By Stephen Kunk►
One year ago today on April 23, 2018,
an angry young man drove a Chevrolet Express van down a crowded
Toronto sidewalk. He struck multiple pedestrians, leading to ten
deaths and sixteen serious injuries. The detour was no accident.
Witnesses claim that the driver, allegedly one Alek Minassian, made
eye contact with the victims as he careered down the sidewalk.
Perhaps the most disturbing element of
this attack was the motive. Minassian, a twenty-five-year old
software developer, was and is a self-identified incel, or
"involuntary celibate." This community, which boasts a
large and petulant online following, consists of males unable to
procure sexual partners who nonetheless feel they are owed
copulations. For this, the doughy Minassian, among other incels,
claim a hatred for women. In short, Minassian was a twenty-five-year
old virgin (now twenty-six) with no prospects, and he (among other
incels) blames women for his inability to get laid. The van attack
apparently constituted some sort of revenge.
 |
Incel gets laid
...out on the concrete
|
Once the van was intercepted by a
police cruiser, the attacker exited the vehicle, attempting
police-assisted suicide by pointing a weapon-like object at the
officer. While suicide-by-cop would have proven immediately
successful in these United States, this happened in Canada, and the
officer smooth-talked Minassian into surrendering without using
lethal force. As a silver-lining to this horrific crime, some have
praised that officer, TPS Constable Ken Lam, as a hero, taking his
non-violent action as an example of bravery.
Calling Lam a hero, however, is wildly
misguided. By way of Minassian's moony face, mode of dress and
male-pattern baldness alone, Lam should have readily identified the
attacker as a virgin. By letting the object-wielding attacker live,
Lam ensured the continuation of Minassian's incapability of knowing the
sweet, deep pleasure of a woman, and so the incel’s immeasurable
suffering will be prolonged. Minassian will persist in this
inveterate womanless state for the rest of his years, further
compounding his misery, which is nothing short of cruel and unusual
punishment. Canada does not, after all, have the death penalty, so
the guilty party will live on terminally unfulfilled, never getting
the much-needed sexual release he felt was due him. Letting a
twenty-something virgin male live is like leaving a wounded animal to
bleed out...though the bleeding animal at least has the consolation
that it will soon die. People have praised Lam, but they shouldn't
have: letting an incel live is police brutality of the highest order.
If there is a
true silver-lining to this unconscionable event, it's that, when and
if found guilty, Minassian won't live an entirely asexual life. In
his cell, this incel will surely become an involuntary non-celibate
on account of his cellmate.
***
Stephen Kunk lives in Portland with his wife and two daughters.
