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Politics and Activism

Stop Politicizing Deaths As Soon As Possible

Like clockwork, we make people's deaths about ourselves.

Alfred Masino
Jun 14, 2016
University at Albany, SUNY
14
Stop Politicizing Deaths As Soon As Possible
Bustle

This happens every single time.

Early on Sunday morning, a gunman entered Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Armed with a pistol, an AR-15, and strapped with an unknown device, the attacker opened fire and proceeded to hunt down people until he was killed by police. As of writing this, there were 50 people killed and 53 wounded.

Once again, we have a massive attack on a group of people and, once again, we have tons of people politicizing the deaths. Whether it's the backlash against race, religion (Islam in particular), or gun control, some people just can't wait to make it about themselves and their causes.

Race
The shooting took place around 4:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. Right away, some people had an idea of how the killing was going to be reported.

Tweets like this were written mere hours after the attack, already attempting to start up a race war. At first, it was reported as a shooting and so people assumed the shooter was a random white guy. However, when the attack was upgraded to terrorism, people then started saying, "Oh, it must have been a Muslim." I'm not going to say that people jumping to conclusions is a bad idea because that stupidity speaks for itself.

Religion
This showed up again, just as it did in San Bernadino. When the killer was revealed to be a man named Omar Mateen, a Muslim citizen with parents from Afghanistan, we had people falling into two categories when it comes to religion.

The first category was made of people who blame Muslims.

The second category was made of people dragging in all religions.

Now, the role that religion played has not been verified yet. According to Business Insider, "Law enforcement confirmed that the incident is being treated as an act of terrorism. The FBI special agent in charge said there were indications that Mateen subscribed to a "radical Islamic ideology" and Rep. Adam Schiff, a top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee, said that Mateen had pledged allegiance to ISIS."

On the other hand, the shooter's father came out and said that his killing spree was not based on religion, but his own homophobia. Mateen has previously gotten enraged from seeing two men kiss in front of his wife and child.

So, because we don't know how much religion played a role, we should not blame a single religion or all religions yet.

Gun Control
Yes, the gun lobby and the gun control lobby have both taken the time to try and rally their supporters.

The pro-gun faction shame "gun free" zones.

Meanwhile, the anti-gun people try to get laws passed.

I guess that we can't let a crisis go to waste. The shooter had a security license and a concealed carry permit. Do we need more control or is it useless? That's your own opinion. However, is now the best time to discuss it?

Look, it's great that people have opinions. By all means, have opinions on guns, religion, terror, and race, but is now the right time to make it about your goals instead of the 50 dead people?

If you can't wait for all of the facts to come out, wait until the corpses get cold. Then you can proceed be be insensitive, narcissistic *ssholes.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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