incel Rebellion” appeared on suspect Alek
Minassian’s Facebook page moments before the Toronto attack. But what does the
term “incel” even mean—and what, if anything, did it have to do with his
motivations?
As details of the van attack that claimed 10 lives and
injured 15 in Toronto earlier this week continued to unfold, the term “incel”
started appearing in headlines.
The term is Internet slang and shorthand for “involuntarily
celibate,” which refers to a person (usually a man) who is not having sex or
who is not in a romantic relationship because women have rejected him. It’s
been co-opted by the “manosphere,” an online community that harbours a deep
hatred and resentment of women, as an ideology that justifies hostility towards
the opposite sex.
At a news conference
Tuesday, Toronto Police Det-Sgt. Graham Gibson said Alek Minassian
has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of
attempted murder. Gibson also said police were aware of and are
investigating a “cryptic” Facebook post that referred to “incels” and was
allegedly shared on the 25-year-old suspect’s account just before the killings.
(Questions remain as to whether or not Minassian wrote the post himself.)
Despite the fact that most of the 10 victims in the attack
were women, police said there is no evidence so far that Minassian
was targeting women in particular. However, the investigation will
consider whether or not the attack was motivated by misogyny.
Here’s what you need to know:
Where did the term “incel” come from to begin with?
This term now associated with misogyny was actually coined by a Toronto
woman who craved a label for lacking sexual and romantic
experience as she figured out her sexuality in university. The then-Carleton
University student named Alana (she’s now in her 40s) created a website—Alana’s
Involuntary Celibacy Project—which she hoped would be an inclusive space where
women and men could share their experiences of being unwillingly alone. But the
site quickly became dominated by men complaining about women being
unwilling to sleep with them. She eventually abandoned the page, turned the URL
over to a stranger and never followed up. “It feels like being the scientist
who figured out nuclear fission and then discovers it’s being used as a weapon
for war,” she told the Globe
and Mail this week. “It’s not a happy feeling.”
Where did the movement go from there?
A lot of the men drawn to the incel world came from the pick-up artist community, which purports to teach
men how to get women to date them. But according to the New
York Times, incels are more extreme than so-called pick-up artists,
believing the pick-up artists to be too “humanizing” of women. The most extreme
incels have advocated for violence against women, including rape. They are also
different from men’s rights activists, according to Arshy Mann,
a DailyXtra writer who has been reporting on the Toronto “manosphere” and
tweeted about the community on Tuesday.
Who are Stacy and Chad?
Incels have a code, referring to women as “Stacys” and
sexually active men as “Chads.” They also deride sexually active people as
“normies,” and seek to dehumanize them. Incel members have spread these
ideas through Reddit and a site called 4chan—which is notorious for encouraging
threatening behaviour such as doxxing (i.e., hacking and publishing personal
information) women online.
What does this have to do with the Toronto attack?
It all comes back to the Facebook post Toronto police
acknowledged in their press conference Tuesday. Posted on Minassian’s
legitimate account allegedly minutes before the attacks was a message: “The
Incel Rebellion has already begun!” The post read: “We will overthrow all the
Chads and Stacys! All hail Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!”
Who is Elliot Rodger?
In May 2014, 22-year-old Rodger killed six people and
injured 14 others near the University of California in the Santa Barbara
community of Isla Vista before killing himself in his car. Before heading out
on his killing spree, Rodger uploaded a video to YouTube titled “Elliot
Rodger’s Retribution,” in which he detailed the future attack and said he
wanted to punish women for rejecting him, and slay sexually active men out of
envy. Rodger has since become a hero in the incel community.
Why are there still questions about the Facebook post?
While Facebook confirmed the
post came from an account registered to Minassian and the police acknowledged
they are looking into it, it’s not 100 percent clear that Minassian wrote the
post himself—it could be a hack or a hoax (online hoaxes have become common in
the wake of mass killings, and the Toronto attack did come with the spread
of misinformation and fake
news online). Some incels online have celebrated the
movement’s association with the killings. “I really want it to be true
that the guy was an incel lmao,” the Toronto Star reported one
commenter posting on the Incel.me forum. But the forum’s administrator this
week said that, to their knowledge, Minassian had never posted on the site, nor
did the community know him.
If Minassian was in fact influenced by the incel movement,
it would strengthen the link between mass murder and hatred
and violence toward women that has garnered greater attention
in recent years.
++++++++
Toronto van attack suspect Alek
Minassian’s interest in ‘incel’ movement the latest sign of troubled life
The story of Minassian’s ‘sad and confusing’ life
comes fragmented from a cluster of people who knew him, but none who appear to
have known him well
April 24, 2018 9:27 PM EDT
Last Updated April 26, 2018 12:47 PM EDT
Posted by National Post
Published on Apr 26, 2018
TORONTO — The distressing scope of criminal allegations
against Alek Minassian were revealed in a packed Toronto courtroom — 10 counts
of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder — as glimpses of the
man and a possible motive emerged after a rental van mowed through pedestrians
along Toronto’s Yonge Street.
Just “minutes before” the van started its awful rampage
along the sidewalks of one of Canada’s best known streets, deliberately
striking pedestrians, Minassian posted a “cryptic message” on Facebook, said
Toronto police Det.-Sgt. Graham Gibson.
The message says: “Private (Recruit) Minassian Infantry
00010, wishing to speak to Sgt 4chan please. C23249161. The Incel Rebellion has
already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! All hail Supreme
Gentleman Elliot Rodger!”
Decoding the post suggests a spark for the deadly trek may
have been frustration over an inability to attract female companionship. The
majority of the victims struck by the van were women, adding to the potential
importance of the post.
Toronto police are investigating whether Minassian’s mental
health or an interest in the incel movement are related to the van attack.
At 25, Minassian, who lived with his parents and his brother
in a detached two-storey home in suburban Richmond Hill, just north of Toronto,
is variously described as a failed solider who dropped out of basic training, a
socially awkward student in a special needs class in high school where he was
known for acting like a cat, a long-standing college student, a computer whiz
and app developer, video game enthusiast and a self-declared “incel.”
Posted by The Canadian
Press
Uploaded on Apr 24, 2018
Harjit Sajjan is defending the
militarys selection process after it was revealed that the Toronto van attack
suspect was briefly a Forces member. The defence minister said Alek Minassian
served for two months. Video provided by The Canadian Press...
It is his apparent embrace of the incel movement that helps
decipher his odd Facebook post, which Facebook has confirmed as a legitimate
post from Minassian’s account that has since been taken down by the company.
An “incel” is a portmanteau of “involuntary celibate” and
came into wide recognition in 2014 after Elliot Rodger, 22, killed six and
injured 14 in Isla Vista, California, before killing himself. In a manifesto,
he said he needed to punish women for rejecting him and sexually active men for
their success where he failed.
Within the incel subculture, which typically veers towards
deep misogyny, “Chads” refer to the sexually successful men and “Stacys” to
unattainable women.
As news of Minassian’s connection spread, some
self-professed incels embraced it as a call to arms.
Some members of an incel-dedicated forum branded him “Saint
Alek” and “St. Minassian.” Some suggested other ways to continue the attacks so
the world of the sexually active would fear them.
“It is a good time to be an incel. Our brothers are
launching their counter-attack, getting their revenge. Thank you,” one post
reads. “They should be scared, this is what happens when you deny so many men
love and affection for their entire lives,” said another.
“Well, he certainly got us noticed,” one member wrote. “It
will be interesting to read about Alek’s story as more details about his life
unfold. I’d love to know what exactly made him think he was an incel.”
That story may one day become known, but for now,
Minassian’s story comes fragmented from a cluster of people who knew him, but
none who appear to have known him well.
Despite the violent language of some incels online, those
who knew Minassian personally did not pin him as a violent character. Oddball,
challenged, awkward, weird, infantilized, but not violent.
When Minassian was a student at Thornlea Secondary School
in nearby Thornhill, Ont., he stood out for his unorthodox behaviour.
“I had classes with him. He was mentally unstable back then.
He was known to meow like a cat and try to bite people; this is one sad and
confusing story,” Alexander Alexandrovitch said of his former classmate in a
Facebook post.
Minassian was “never intentionally violent” in school, he
added.
Reza Fakhteh said he overlapped with Minassian for two years
at Thornlea. He described Minassian as a special education student who rarely
socialized and had no obvious friends.
“I never heard him speak beyond meowing at people,” Fakhteh
wrote in a Facebook message. “His movements were erratic and just strange
overall. He acted like a cat in every way.”
Fakhteh said he was shocked to hear that Minassian was named
as a suspect in this kind of attack.
“The guy I remember from high school definitely wouldn’t be
driving,” he said.
Ari Blaff, another former classmate said he was “an odd
guy.”
“He had several tics and would sometimes grab the top of his
shirt and spit on it, meow in the hallways and say, ‘I am afraid of girls.’ It
was like a mantra.” While Minassian did not express strong ideological views or
harass women, he was isolated and others privately made fun of him, Blaff said.
While in high school, he was an avid videogamer. A defunct
Steam account, a video game software platform, that appears to be Minassian’s
says he is better at shooting games than strategy games. It says he loves the
Halo series — a franchise of science fiction-based first-person shooter games —
and adds the gamer names of three players who he says are his “real life
friends.”
Provincial records show the house, now guarded by police,
belongs to Vahe and Sona Minassian. They bought the property in 1998 for
$330,000.
In a story published in the Richmond Hill Liberal in 2009, a
woman named Sona Minassian praised a local program for special needs children.
The story said her son, who isn’t named, lived “with a form of autism known as
Asperger’s syndrome.” He used the program, called Helpmate, to earn experience
in an office setting.
In 2011, after high school graduation, Minassian enrolled at
Seneca College in Toronto. His computer skills were put to use.
He worked as a paid research assistant, roughly four years
ago, on a joint project with the college and an external business partner to
develop an application to deal with data produced by health and wellness
devices similar to Fitbits.
A staff member at Seneca who had a few encounters with
Minassian several years ago said he seemed to struggle with social interaction.
“He could have sort of normal conversation, but you could
tell it wasn’t his strength,” said the staff member, who did not wish to be
named. “It’s completely surreal to realize you know someone who (allegedly)
killed 10 people.”
Seneca President David Agnew acknowledged his school’s
connection Minassian in an email to students and staff Tuesday afternoon,
obtained by the National Post.
“The reports associating the driver with Seneca are
extremely troubling,” Agnew wrote. “Yet it is vital that we do not let this
terrible act undermine our determination to be the peaceful, tolerant and
inclusive society that is admired around the globe. We must grieve, and we must
heal, but we must also resolve to carry on.”
One of the victims was a student at Seneca. “Our thoughts
are with all those affected, including the family and friends of one of our
students who died as a result of the tragic incident. Along with the rest of
the city, and world, we are extremely troubled by yesterday’s events,” a
statement for the college says.
Minassian’s LinkedIn page lists him as enrolled at Seneca
from 2011 to 2018. Asked whether seven years was a peculiar length of study,
Seneca spokeswoman Kayla Lewis said she couldn’t confirm any student’s
enrolment due to privacy concerns, but did offer that “there’s no
one-size-fits-all with students and their educational journeys.”
Minassian also appears to have been an aspiring software
developer. Someone with that name registered an online Toronto parking app on
Google Play.
Recently, Minassian joined the Canadian Armed Forces. A
Department of National Defence spokesperson said he joined the army on Aug. 23,
2017, started his basic training at the military facility at
Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., that September and left the military on Oct.
25.
He had not progressed to weapons training by the time he was
released.
“He did not complete his recruit training and requested to
be voluntarily released from the CAF after 16 days of recruit training,” a DND
spokesperson said.
His brief stint in the military also may shed light on his
cryptic Facebook post. He identified himself as “Private (Recruit) Minassian
Infantry 00010” — that would have been his rank as a newly recruited soldier
and 00010 is the military’s designation for an infantryman.
We are quick to condemn #police but slow to recognize them as #heroes when they risk their lives to save others. #thankyou #TorontoPolice #tps #yongeandfinch #toronto pic.twitter.com/qzTS2FAspS— Frederick Fosu (@FredFosuTO) April 24, 2018
The military’s job description for a 00010 Infantryman
states: “Must close with and destroy the enemy. They come into direct contact
with the enemy and hand-to-hand combat is likely.”
Neighbours said they did not know the family well but often
saw them while out and about.
Elaha Jamal, who lives nearby, said it was as if the parents
had to supervise Minassian and his brother constantly, and would not let them
roam free, sometimes even holding his brother by the shirt at the scruff of the
neck.
“They were not OK,” she said. “They were an older couple but
they took care of these boys like they were babies.”
— With files from Richard Warnica, Joseph Brean and David
Pugliese
________________________
Looking at the Incel
Movement
John R. Houk
© April 27, 2018
_________________________
What You Need to Know
About the Incel Movement & Its Potential Role in the Toronto Van Attack
_________________________
Toronto van attack suspect
Alek Minassian’s interest in ‘incel’ movement the latest sign of troubled life
© 2018 National
Post, a division of Postmedia
Network Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized distribution, transmission
or republication strictly prohibited. [Blog Editor: I did not get
permission. If National Post or Postmedia asks to remove their portion of the
post I will comply.]
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