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One message has not proved enough for police to come to any conclusions about Minassian’s motive yet, and rightly so. We don’t even know for sure if Minassian wrote it. But it’s been enough for the public — or at least a vocal part of it on social media — to lash out at Minassian for committing what much of the Twitterverse seems to consider the worst of all possible sins: hating women.

Toronto activist Kristyn Wong-Tam tweeted Tuesday: “The hatred and violence that fuelled Alek Minassian’s attack yesterday is best described as misogyny.” Others blamed Minassian’s alleged murders on “toxic masculinity” and the radicalization of white men. Left-wing writer George Ciccariello-Maher on Twitter labelled it “mass murder by a misogynistic men’s rights activist.” These are among the more nuanced comments. There are plenty more that simply emphasize how ugly, disgusting and pathetic incels are (the word “losers” appears again and again). Besides being premature, these comments are counterproductive.

That what Minassian is alleged to have done is horrific

That what Minassian is alleged to have done is horrific, is clear. But it is horrific because of the damage the attack has done to so many human beings and the loved ones who survive them, or who will stand beside them as they embark on a long road of physical and psychological recovery. The attack is no more or less horrific if it was based on the victims’ genders. And the attacker is no more or less culpable if the alienation and/or rage that fuelled it stemmed from a subjective feeling of sexual rejection, a hatred of women, or, say, an obsession with society’s class inequality.