Just when you start to feel comfortable, Islam comes charging in with its latest spasm of violence. Constantly eager to make people aware that Islamic violence is here to stay and can kill you at any moment, it has sped up the interval between terrorist attacks. Instead of waiting a year or two, we now only have to wait a mere 3 months. The Bataclan shooting was in November, then the Brussels attack in March, and now the Florida Gay Club shooting in June. For a religion that is reputed to be peaceful, Islam seems hell bent on shaking off that reputation.
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A selfie of Omar Mateen[/caption]
The basic plot line of this attack is no different to the rest. It is the same story, just with different actors. I must say, I am getting so tired of hearing this story. It is quite literally being played to death. But what I am more tired of hearing is the obfuscations by politicians, family members and the media. This is a snapshot of the latest round of misleading comments.
Obama: “…attacks on any Americans are an attack on all of us” - Well, no, actually it’s not. An attack on any american, is exactly that, an attack any american. And in this case, it wasn’t the American nationality that caught the ire of Omar Mateen, it was their gayness. Hence the choice of a gay club to kill lots of people.
Hillary Clinton: “_Let’s be clear: Islam is not our adversary. Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism” - _So its just pure coincidence that terrorists yell out Allahu Akhbar before they kill lots of people? Or that Muslim majority countries are the least tolerant countries in the world? Or that there is a direct correlation between less Muslims in a country and less terrorism?
Father of the perpetrator: _”This has nothing to do with religion. He was anti-gay” - _Why can’t both be factors? Being motivated by Islam and being anti-gay are not mutually exclusive. As homosexuality is a punishable crime in Islam, I would argue that it is hard to be Muslim and not anti-gay. Perhaps his anti-gay stance was motivated by his religion?
Donald Trump:_ “Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don’t want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!” - _Naturally Trump has to say something that panders to his ego, but the comment about being tough and vigilant would help prevent these situations.
In essence, Obama refuses to acknowledge the gross homophobia in this attack. Hillary pretends like the overlap between Islam, intolerance and violence is a pure coincidence. And the Father of Omar Mateen tries his hardest to distance this tragedy from its Islamic origins. It is a sad day when Trump sounds like the sanest person out there.
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