I almost feel guilty writing a post about some of the enjoyable things I did this week considering the shooting death of Cpl Nathan Cirillo in our nation’s capital on Wednesday. I’m a resident of Ottawa. I haven’t seen anything that leads me to believe that this was more than the work of a sick fuck and that the threat to my city has in no way increased, but that’s cold comfort when a member of the Canadian Armed Forces and single father of a 5-year old boy is dead. This is compounded by the earlier death of Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent by another sick individual, another warped mind radicalized by an extremist philosophy. And let me repeat something I posted on G+ the other day, because I want to be clear about my thoughts on the criminals who perpetrated these murders.
Our Tunisian neighbour was in tears after hearing the horrible, disgusting comments made regarding Muslims at the gym she attends. I wish I could say I was surprised at how quickly the xenophobia appears, but I am not.
The shooting in Ottawa was the work of a sick mind warped by extremism, and extremism exists everywhere and in every culture. If this sick fuck had lived earlier, he would have been in a bell tower. We didn’t decide to eradicate white males because of Marc Lépine. At other times, men like the Ottawa shooter joined the Thugee, the Red Army Faction or the Japanese Red Army. None of those are around, but the cultures which spawned them are, because the extremism they represent did not represent the entire culture.
I’ll have a Week Ending post later today. I don’t think that belongs with this.
You can read more about the attacks here.