a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment
flac  ·  3085 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: June 12, 2016 Orlando Nightclub Shooting, discussion

While I agree that we shouldn't be giving fame to the shooter, I think the fact that this was pretty clearly a hate crime complicates the idea that we should, or even can, ignore it.

For people in the LGBT community, this is a very clear reminder that there are still people who want us dead just for existing. That marriage equality doesn't magically make us no longer a target - if anything, it deepens the hatred that some people felt already.

The name of this shooter doesn't matter, I agree. It doesn't matter because he is not an anomaly, he is not an outlier. His hate is not uncommon, and his violence is no different in intention - only scale - from the violence that queer folks deal with every day.

His name doesn't matter. Matthew Shepard's does. The only thing that makes this different from Laramie is that there are too many victims to remember the names.

Edit: in fairness, I am probably willfully misinterpreting what you meant by "not make a big deal out of this", but this is just a topic I have strong feelings on.