On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen opened fire in an Orlando club, killing 49 people and injuring 53. When I first heard about this tragedy many questions were running through my head. I wondered how someone could be so cold to be able to kill 4 dozen people. I wondered why someone would be motivated to commit such a hateful act.
Then reports came in saying that he targeted this club because of its connection to the LGBTQ community. This thoroughly disgusted me. The thought that someone could purposefully kill and injure that many people because he didn't agree with their sexuality, that just baffles me. I just can't wrap my head around how someone could commit such a hateful act against a group of people that he doesn't identify with. That makes me question his humanity. I don't care how different someone is from you. Whether you share different religions, values, sexuality, or skin colors, we are all human. That is one thing that we all share, our humanity. This is why I question the gunman's humanity. I believe that humans should be able to empathize with others, no matter how different you are. Now I'm not saying that the gunman was no longer human because of the act he carried out, I believe that he lost his connection to humanity. That he was no longer to empathize with others no matter who they were. For me, this is the only explanation that makes any sense of how someone could kill that many people without a second thought, he lost his connection and ability to empathize with other humans.
Another thing that gets under my skin about continuing responses to this tragedy is how people are willing to group all Muslims into the same category as this gunman who has been reported to have ties with ISIS and other terrorist groups. I'm not going to argue whether or not these groups are a serious threat that do use religion to try and justify their actions, because that is a problem that we are facing. I'm here to argue that we can't blame all Muslims for the actions of those who take part in terrorism. Not all Muslims are the same, just like not all Christians or atheists are the same. We need to stop fueling the stigma that surrounds Muslims and other Middle Eastern Religions and practices. Not all Muslims are terrorists. I am in no way trying to defend the actions of this gunman, who yes. was a terrorist and a mass murderer, I am standing up for all the people who are now feeling the backlash and judgement of this man's actions when they don't deserve to.
I am in no way trying to start an argument. I am only sharing the thoughts that have crossed my mind since learning of this hateful act on Sunday. I think we all need to take a step back and try to objectively look at this tragedy. We need to blame the people who deserve the blame for this tragedy, the gunman, Omar Mateen. He is responsible for this extreme loss of life. We also need to show support and stand together in the wake of such a horrible event. We cannot blame an entire religion on the actions of this man. And most of all we need to show our support for these families who lost their loved ones too soon in such a hateful way and those who survived this attack and will suffer from survivors guilt and PTSD in the wake of this tragedy.
I stand with the LGBTQ community and all those who lost loved ones or who will be forever haunted by this hateful act.
