As I vent this out, an uneasy dawn is yet again breaking over Washington DC. Frankly, I have barely slept a wink, since my cousin living in Florida spoke to me about what all she saw from underneath the table of a café near Pulse nightclub, where one of the most tragically horrifying mass-shootout happened since 9/11, leaving about 50 people dead and several badly injured.
Guns, Mental illness, Islamophobia, Hatred, Domestic Violence, Racism, Homegrown Extremism, different people hold different things responsible for what happened at the midnight in one of the most enthralling gay nightclubs in Orlando, Florida. Untangling this senseless violence is an unnerving struggle not just for Americans, but for all the people around the world who fear that there could be more.
To many people, the mass shooting above all was an act of barbarity by a terrorist determined on harming America. To LGBTQ community, it was something else as well: an attack to puncture their flights and discourage them from celebrating the liberties that the patrons at Pulse were enjoying that night. The shootout evoked a spontaneous outburst of support and sympathy for a group that is still often mocked, with people expressing solidarity through whatever way they can on the social media.
Not-so-surprisingly, within 24 hours of the shootout, the Islamic State had publicly claimed the shooter—29-year-old Omar Mateen—as one of their own, igniting promises from presidential contenders to defeat the terrorist group. The ground level political reality for people of the Muslim community is no less disturbing; as after each incident of this kind, there’s an undeniable sad escalation of attacks and violence toward Muslims.
On the other hand, violent bouts are all too common in the LGBT community as well, which is strongly believed to be Omar’s intended target. Since the attack, Omar’s father, Mir Siddique told NBC News that his son had recently seen “two men kissing” in Miami and became “very angry.” But, can that justify the death of 50 beautiful people who simply had come to a nightclub to joyfully dance a step or two? What century are we all really living in?
However, it’s difficult to determine whether Omar’s alleged commitment to the Islamic State or homophobic anger was the primary trigger of what was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. soil. But the fact remains that he targeted a gay club during the pride month.
Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights campaign, told reporters during a press conference “This is what disgusts me the most about this tragedy: The maniac who did this was somehow conditioned to believe that LGBTQ people deserve to be massacred and that they are less-than in this society,” He also added “And he wasn’t just hearing this message from faraway terrorist organizations. He was hearing it from politicians and radical anti-LGBTQ Extremists right here in our own country.”
There are several lessons we all should learn from horrifying occurrences like these, but among those, I feel these four are most important;
Guns, Mental illness, Islamophobia, Hatred, Domestic Violence, Racism, Homegrown Extremism, different people hold different things responsible for what happened at the midnight in one of the most enthralling gay nightclubs in Orlando, Florida. Untangling this senseless violence is an unnerving struggle not just for Americans, but for all the people around the world who fear that there could be more.
To many people, the mass shooting above all was an act of barbarity by a terrorist determined on harming America. To LGBTQ community, it was something else as well: an attack to puncture their flights and discourage them from celebrating the liberties that the patrons at Pulse were enjoying that night. The shootout evoked a spontaneous outburst of support and sympathy for a group that is still often mocked, with people expressing solidarity through whatever way they can on the social media.
Not-so-surprisingly, within 24 hours of the shootout, the Islamic State had publicly claimed the shooter—29-year-old Omar Mateen—as one of their own, igniting promises from presidential contenders to defeat the terrorist group. The ground level political reality for people of the Muslim community is no less disturbing; as after each incident of this kind, there’s an undeniable sad escalation of attacks and violence toward Muslims.
On the other hand, violent bouts are all too common in the LGBT community as well, which is strongly believed to be Omar’s intended target. Since the attack, Omar’s father, Mir Siddique told NBC News that his son had recently seen “two men kissing” in Miami and became “very angry.” But, can that justify the death of 50 beautiful people who simply had come to a nightclub to joyfully dance a step or two? What century are we all really living in?
However, it’s difficult to determine whether Omar’s alleged commitment to the Islamic State or homophobic anger was the primary trigger of what was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. soil. But the fact remains that he targeted a gay club during the pride month.
Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights campaign, told reporters during a press conference “This is what disgusts me the most about this tragedy: The maniac who did this was somehow conditioned to believe that LGBTQ people deserve to be massacred and that they are less-than in this society,” He also added “And he wasn’t just hearing this message from faraway terrorist organizations. He was hearing it from politicians and radical anti-LGBTQ Extremists right here in our own country.”
There are several lessons we all should learn from horrifying occurrences like these, but among those, I feel these four are most important;
- Learn to respect other people’s opinions, because it’s absolutely human to have a different opinion,
- Rise above differences and love people as they are,
- No matter who you are, watch your words and your actions,
- Keep a vigil, but do not let attacks such as these terrify you to an extent that you stop living the way you always wanted.
At last, I would like to quote Jimmy Fallon’s response to Orlando’s mass shootout "It's just 1 bad guy and 50 good people. There will always be more good than evil. Keep loving each other, respecting each other, keep dancing and we will build it back"
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