Reports this morning in multiple newspapers seem to point very strongly to the fact that this guy was a severely repressed homosexual, whose upbringing taught him to absolutely loathe himself.
The question is, if it is definitely confirmed (and it kind of looks like at this time it is), will it get through to the Right? Or will they continue peddling the “ISIS” and “Muslim” angle?
… actually, I know the answer to that, so forget I asked.
They can’t focus on the homophobia because that would mean taking a hard look at their own religious-based objections against homosexuality and the havoc it can wreck in the lives of the most vulnerable among us.
And yet he could go out and purchase an assault rifle.
Well, this is really a two-fer for the right, they get to blame both Islam and his gay identity, which just so happen to be two of the major themes in certain Presidential campaigns.
All we need is love… and a bullet proof vest. I’ll start taking money on how long before the conservative hate-peddlers in one of the state houses uses this as justification for banning transsexuals from bathrooms of any kind.
Wow, this is really a case for Freud, Jung and a host of other shrinks. And, we can all thank the GOP for its relentless war on the LGBT community. It aligns itself with the religious community that makes insane claims to know the mind of the creator of the universe. Is it any wonder this ended the way it did? Get ready for round 2, because religious fanaticism only gets worse after something like this.
Just a local geography note: “Northern Kentucky” refers to the counties across the Ohio from Cincinatti. The Greater Louisville area is called “Kentuckiana.”
The gunman who allegedly massacred 49 people at a gay nightclub in
Orlando, Florida, was a familiar face there and had accounts on several
gay dating apps, according to various news reports in the aftermath of
the attack.
…
Now doesn’t THAT sound like a fine upstanding member of ISIS?? (points finger at Trump)
I know that it’s tempting to start to try and make the pieces all fit into a nice, neat narrative – and to dive into some sort of amateur psychological autopsy – but can we just pause for a minute to let the wave of information catch up with the fact that 102 people were shot in an act of premeditated mayhem. 49 people were killed. The targets of this violence were people of the LGBT community - including straight allies.
Let’s ponder the level of violence for a moment. Let’s ponder how the capacity to inflict harm on such a scale is not only freely available, but perversely celebrated and revered by 2nd-Amendment reactionaries.
Over the next few weeks, the survivors will be burying their cherished dead – mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons & daughters, husbands, wives, friends & lovers.
We may never know what was fully written on the heart of this killer but it is clear to me that the rush to create a narrative, to wrap this up into a neat and tidy box for packing away, is simply is too easy. Too practiced. Too much.
I am of a generation of LGBT Americans that remembers when gay bars were sanctuaries that were still targeted by the police, not just gay-bashers.
I have known the stare of the predator that you feel before you see - that makes you cross the street rather than avoid a group of people that you know will beat you up just for being perceived as gay. Before Matthew Shepard, there was Rebecca Wight, Paul Broussard, Allen Schindler, Brandon Teena and countless others. Even after Shepard, there was Billy Jack Gaither and Gwen Aruajo and on and on…
So let’s acknowledge that the history of violence against the LGBT continues. Let’s acknowledge that certain belief systems – and yes, that includes Islam – create situations that can lead to this type of violence. And that politicians who stand on the stage with preachers who call for gays to be put to death and say nothing (Ted Cruz) are disqualified from speaking about this atrocity or anything else until they repent in word & deed.
Most of all, let’s give this all a little time.
There’s a city north of Cincinnati called Hamilton. I know it well. Grew up close by. Locals sometimes refer to it as Hamiltucky. Many locals affect that distinctive Kentucky accent as well.
Opinions are divided on whether the large number of native Kentuckians who live in Cincinatti improve the place or ruin it.
They’re divided by the Ohio River, mostly.
Of course none of this informative detail matters to anyone in trump’s sphere of influence. They’re stuck on what trump came up with on his own w/o any detail past the guy’s name and ethnicity.
Why hasn’t anyone dug into the idea that this guy patronized Obama’s gay prostitution service and was recruited into radical Islam by his birth certificate and the madrassa Barry is secretly running in the Situation Room?
<snark, for those who can’t detect it>
Sounds like a fellow who is easily sold a gun. Or two.
The subtitle of Christopher Hitchens’ book: God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. is so perfectly spot on. The torturous conflicts and real life disasters it produces in myriad ways are legion and unending.
See: Alex Jones … And FOX will cover it extensively and thoroughly.
I’m much less interested in, and concerned with, the assassin’s motivation, than I am with the ease with which he could purchase weapons and ammunition to slaughter dozens of people.
That’s the common thread in all these tragedies, and we have to keep our eye on the ball.
Self-loathing, religious guilt, and anger over prior rejection may have been the primary motivators for his actions, but that will not play well in Trump’s efforts to cast blame on all Muslims, so don’t expect him to address this new information in his daily barrage of Islamophobic speeches.
Jesus, you can’t even be snarky without crashing into someone who believes the exact same thing to be a fact.
I can’t wait to get to work and hear one of my co-workers spouting this. In fact, I was channeling him when I wrote it, but I think of him as the fringiest of the fringe.
AMerICA hAS tO FEar RADicaL GAy. CLOse THE BORders TO THE gaY. DOn’t LET THEm LOOk at YOUr PENis because they WILL try.
Closet gay, conservatively religious family, personal and professional, failure…steroids, now carefully add a high capacity gun or two and see what happens.
But hell nobody should be made to wait a few weeks to purchase a gun, the tyranny!!!