You may be wondering why I've had no comment on the atrocity in Orlando, FL. I don't know what to say. The words "profoundly depressing" do not suffice.
My original instinct was to write a piece condemning Donald Trump's obnoxious and obvious attempts to politicize the tragedy. But how can I do so without opening myself up to accusations of politicizing the tragedy?
Similarly, I note that the attacker -- whose mental instability began to manifest itself at least eight years ago -- was somehow allowed to work for G4S, the security firm which we may fairly call the latest incarnation of Wackenhut. Back in the 1990s, Wackenhut figured in numerous conspiracy theories. But how can one even begin to research the assailant's employer without strengthening Trump, whose movement is fueled by conspiracy theories?
If you have any suggestions as to how one should handle these paradoxes -- or if you have some other comments to make about this ghastly event -- I am all attention.
At the risk of being way off base I must admit that my thoughts turned, for no particular reason, to hypnosis.
ReplyDeletePolitics is the art and act of living together in a society. The opponents of action always cry "politicization" because they know that is their biggest threat. Any response requiring collective action is, by definition, political. Dont shy away from politicizing something when our only recourse for improving the situation is through politics. Otherwise, we surrender the only tool we have to fight back.
ReplyDeleteOur only recourse for improving the situation is the politics of ensuring Trump doesn't win. Defeating Trump is the overwhelming political need. Any other political concern that detracts from this goal needs to wait five months. This is not the time.
ReplyDeleteXI
As a thousand year old lesbian, it's hard to tell others how important to our very sanity the bars were in the old days. The one place where you could you. It feels like someone came into my house and killed my family. It's that depth of grief.
ReplyDeleteI'm not on my feet yet. I can't quite catch my balance.
I may be all the ways across the country, but I know those young faces. Bright, kind, creative, courageous... young people with integrity.
Those kids weren't suppose to have to go through the hate we endured. They were supposed to have it better.
This guy was nothing more than an Elliot Rodger nutcase. The media, especially CNN, are so in the tank for Donald Trump, they deliberately pushed the terrorist theme to bolster him. Obvious and disgusting.
ReplyDeleteOld Coastie, now that we are getting a clearer of picture of Omar Mateen, I think it's pretty clear that this was a man of confused sexuality.
ReplyDeleteI resisted coming to this conclusion because -- well, frankly, I've become a bit annoyed by the commonly-heard presumption that all violent homophobes must be closeted homosexuals. I don't think this cliche is true, at least not in all cases. People are not that schematic. Nobody argues that Custer massacred the Commanches at the Washita River because he secretly wanted to BE a Commanche.
But in this case, the cliche might actually have some validity. Mateen had used a gay dating app, and he had visited that club on multiple occasions. That guy has visited gay bars more often than I've patronized bars of ANY sort. On CNN earlier today, his former wife answered "I don't know," when she was asked if he was gay. The fact that she did not deny the possibility is telling.
So I don't think we're dealing with an Islamic terrorist; religion is a distraction from the real issue. The man may have dabbled with extremist ideas, but his dabblings should be considered a symptom, not the underlying cause. This man hated the world because he hated himself.
The wife also indicated that steroid use may have played a role in his personality change, which apparently began to manifest itself some eight years ago. There is insufficient research into the link between steroids and violence, although the phenomenon of "roid rage" is well-known.
There is VERY little research into the link between steroids and sexual identity. I just now stumbled across a book extract which presents some interesting research on rats which indicates that early steroid exposure correlates with a lack of interest in rats of the opposite sex.
This isn't the kind of research that makes people comfortable. These days, it's not acceptable to posit that gay people are gay for any reason other than they are born that way. I think that, historically, the "born this way" theory is true in MOST cases. But we are also a society inundated with drugs -- legal and illegal -- and these drugs are changing us in unpredictable, unfathomable, under-researched ways.
Nine-year-old girls are developing sizable breasts. What's CAUSING that? If you research cases involving young women who have mysteriously disappeared (or have killed themselves in bizarre ways, a la Elisa Lam), you'll almost invariably find that they were taking medications to treat manic depression. Many suspect that the Florida "cannibal" attack and similar incidents have a connection to illegal drug usage, although no-one knows which drug might be the culprit.
My point is that we are changing ourselves, physically and mentally. If Mateen's wife was telling the truth in her CNN interview, then I think that the root of his problem was more likely to be pharmacological than religious or cultural.
OTE, I don't think that CNN is in the tank for Trump. From what I've seen, they were quite critical. But they did give him a lot of coverage, simply because newsfolk love the outlandish.
ReplyDeleteHI Joseph,
ReplyDeleteHow do I go back in the time to find older post ?
Best to you and George.
Philippe
Very thoughtful answers, and NOVAobserver, yours I will be sharing, as it's that important.
ReplyDelete((OldCoastie)) I know. I'm very upset and so worried about friends who are depressed about this. I keep thinking we need to show our solidarity...like blanketing our cities in rainbow flags, or rainbow hearts, or some combo, new symbols, or display.
Joseph, I like your pharmacological theory (I've always wanted someone to uncover a psych drug link between all the shooters...and then make steroids testing mandatory for cops) but you also asked about changing your header back and it might be comforting to those hurting if you came up with a war-torn rainbow flag or some patriotic take on soldiering ahead in solidarity... along the way to returning to your original header.
Alice Molloy, lol, my thoughts, too, a la Zoolander.
Despite my appreciate for NOVAobserver's thoughts on how we need to react politically, the news coverage has been policizing the hell out of this. Joseph, just like in 2000, when they told the entire election narrative from the POV of Bush, this year it's from Trump's POV. One of the questions CNN asked Hillary was "Trump accused Obama of not using the words "extremist Muslim terrorist" ---will you use those words?" I think she made a mistake answering that without calling the reporter out.
Joseph, they have only been recently critical of this guy. They have been consistently in the tank for him for months, giving him 24/7 coverage while marginalizing other candidates. They have been a disgrace covering the Mateen case by irresponsibly peddling the "terrorist" line simply because of his name and his religious background. Mateen appears to be the classic mass murdering nutcase like Elliot Rodger, only Mateen did his crimes on a much grander scale. He was a reject and he lashed out.
ReplyDelete"But how can one even begin to research the assailant's employer without strengthening Trump, whose movement is fueled by conspiracy theories?"
ReplyDeleteHaven't you been fueling Hillary's campaign with the conspiracy theory that Roger Stone is behind Bernie? You of all people should know better than to generalize about "conspiracy theories."
Anon, you raise a good point, although my motive was not so much to fuel Hillary's campaign as it was to express my fury at Sanders. Maybe hate is a greater motivator than admiration.
ReplyDeleteIn truth, I was discussing this very dichotomy with a correspondent earlier today. I had planned to write a Big Damn Post outlining all of my reasons for suspecting that Stone is manipulating Bernie. But that is a conspiracy theory. Donald Trump feeds on conspiracy theory. He is the conspiracy candidate. One could argue that by adding another ingredient to the great stew pot of paranoia, I'm simply helping to make it possible for more Trumps to come to the fore.
Quandary!
At some point not making the news when this type of horror occurs would probably dull the motivation for future attackers to do the same thing since they would gain no notoriety.
ReplyDeleteMight I suggest we begin making up silly names for the terrorists? I don't recall the name of this attacker, but what if it were changed to Butthorse Manure and all reports called him by that name? I would even be for search algorithms that do not allow one to know the real name of the terrorist. Sure would take the glory out of terrorism if the person's real name was never mentioned.
As for an angle, how about the FBI knew about this guy and were watching him. So which is worse, the entire FBI knowing about this terrorist who was still able to give the FBI a WEEKS NOTICE and kill 50 people, or Benghazi? Maybe if the FBI had already finished their research on Benghazi and the emails, they could actually do their jobs. How many FBI agents were literally working on or assigned to Benghazi and emailgate this past week and therefore were unavailable to watch a guy who was already on the FBI watch list.
ReplyDeletePhilippe Grau, try the search box at the top of the page. I am not completely sure but I think it searches based on title. If you do not recall a portion of the title, then use google, type in cannonfire, plus keywords and see what comes up, and if you recall the year, make the search year sensitive.
ReplyDeleteHow is your dog doing? Any chance you could post a video of your dog to give your dog a living personality?
ReplyDelete