On the massacre last night · 4:47am Jun 13th, 2016
You've probably seen a dozen blogs, videos or stories and opinions about the shooting in Orlando last night so I will do my best to be brief. What happened at the nightclub, the shooting was a horrible tragedy. It was a massacre that should have been prevented and stopped. It was a crime against humanity, a hate crime, an act of terrorism and my heart goes out to those affected by this terrible disaster. It's nothing short of a nightmare. The people who were involved in this, the families and friends, the innocents, their lives will be changed by this forever in the worst way possible. To any of you who may be reading this, please know that I am truly sorry and you have my deepest respect and sympathy. Please know that you are in the hearts and minds of many, as are those who were lost. There is nothing that can make up for this, but I hope that you will be strong in this tumultuous time.
This incident was caused by a Muslim extremist. This individual did knowingly assault a gay nightclub with the intent of killing homosexuals who frequented it. It was planned, it was committed by a man who was apparently investigated by the FBI twice and has known ties to terrorist organizations. These are all facts relevant to the investigation but they do not change the fact what happened happened. It doesn't matter who or what this man was, what his personal beliefs were or where he was from. They should've been stopped. They should not have happened.
There are many ways we can be divided. As a country, the United States is very divided at this time by political views. But we need to stop fighting each other to prevent things like this from happening. Male and female, black and white, gay, straight, bi or otherwise, Christian, Muslim, Catholic, Atheist, agnostic, etc, Conservative, Liberal, moderate or not, we all need to come together. We can have different views and different opinions. We NEED to have different views and different opinions, different and new ideas. We CANNOT have people who will not live peacefully, who will not accept different ideas than their own.
I'm a Christian before anything else, as I have said many times. I don't believe being gay or bi or anything else is a sin. I don't believe you can be condemned by God or your fellow man for having a preference, let alone something as trivial as a sexual one. It sickens me the way my fellow Christians do at times condemn their fellow men. The misguided people of the Westboro Baptist Church come to mind. It's sickening when Muslim extremists do these things, when people of any faith or lack of faith commit this horrible crimes.
But religion is not to blame for this crime, for any crime. It's the people that carry out their belief, that misuse it and break the law that is the problem. Whether you believe it or not, people are allowed to believe whatever they want to. They will anyway regardless of what you tell them. If they want to date the same sex, they will. If they want to marry the same sex, they will. I also think gay marriage should be legalized because honestly, it's been long enough and who doesn't fucking love weddings?
We need to come together. We need to stop dividing ourselves because that's what they want us to be. If we're fighting each other, it's easier for them to fight us. They're united by a perverted, narrow-minded, corrupting belief that everyone in the world has to be Muslim like them. That everyone has to pray on a rug, that all women have to be completely clothed except their faces or eyes all the time and cannot drive. They will not accept our way of life and that is why we are at war with them. Because they have shown such violence to us, we must completely eradicate their ability to make war. We must either destroy them completely or destroy their capacity to make war.
There are good Muslims obviously. Muslims who believe like we do that we can coexist. That the laws established by man must come first and must be adhered to if they are just. We cannot tolerate those who believe, those who act otherwise. That is why we must keep fighting. Until the extremists either stop being extreme or they can no longer be extreme. That is their choice: live in peace or don't.
So please, we must all band together as humans. Christians like myself, atheists or religious skeptics, Jews, Catholics, Muslims, people of all faiths, creeds, nationalities, any way that sets you apart from others let it be the thing that unites you with your brothers. Let us stand together to make a coalition of coexistence and make sure that one day, disasters like the shooting in Orlando never happen again. Amen.
i think mexico allows same sex marriage
A nice well written viewpoint. But, more than everything, we need to stop being silent on this as a people. This could have been prevented, beyond just the feds, but by those nearby, who knew him, but didn't speak up to those whom could have been able to. Either out of fear, or worry of the blame. And that is something being unsaid here so much.
The bystander syndrome needs to stop.