“Orlando Shooter’s Son Blames Mental Illness”???
Um, no, the information came from the shooter’s father. The shooter was 29.
Yeah, I read through the whole article. He has a young son, but he was not quoted – and is probably too young to really give a qualified opinion on the matter.
Also, I really hope investigations clear up another point from this article, and that is the man’s father’s television show. Is it really as pro-American as he and the imam said? – Or is it more pro-Taliban and against American involvement in Afghanistan, as the Afghan official said, quoted in the article?
The real point seems to be eroding-- as details begin to wash over the story.
Weapons with the ability to inflict 105 casualties–
in minutes, on innocent people;
can be purchased legally–
by an individual considered unstable,
by those close to him.
Details broadcast in a subliminal loop,
as justification for the NRA–
and its’ cadre of purchased pols,
to once again distract-- from the real point.
jw1
Amen to that.
The second opinion is from Rahman, presumably the imam at the mosque Mateen attended. Typical AP; the story reads OK at first but you realize there are gaping holes in it from sloppy writing and editing. I suppose that confused the headline writer.
The error in the headline is TPM’s doing not the AP’s. As a small, scrappy organization, TPM sometimes often messes up on the copy editing – especially on a weekend of frantic breaking news.
Both things can be true. Omar Mateen was mentally ill and may have fallen prey to ISIS propaganda—possibly because of his mental illness.
Into body building? Hyper aggressive? Steroid usuage?
Y’know, it’s Ramadan right now.
I’m in Brooklyn, and Saturday night, I took a walk through the Pakistani part of Midwood–passing by restaurants where Muslims were having parties with their friends and families, and seeing groups of happy-looking hijabi girls or their male counterparts heading home, or maybe to another party, and you could smell droolingly wonderful food, and there were little kids running around in their party clothes, and the food shops were open, immaculately tidy and the shopkeepers greeting customers like long-lost friends . . .
. . . about the same time this monster was getting ready to go out and murder–just for the sake of murder, but pausing long enough to besmirch the beliefs of my neighbors in Midwood (and Dearborn and Cedar Rapids and Queens and Houston and Peoria and Hattiesburg, and Philly and Cleveland and Lansing and the rest of the US) as a rationalization.
I can only imagine what it must have been like for them, after that festive evening, to wake up to this.
My guess (I don’t speak any afghan languages and haven’t seen clips) from the descriptions thus far is that classifying the show as pro-US or pro-Taliban is probably a mistake. Think how many Americans are opposed to infinite US involvement in Afghanistan, and how many criticisms there are of the government there from people with little or no axe to grind. It’s possible the show is indeed pro-Taliban, but I wouldn’t take the anonymous word of a current government official speaking about someone who might be a candidate intent on putting someone else in that official’s job.
The stereotype of the typical US mass murderer has changed with Fort Hood, San Bernadino and Orlando, at least in the public’s perception. Several mass murderers have been American-born jihadi Sunnis with loose online ties to Wahabbi terrorist groups. We as liberals have to understand that religions provide moral compasses to some people that facilitate or enable specific recourses to political, social or religious grievances.
For example, the overwhelming responses of states like USA and England is to go to war. For Israel, targeted assassinations, demolitions, societal segregation are now preferred responses. For the sunni muslim states like Saudi Arabia and Pakisatan, jihadi terrorism by non-state agents seems to be the path.
As liberal or progressive democrats, we cannot ignore the religious dimensions in news events. They can be an important explanatory factor and we must include it in our deliberations. We will be demagogued into seeming out of touch with reality if we don’t. We have to find ways to express our understanding and our strategy.
It’s very clear to Republicans what this is about. It’s about a paradox that oddly serves the purpose of the conservative movement.
The problem is the existence of religion in the world and the lack of guns in the world.
One problem with mental illness is sometimes the person knows what they are doing or thinking isn’t very accepted by others even though they think it is good. So they hide these really wild thoughts from others.
Totally agree, and that’s why I would like the investigations to make those determinations. You are right – labeling them “pro-Taliban” or “pro-American” is too simplistic.
Maybe it’s a chicken/egg thing.
He apparently called 911 at the last minute to claim to perform this monstrosity in the name of ISIS.
It’s plausible that his primary aim that evening was simply to murder a lot of people, and the business about ISIS was just an afterthought–a shout-out to pretty much the only scumbags in the world who’d approve of it.
Apparently, the shooter didn’t know how to contact ISIS. So, twenty minutes into his assault he calls 911 and tells them to relay the message to ISIS that he was doing this for them.
ISIS has awakened a political force that they should have left alone. The murder of innocent people because of their orientation will hopefully open the eyes of the fatally intolerant forces in this country. I don’t have much hope, but if this tragedy can be used to build a bridge between the intolerant right and intolerant left and channel their energies to defeat ISIS, maybe the country can get beyond Homophobia and actually get things accomplished. I really hope that we can win this war quickly. The cynical part of me feels that we are being fed the notion that we will always be in a state of war, because war is an effective way to manipulate a populace.
“He was mentally unstable and mentally ill,” according to his ex-wife.
He wanted to be a police officer and had applied to the police academy.
He was a security guard at the G4S company
He was into body building.
There, right there. This guy was a repressed Islamic gay man desperately looking for a way to “control” his urges, who became enraged when he saw two men kissing in public and it aroused him in front of his wife and child (whom he repeatedly abused.)
Unable to deal with his lack of self-control and failures to achieve his dreams he decided to remove the objects of his desire from the world, and, this being Florida, easily obtained the means to do so.
He tried to justify it late by making the 911 call to deflect the blame to ISIL.
That is my take on all of this.
Yes – all one big cluster fuck of narcissistic male aggression.
Excessive self-preening, vanity — check.
Desire to be a “hero” and to hold authority over others – check.
Domestic violence – check.
Blames his failures on those he believes to be his inferiors – check.
Its a pathology that is drawn to radicalism (religious or other outrageous expression) and creation of a big event as a way to give meaning and bring notice to himself. This guy reminds me of Tamerlan Tsarnaev and George Zimmerman – and Donald Trump.