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CSUSB expert on extremism interviewed about April 23 Toronto attackTalking Points MemoApril 25, 2018
Shortly after police say Alek Minassian plowed a rental van down a Toronto sidewalk Monday, killing 10 people and injuring 15 others, a Facebook post circulated in which he appeared to praise Elliot Rodger, the 22-year-old Californian who blamed his 2014 killing spree on his rejection by women.
“All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger,” the message read in part.
Canadian law enforcement acknowledged in a Tuesday press conference that Minassian “is alleged to have posted a cryptic message on Facebook minutes before” he got into the vehicle. And Facebook confirmed to outlets including TPM that the since-deleted account belonged to the suspect.
Many important details about the case are still unknown, and extremist experts noted that it’s odd that the post contained no other messages expressing an affiliation with the misogynistic, hateful ideology Rodger espoused. But they also told TPM that Rodger has become an icon among the most extreme members of the men’s rights and “incel,” or “involuntary celibate,” communities. And they said they wouldn’t be surprised if Rodger inspired the gruesome Toronto attack.
“For a certain segment of misogynists, Elliot Rodger is like the Columbine killers,” Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino told TPM.
“We have a subculture of misogyny that has its glorified leaders, its folklores, its treatises,” Levin added.
Read the complete article at “Why Toronto attacker’s praise of Elliot Rodger would be no surprise.”
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