Getty Images.
The father of the man who reportedly shot up an Orlando, Fla. nightclub overnight claims his son, Omar Mateen, became “very angry” when he saw two men kissing in downtown Miami a few months ago and thinks it may have been part of his son’s motive.
At least 50 people were killed and more than 40 injured at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando overnight.
“We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident,” the father said to NBC News on Sunday.
“We are not aware of any action he was taking. We are in shock like the rest of America. This had nothing to do with religion,” he said.
Two men kissing. For that, 50 people had to die? I, I just don’t have words. This is what happens when a country fosters open bigotry and a culture of gun fetishization. My heart goes out to all those who have lost a loved one, for no reason at all.
A comment at the site linked to in the OP (in response to some blithering “that the LGBT lobby blindly supports a political party that supports such Islamic beliefs”, where such beliefs are blithered to be “Homosexuality is punishable by death in all mainstream schools of Islamic jurisprudence”):
Delusional !
Christianity is about individual liberty and economic freedom? I think someone doesn’t know the difference between christianity and libetarianism. Christianity certainly is not about individual freedom of any kind.
I didn’t read any comments, I can’t cope with that today.
Note family apologizing, as a first response to the crime. Could it have something to do with the religion and/or the skin colour of the shooter?
Anyway. My thoughts for those who lost or nearly lost someone, there’s going to be a lot of people recovering for a long time from this. (Note: Tony is okay.)
rq:
I know. He was posting in the Pharyngula thread quite early.
Horrific news out of America. Again. Yet again. Will it change anything? Other than the lives of so many families, so many friends, so many survivors, fathers and mothers, sisters, brothers, children, nieces and nephews, who will never see the individual people killed again for all their wishing and all their hopes and prayers. Individual lives and people who could’ve done, well, we’ll now never know, people who have had their stories and possibilities and potential ended forever by some hate-filled killer also now dead. Nothing I say could be other than understatement or make things change. That Second Amendment, that NRA are sacrosanct and blood can and will be spilled in rivers and oceans forever without end because freedumb and guns and US political reality which is shit. So just, condolences to those who have lost their family and friends. Anger and horror and numbness as usual. Wish, so wish it were otherwise and sanity could one day prevail. That’s all folks.
I’ve allowed this comment to stand, but don’t think you’re welcome here. Any further comments of yours will go into moderation. One single word of your usual bigotry will see you promptly banned. -- Caine.
I think Cherelle Nika’s prototype is an excellent summary of the problematic gun culture in uStates.
Caine
So much said with that one item.
rq:
Oh yes. Definitely worth a thousand words.
Also,
Sorry, I haven’t been to Pharyngula yet today, but being about 8 hours in your future, I caught the news quite early, so it was late in the day before Tony started posting in Facebook. :) Anyway.
Regarding the commenter blf #1 found:
Weren’t “good” Christians recently claiming that they would attack any trans* woman that entered a bathroom to “protect their daughters”? And yet now they’re shocked! Shocked, I tell you! At this savage act of bigotry.
The fault is not only in the stars and crescents.
Alexander @ 10:
Oh, that’s different. White Christians would just be protecting something or other, but those suspicious brown people, they would have completely different motives, oh my yes.
:eyeroll:
From rape culture and fear, unlimited greed and power-hungryness, blind obedience, fetishization of guns, scapegoating and glorification of violence we come to this.
Ice Swimmer:
Yes. Unfortunately, that’s a very accurate summary of the U.S.
Also crusades, child rape, and holocaust.
When I first heard about this, I told my wife that the christians would have a dilemma about where to place the blame. They hate LGBT people and they hate Muslims. I surmised that victim-blaming would be the dominant theory. It is a sad state of affairs that two men kissing can create such animosity in a human.