Hate crime / Religious extremism / Gun Control / Political exploitation

[auntpurl]

Seems to me there are a lot of people arguing a lot of different things about the Orlando shooting. Trying to sort them out in my mind.

1. Hate crime. There is no question this was an anti-gay hate crime. Whether it was a result of religious extremism (more below) or plain old homophobia, it was a hate crime against gays.

2. Religious extremism. It is true that the shooter was of Islamic descent. It is also true that extremist Islamic sects are largely anti-gay. WE DO NOT YET KNOW whether this shooting was motivated by Islamic extremism. The only evidence we have so far is the shooter's father's statement that the shooter was motivated by seeing two men kissing on the street, and by inference was NOT motivated by Islamic extremism. We need to wait for more information before speculating about THIS incident. But in my opinion it is fair to say that some Islamic extremists DO hate, torture, imprison, and murder gay people. That is just a fact.

3. Gun control. The fact is that whether the shooter was motivated by homophobia or Islamic extremism, this was a murderous fuck who was able to get hold of an assault rifle in the United States of America. It is fair to discuss the fact that he would have been unlikely to be able to kill FIFTY people and injure 50-something more without a weapon like that. Is it exploitative to link this to a political motivation to pass sensible gun control laws? Yes. But I bet every victim of that shooting would be behind the idea of that kind of exploitation, if they still could be.

4. Political exploitation. This could (and I am horrified to think it) elect Trump in November. It's exactly the kind of issue a fear-based population can latch on to and his campaign can exploit. Framing is important. The Democrats need to get out ahead of this. They need to frame the situation as Trump's hateful rhetoric stirring up homophobic and generally violent tendencies within the populace, with a strong dose of gun control. In my mind, it is not disrespectful to the victims (for whom I cried actual tears) to consider the political ramifications of this event.

I am sorry if anyone finds anything I wrote disrespectful. These are my thoughts as I process this horrific event.

[MH1]

1. Well said! I think your point #4, in context with the others, is exactly why

it needs to be called out as a hate crime rather than "Islamic terrorism" (which so far we don't even know if that is remotely accurate).

Some would say that if the person is Muslim and they commit this crime, it was caused by their religion. Whether that is true or not, I don't think it's helpful to blame it on their religion. As you point out in #4, that only helps elect Trump. Surely no one who cares about their gay friends and family members would want that to happen.

Anyway, you have worded your points better than I did in my own OP on the topic. (This is why I almost never post OPs, sigh. I always realize by the responses that I have not expressed myself very well.)