Harper would bring in draconian measures that will only lead to a growth in the prison industrial complex, as has occured in the U.S. The Liberals responded after Dec. 6 with tougher gun laws and the billion-dollar boondoogle of the Firearms Registry, which has not reduced gun crimes but has criminalized gun owners. Nope: neither of these approaches will work until we begin to actually teach about human relationships in our schools.
We can no longer leave this up to the dysfunctional patriarchical families and churches to teach moral and character education on an ad hoc basis, or on the basis of patriarchical beliefs that women are the property of their husbands to do with as they will. It's time to address the real issues around the crimes against women and children which is the fact that in our society they are still seen as the property of their husbands/fathers, and what happens in the home is not the concern of society. Such is also the ideology of the Conservatives daycare announcements (that parents, not society, should provide early childhood education, or choose who does it). We don't allow this for children aged 5 and up who HAVE to go to school, nor should we continue to allow it for younger children. We are socially disadvantaging them.
The Conservatives disadvantage working mothers--that's a crime--by denying them access to publicly funded and regulated day care. Instead they complain of the Nanny State while funding tax breaks for nannies. Nannies who are, by the way, from the Phillipines and are exploited in the homes of the rich, because as indentured servants they have no rights, and no one to monitor their working conditions. Again we see the exploitation of women for the sacred family of patriarchy.
Women are still fired for getting pregnant in some workplaces, including Catholic Schools if they are unwed. And as more women enter the workforce, and remain the primary caregivers for children and the elderly, the workplace has yet to meet their needs with onsite daycare. The rare exception gets an innovative workplace award from the Conference Board of Canada, when this should be the norm, not the exceptional.
Yes, we have crime in society, much of it based upon the failure of the nuclear patriarchial family to meet its social obligations; because it is dysfunctional, as Wilhem Reich correctly opined. When the right reacts to youth crime, they call for getting tough on hoodlums: tough love. But many of those committing these crimes come from broken homes with little love in the first place. Nor did our social institutions create a home-like atmosphere for them, but instead shovelled them through agencies and schools until they were expelled with no future from the "system" . . .
. . . Such as Marc Lepine who, 16 years ago, took his frustrations out on women whom he blamed for his low self esteem as a patriarch-in-training. His upbringing in a single-mother family, isolated from the community in modern urban Montreal, in his own little world--all this contributed to his madness. Being a patriarch in the making he had no male role model in his own world or in ours. So for his own personal psychological reasons he was going to go out and prove to the world he was a man. And to do so as society around him told him, he did it by taking a woman, or in this case women, literally.
His crime was not the gun he used, or his hatred of women; his crime was that of being a patriarch in the making rather than a human being in the making. His crime was seeking power over others, a crime that politicians, priests and bosses practice everyday.
To read the whole article click here:
http://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2005/12/real-crime-in-canada.html
[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on December 7, 2005]
Note: http://plawiuk.blogspot...
The Real Crime In Canada . . .
Posted on Tuesday, December 06 at 13:20 by eugeneContributed By
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It is even more worrisome that pornography has grown increasingly violent and hostile without any backlash. There are now dozens of 'series' that celebrate hurting women as a testament to positive sexuality. "Gagging" oral sex movies have become the hottest thing, being awarded with massive sales and industry awards. They are predicated on the premise that humiliation of women is pleasurable. Not only are these violent movies popular, but they are increasingly establishing the norm. Who is fighting this? Who is protecting these women? Who is protecting all the women who must deal with the shifting standards? This kind of debate is so far off the political spectrum that nobody would dare touch it. But why has the Left abandoned women? Why have we backed away from challenging the violent presumptions of patriarchy? This is not a free-speech issue -- it is a human rights issue. When you factor in the sexual slavery -- the Natashas -- into an assessment of contemporary pornography, the situation becomes even more dire. It breaks my heart.
"And yet in Canada violence against women has not declined, while other forms of violent crime has, including crime linked to drugs."<br />
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Friend, you need to take a good look at Toronto. That statement is not in line with the reality here wrt guns and drugs. There is no way that is on the decline (record murder rate and record year for shootings - almost all drug and gang related).<br />
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Domestic violence and violence against women is a very important issue, but it should not be highlighted by trying to minimalize other issues. It should also be noted that the original statement is not at all correct. Homicides with respect to domestic violence are on the decrease (as are reports of domestic violence). Unless you have some real stats to back up the "lack of a decline" in violence against women, this article, though important to bring up the topic, is flawed.<br />
<br />
From our own government:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.justice.gc.ca/en/dept/pub/smir/ms_int_rel_report_litrev.html">http://www.justice.gc.ca/en/dept/pub/smir/ms_int_rel_report_litrev.html</a><br />
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That is not to say that the job is in any way done. Concentrating on the reasons for the decline in domestic violence (which incidently include social programs such as an increase in women's shelters and an increase in the age of couples as well as programs that the author laments such as ammendments to the criminal code and mandatory charges being laid in cases of spousal violence) should be pursued with vigor. <br />
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This issue needs to be tackled by both the left (social) and right (punishment). But regardless of what we do, there will be cases where this violence continues. Society can and should do whatever it can to protect and educate, but to be clear, it is not society's fault for a Marc Lepine. It was his personal choice to use a gun and his personal choice to act out. He was wrong in the strongest meaning of that word and I personally hate him for his actions. I have no sympathy for him and there is nothing in his past life that can excuse an attrocity like the Montreal massacre. Society bears the scars of his action and our lack of protection for the women he killed but in no way was society an accomplice in his actions. He alone bears that burden. And may he rot in whatever hell there is for it.
Straight from the stats:
Women were the victims in more than three-quarters of the 2,600 spousal homicides recorded in Canada between 1974 and 2000. Women under the age of 25 were at greater risk (21.2 women per million couples compared to 6.6 for male victims in the same category), especially separated women who, between 1991 and 2000, were killed at the highest rate (113.4 women per million separated couples compared to 9.5 women per million separated couples 55 years and older, the group with the lowest rate).
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"A Liberal is someone who refuses to take his own side in a fight".
-Robert Frost
You can't be serious?! What about white males? Their hiring was recently banned by the federal public works department.
"Today, in Canada and America, violence on many different levels remains a constant threat to women. From snide jokes, to discriminatory hiring practices, to outright sexual harassment and beyond, it is the norm by which we live and remains tragic".
Women have had their own gender-based form of affirmative action/employment equity for a long time. As for comments, jokes, be an adult and grow up.
The fact that women are not having enough children to replace our population, 1.3 versus 2.1+, is MUCH more of a concern then whether they have their feelings hurt. No need to preach lesbianism.
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"A Liberal is someone who refuses to take his own side in a fight".
-Robert Frost
As for Marc Lepine, anyone want to guess what his REAL name was? Gamil Rodrigue Gharbi. Anyone think his being an immigrant Muslim had anything to do with his hatred of women? Tell me no.
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"A Liberal is someone who refuses to take his own side in a fight".
-Robert Frost
<br />
<a href="http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/crime/spree-killers/marc-lepine/">www.rotten.com/library/bio/crime/spree-killers/marc-lepine/</a><br />
<br />
Marc Lepine<br />
<br />
Loner, champion misogynist and Canada's highest-count spree killer. <br />
Marc Lepine's father Liess Gharbi was an Algerian immigrant, a Muslim who taught his boy how to hate women. Not that he particularly cared about his son, whom he considered little more than a nuisance. People were generally shocked how Liess behaved towards his wife and children -- not only the wife beatings, but also little things such as locking Marc and his sister in their bedroom (complete with portapotty), in the name of preserving "peace and quiet" of the household. It's those little things that count. <br />
<br />
Lepine's story is interesting not for the massacre itself, but because it has been co-opted by special interest groups to achieve their own ends -- the anti-gun lobby and women's rights advocates. For a decade, certain critical facts escaped the attention of the Canadian public, among which were Lepine's ancestry and upbringing. <br />
<br />
Lepine used a Sturm Ruger Mini-14 hunting rifle to kill 14 women and wound 13 others. Since Canada's law did not allow any gun that was "firearm of a kind commonly used for hunting or sporting purposes" -- which the Mini-14 certainly was -- the law had to be amended to say that guns may not be banned "if, in the opinion of the Governor in Council, the thing to be prescribed is reasonable for use in Canada for hunting or sporting purposes." In other words, Mark Lapine's massacre was used as a pretext by the Canadian government to pass a law in which any weapon they didn't like is subject to ban. Including the Mini-14, which by any reasonable definition, is an ordinary hunting rifle. <br />
<br />
Mandatory gun registration also came about as a result of Lepine's massacre. At a cost of a billion dollars, some (but by no means all) Canadian guns were placed on a list. The public was not any safer than it was before, and that billion dollars could have put 10,000 more police on the street instead. When considering this figure, note that it took police forty-five minutes to arrive on the scene at L'Ecole Polytechnic. <br />
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Lepine's suicide note: <br />
<br />
Forgive the mistakes, I only had 15 minutes to write this. See also Annex. <br />
Please note that if I am committing suicide today 89/12/06 it is not for economic reasons (for I have waited until I exhausted all my financial means, even refusing jobs) but for political reasons. For I have decided to send Ad Patres the feminists who have ruined my life. It has been seven years that life does not bring me any joy and being totally blase, I have decided to put an end to those viragos. <br />
<br />
I had already tried as a youth to enlist in the Forces as an officer cadet, which would have allowed me to enter the arsenal and precede Lortie in a rampage. They refused me because of asociality. So I waited until this day to carry out all my projects. In between, I continued my studies in a haphazard way for they never really interested me, knowing in advance my fate. Which did not prevent me from obtaining very good marks despite not handing in my theory assignments and studying little before exams. <br />
<br />
Even though the Mad Killer epithet will be attributed to me by the media, I consider myself a rational and erudite person that only the arrival of the Grim Reaper has forced to undertake extreme acts. For why persevere in existing if it is only to please the government? Being rather retrograde by nature (except for science), the feminists always have a talent for enraging me. They want to retain the advantages of being women (e.g. cheaper insurance, extended maternity leave preceded by a preventive leave) while trying to grab those of the men. <br />
<br />
Thus, it is self-evident that if the Olympic Games removed the Men/Women distinction, there would be only be women in the graceful events. So the feminists are not fighting to remove that barrier. They are so opportunistic that they neglect to profit from the knowledge accumulated by men throughout the ages. They always try to misrepresent them every time they can. Thus, the other day, people were honoring the Canadian men and women who fought at the frontlines during the world wars. How does this sit with the fact that women were not authorized to go to the frontline at the time??? Will we hear of Caesar's female legions and female galley slaves who of course took up 50 per cent of history's ranks, although they never existed? A real Casus Belli. Sorry for this too brief letter. <br />
<br />
[List of 19 women he wishes to kill.] <br />
<br />
Nearly died today. The lack of time (because I started too late) has allowed those radical feminists to survive. Alea Jacta EST. <br />
<br />
Lepine's last words, "Oh shit", before putting the gun below his face and firing. <br />
Timeline<br />
26 Oct 1964 Gamil Rodrigue Gharbi born to Algerian Liess Gharbi and former nun Monique Lepine. <br />
1966 Sister, Nadia, born. <br />
1972 Monique Lepine granted custody of their two children. <br />
c. 1977 At age 13, Gamil changes his name to Marc Lepine. <br />
1978 Big Brother Association provides Marc with a "Big Brother." <br />
1981 Marc Lepine applies to the Canadian Army, but is rejected as "unsuitable." <br />
1989 Application to join faculty of University of Montreal rejected. <br />
Sep 1989 Marc's best friend, Erik Cossette, leaves for a year to backpack in South America. Lepine is devastated. <br />
21 Nov 1989 Purchases a Ruger Mini-14 at Checkmate Sports. <br />
1 Dec 1989 Begins casing Ecole Polytechnique. He is seen on the 1st, 4th, and 5th of December. <br />
6 Dec 1989 Mark Lepine kills 14 women at Ecole Polytechnique, University of Montreal, and injures 15 others. It is the worst mass murder in Canadian history. On him is a suicide letter explaining his actions as being specific revenge against 19 "feminists who have ruined my life... I have decided to put an end to those viragos." <br />
1999 The Toronto Star reports that Lepine's original name was Gharbi, a fact which had somehow escaped the attention of the Canadian public to this point. <br />
<p>---<br>"A Liberal is someone who refuses to take his own side in a fight". <br />
<br />
-Robert Frost
I personally think that dividing the fight against violence along gender lines is one of the most destructive things that our society has done.
Are you equating the issue of violence against women with employment equity. Perhaps "opression" referred to restrictions to safety and liberty and not equality in employment.
"Women have had their own gender-based form of affirmative action/employment equity for a long time. As for comments, jokes, be an adult and grow up."
Again issues of violence and discrimination get boiled down to the narrow focus of employment equity. Is "grow up" the advice you would actually give to your daughter. Presumably those not liking a work atmosphere, can find work elsewhere. No sacrifice too small to preserve someone's right to joke eh?
"The fact that women are not having enough children to replace our population, 1.3 versus 2.1+, is MUCH more of a concern then whether they have their feelings hurt. No need to preach lesbianism."
LOL. Please, if you have some information on how to get rich having kids, then please share. Meantime, Don't trip over your knuckles on your way out of your cave
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Really? In what universe is this? Either you're mistaken or lying.<br />
<br />
Statistics bear out that men are by and large the largest victims of violence. Check the murder rate in your neighborhood. You'll notice that most of the people murdered are men. Same with assaults.<br />
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The only way that women are hurt more than men, is when a small subset of the data is looked at only. (Family violence.) Then, women are hurt more often than men, likely due to physical differences in ability to cope in a violent situation. But people forget that this is a SMALL SUBSET.<br />
<br />
The biggest victems are men.<br />
<br />
Still don't believe me? Here's some statistics.<br />
<a href="http://www.canlaw.com/rights/whokills.htm">http://www.canlaw.com/rights/whokills.htm</a><br />
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I'm sick and tired of this huge campaign against violence that says only women are victims deserving of help, and somehow male victims aren't important enough to campaign for. So please stop repeating the lies that women are killed more than men. It's a political myth that some people with a very awful agenda have instilled in the general public.<br />
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Why can't people drop these gender issues, and work to STOP ALL VIOLENCE?!?!?!?!?! Is that so hard??? Why are we turning men and women against each other?