Well, this is pretty freaking disturbing. Metronews.ca reports that
Toronto police are looking closely at video of a Toronto pick-up artist who filmed himself muttering about stabbing a girl who turned him down. …Â
“She deserves to f**kin’ like stabbed and cut up into tiny pieces for that s**t,” he says. “Like, I would f**king take her and her boyfriend and all her f**king friends down. F**king worthless pieces of s**t. She thinks she’s all that, just because she has the looks and s**t. I’ll show all these little bitches one day.”
In a second clip, [“xsouldeath”]Â appears to try to purchase a knife from a grocery store.
After news of this began to spread, someone who described himself as
E.J., the head coach of TdotPickup, a group that holds PUA bootcamps and coaching in the Yonge and Dundas area, called Metro Monday evening after speaking with xsouldeath. He said some of his comments had been misunderstood.
“This whole thing about getting them back, all he was talking about is basically getting them back by getting a really good-looking girl and rubbing it in their face,” he said.
Apparently, there is some mysterious language that resembles English in which “she deserves to f**kin’ like stabbed and cut up into tiny pieces for that s**t” actually means “rubbing it in their face.”
As for talking about stabbing a woman and cutting her up, E.J. said xsouldeath is not the type of person to do that.
So reassuring.
The video in which xsouldeath talks about looking for a knife at a grocery store was taken out of context, E.J. said. “Basically the whole reason he was asking for this knife was to find the cutlery section and they were not really understanding the English,” he said.
And then there was this plot twist:
Update: Â xsouldeath, the creator of the YouTube videos, appears to be EJ, the head coach of TdotPickup.
Creepy as hell.
While xsouldeath’s YouTube channel has been taken down, what appears to be his Google+ profile is still up (I’ve archived it here). In addition to posts about his own videos and a wide assortment of popular Youtube “prank” videos, xsouldeath posts videos from other PUAs as well as from antifeminist “philosopher” and self-described Men’s Rights Activist Stefan Molyneux and from obsessively antifeminist Youtuber Bane666au, whose frequently hour-long videos feature him as a talking skull in a pitcher of Koolaid.
What appears to be his Twitter account has been made private.
On the Toronto subreddit, meanwhile, someone  writes:
I’ve known this person since High School. There are some stories I would rather not share about him on this page to save him dignity. But he needs Help. I am just really creeped out to approach him anymore.
I’ll post more later as the story develops.
@BritterSweet
You’re very, very late.
Every time there’s a story on Gawker about a white person murdering someone, I know in advance I’ll be battling a cavalcade of “he must be mentally ill” posts.
I’m not sick of explaining why! I mean, I know I’m a relative newcomer, but people don’t maliciously say “crazy” when they’re commenting – it’s a habit, and one that I’d never even thought about before people here gently said I was saying something offensive to them.
What got me to reconsider using it was that in addition to it cheapening people with actual mental conditions, it implied that the things said by the people David posts about were due to some sort of unavoidable disability, something which “being a colossal arsehole” isn’t classified under.
Shit, should’ve known I’m way too late. -_-;
I don’t normally mind explaining to anyone who is genuinely curious. The connection between language (an ephemeral thing) and physical harm (a persistent thing) is not necessarily obvious. Sometimes I get tired, and I have zero patience for people who feel like their convenience in not having to rephrase or restructure their sentences outweighs the concrete harm that mad people suffer as a consequence of the elision of madness with bad behavior. Normally, however, I don’t mind it.
@BritterSweet
Today hasn’t been a great day to enjoy reading something without ableism.
Yeah, the Eaton Centre is good about this sort of thing. They have to be. A few years ago, there was a gang shootout there, and several innocent bystanders shopping at the mall were hit. Things like that are terrible for business in the downtown core, and I’m sure the security team were eager to make sure nothing like this ever happened again.
I should also add that here in Canada, making threats of violence is a crime in itself, and no, the onus is not on the victim to “take it the right way”, i.e. not seriously. And covering for a criminal is also a crime. So, this dude and his PUA coach (assuming they’re not one and the same fella) are both criminals. Feel proud, creepers!
Just because someone like him should be put away, doesn’t make him mentally ill. It makes him a threat to public safety. This isn’t mental illness, this is male entitlement plain and simple.
Threatening to stab someone because they are in a relationship is way over the top, don’t you think? I personally feel the police should monitor this guy so he doesn’t make good on his threats.
And I agree with the others here. He is another Elliot Roger in the making.
And this is why I carry bear mace almost everywhere I go.
Also, on a happier note (and only slightly OT because Lea posted a gif of it): the Clue movie is a blessing of a cinematic experience and everyone needs to go watch it and all of its endings (There’s three!).
I’m glad the police are taking this seriously. I hope this is a wake-up call for him and he manages to rid himself of his toxic ideas and entitlement… But failing that, that he is prevented from harming others.
@Lynn
I could be wrong, but I think people were criticising you calling him a “nut case”, not your wish for him to be put away.
@Lynn
I believe the comment was made because of your statement that this guy is ‘fucking Nuts’
Bina-I am glad Canada has got such a strong stance on threats of violence. It is something that other countries should learn from. *cough cough* America *cough cough*. I know people are probably tired of having the finger pointed at America, but America does not have a good track record of taking online threats seriously. Just look at happened with Elliot Rodger. If violent online rants were taken more seriously, that massacre would not have happened.
weirwoodtreehugger-I absolutely HATE that, too. It not only adds to the already strong stigma attached to mental illness, it excuses the behavior of these killers. Also, it enables people to ignore the pattern of entitlement and misogyny that are the real cause of these horrific acts. It is also very racist. If a white person does something horrible, that person is mentally ill and it is an ‘isolated incident’. If a black person does something horrible, that person is an evil monster and ALL black people are evil monsters. It is disgusting.
I think we all need this:
http://i.imgur.com/zkSTCWp.gifv
wordsp1nner-SO CUTE!!! <3 Cats love boxes, don't they?
I’m just glad the police are actually investigating him. Someone shouldn’t have to get hurt before threats of harm are taken seriously.
Wordsp1nner
Yay! Kitties in boxes!
I’ve been really interested in crochet recently. These are so cute!
http://bestofcrochet.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/siamese-kitten-by-jaravee.jpg
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.diylife.com/media/2007/08/cupcakebearsbyamigurumikingdom.jpg
http://favim.com/orig/201107/16/amigurumi-animals-crochet-cute-kawaii-lion-Favim.com-107524.jpg
CUPCAKE TEDDIES OMIGOD.
wordsp1nner, is that the latest installment of the Cube films?
@misseb47
There’s the other half of the stigma attached to mental illness as well. The idea that it’s not an actual illness. I know I’ve gotten the dread ‘cheer up’ from people who know I suffer from depression but just can’t grasp there is an actual physical component which distiguishes depression from ‘I feel depressed’.
And then of course there’s the always lovely ‘you’re just weak/looking for attention’ when it comes to suicidal ideation.
Considering these facts, jumping the gun and saying he is just an asshole can be just as damaging because if it turns out he does have a problem, dismissing him that way is just as bad.
And no, I’m not saying that this guy couldn’t be an evil souless bastard.I’m kind of hoping he’s not, though. Because mental illness can be treated, it can be managed. Thete’s no treatment for real evil.
*There’s no treatment for evil…
Damn autocorrect doesn’t work when you need it, then works when you really don’t.
Yup. That’s why I’m definitely NOT a free-speech absolutist. Too much angry, threatening yarglebargle and stochastic terrorism slips through the cracks. And FHRITP, while those who do it may think it harmless and funny, actually makes for a toxic work environment if you’re a broadcast reporter who has to hear that shit a dozen times a day…especially while female.
Oh, and it’s been found that “E.J.” and this souldeath dude are one and the same criminal. Let the arresting begin…
@policy of madness and others
I found this site this year and I have been lurking on this site for a while now. While I have consistently found the content interesting, I find that this site has a very complicated relationship with ableist language. My first encounter with ableism as an idea was a year ago and I found it very interesting because it challenges language that is very engrained into our culture and vocabulary. It makes us think about where certain terms come from and who it was meant to casually disparage. However, I have noticed that that the very mention that a person may be mentally ill as well as misogynistic meets with the cry of abelism and the conversation is then not allowed to have nuance; the individual(s) being discussed may only be recognized as being misogynist.
This is problematic for me because it flouts reality. People have an idea in their head about what “normal” behaviour looks like. This is mediated and informed by societal expectations. Of course, this perception of behaviour exists on a spectrum because you can recognize an individual’s behaviour as strange but not be threatened by it. However, when this behaviour falls outside of the realm of what someone considers “normal” they begin to suspect that something else may be at play. This is also problematic because when you shut down someone’s attempt to ascribe someone’s behaviour to multiple sources you inhibit their attempt to think critically about the information that they have been given.
The truth is that the picture is not always clear. Someone may be prone to misogynistic beliefs as a result of their mental illness or someone can already be misogynistic before they experience mental illness, or they may just be an asshole with no forms of mental illness. I don’t like the idea of shutting someone down for mentioning any of these scenarios because any one of them are possible. To be clear, I am not advocating for specific diagnoses made by people who are not qualified to make them. I am only advocating for accepting nuance.
You argue that mentioning mental illness will encourage a negative conception of people who are mentally ill. However, I accept that mental wellness/illness is a part of life. We all deal with it to some extent; of course, some more seriously than others. It is especially hard to see our loved ones struggle. I don’t think we should ignore it as a mediating variable when confronted with evidence of questionable behaviour.
I will confess to not knowing exactly what I hope to achieve here. I guess I just wanted to point out how your conception of ableism may actually be harmful to discussion. I suppose I am just seeking for a way that someone can actually refrain from using language that is ableist while also fostering discussion.
@David Futrelle:
It’s better than Cube 2: Hypercube was.
@Penny:
Depression sucks. Please accept my hugs (or best wishes if you dislike touching) and I hope it’s manageable.
I believe I heard earlier today that privilege is being able to go about your daily life with the ability to be ignorant to what other people suffer because of your actions.