Goth Web Site Defends Itself

When I was reading the following it came to me that a new word has been added to the vocabulary of most Canadians......GOTH. To be honest prior to this shooting I have seen them but never even thought that they had a label.

Web site linked to Montreal shooting defends Goths

By Lynne OlverThu Sep 14, 6:36 PM ET

The Web site used by the "angel of death" gunman who killed one and wounded 19 at a Montreal college on Wednesday claims 600,000 members and millions of page hits a day, and says it's wrong to link it to the bloody shooting spree.

"Just because someone goes around shooting people and happens to be a member of vampirefreaks, doesn't mean that this website has influenced him to do such a horrible thing," said a new posting by "Jet," the founder of the black and purple Web site, www.vampirefreaks.com.

"The Goth scene is a very friendly, nurturing, non-violent community and we are very supportive of our users and do not condone any illegal activities," he added.

The Montreal gunman, 25-year-old Kimveer Gill, had posted graphic photographs and comments on the Web site, including one where the barrel of a gun points straight at the camera, and he said loved guns and hated people.

Autopsy results showed Gill died from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, after exchanging gunfire with police during his shooting rampage at Dawson College in Montreal.

The self-styled "Goth/industrial" site was started by "Jet," a Brooklyn resident, in 1999, and users can post pictures along with their likes, dislikes, favorite music and location, and communicate with others in "cults" or groups.

The Goth sub-culture is often characterized by black clothing, pale makeup and body piercing. Many of the users write about being alienated from society, and while musical tastes vary, shock rockers such as Marilyn Manson are popular.

The site says users must be at least 13 years old to sign up and adds that "excessively gory/offensive pictures are not allowed. This includes cutting images."

A user identified as "kimveer_hater" wrote on Thursday: "the only thing I'm sad about in this situation is that you couldn't have removed yourself from the gene pool before harming others. Rot in hell."

Some of the "cult" names on the site refer to death, freaks, witchcraft and sex or sexuality. Others refer to bands or have seemingly innocent names. The site links to an online clothing store, which sells black T-shirts, corsets and shorts with chains.

The site has been associated with violence before, according to Jesse Hirsh, president of technology services firm Openflows Networks Ltd. in Toronto.

In a Toronto trial last year, the girlfriend of a youth accused of killing his younger brother and attempting to kill his stepfather was revealed to have had a profile and pictures on the site.

A 23-year old man and his 12-year-old girlfriend, accused of killing a family of three son in Medicine Hat, Alberta, last April, were also reported to have had profiles on the site.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday that the Montreal shooting was impossible to comprehend. He also said there is a tricky balance between freedom of speech and Web sites such as vampirefreaks.com.

"We as a society have trouble squaring our outrage at some of the images we see, some of the messages that are communicated to young people in particular ... with our belief in freedom and our desire to avoid censorship," Harper said.