By SJ Otto
The first thing I have to think about after the Orlando Gay Club Shooting is what impact does this have on America ? All news personalities have focused on the fact that this was the worst shooting of people in a terrorist incidence in the history of the country. Omar Mateen could be shouting "I'm number one" if he were still alive. But he is not. Now comes the big debate. Was he mostly anti-gay or was he a terrorist wannabe supporter of ISIS (Islamic State)? But from what we can tell so far, Mateen was mostly anti-gay. His joining the ISIS cause could have been more of an after thought.
Articles about him say he talked as if he hated gay people, but he also bragged about having ties to Islamic extremists (or terrorists if we can use the US propaganda term). It seems that he bragged as if this made him a kind of "James Bond" Character. He probably got the attention of a lot of curious women when he was out trolling for them.
So is there anything really political about this or is it just a case of a mentally deficient person who wanted to take out his frustration on a gay club?
In the end ISIS got a little publicity and they can brag that one of their own took down 50 gay civilians. They seem to have little to do with it, but why should they waist perfectly good publicity. The guy wins the country's record for innocent people gunned down needlessly by a loan gun-man.
While this is a massive tragedy that this country will take a lot of time to heal from, we can also expect the political hacks of all stripes to try and exploit this event. The presidential hopefuls will talk of how they have the answers to how to stop such events in the future. Some liberal groups will want to call on all supporters of minority rights to rally around the victims in solidarity. Conservatives will point fingers at Muslems and other minatory groups as being responsible. So for now we must let the circus of the frivolous, shallow and exploitive pundits continue and prosper.
Pix by abcnews.go.com.