The title is not mine.
It is by the author of this powerful piece which I am going to insist that you read.
To convince you, allow me to offer a few quotes before I identify the author, although if you have followed the link you will already know.
I actually will not quote the beginning, you can read that later. But here are two early paragraphs:
The fact is that this was the act of one individual, a horrendous person who made the personal choice to take innocent life. Across the globe, males like him make the same choice and carry out their heinous acts in myriad ways. Here in America, Republicans refuse to make it more difficult for people like him to get their hands on weapons of war.
Research tells us that somewhere between 95% and 98% of homicides are perpetrated by males. Whether these males slap a name like “ISIS” or “Boko Haram” on their violence, whether they invoke racism or misogyny or claim it has something to do with religious faith or some belief or grudge, it all boils down to one thing: Killing. Inflicting harm. Feeling the false sense of power that comes from spilling blood and taking life. False, because it is not power but cowardice that fuels these acts.
The author grew up in an environment of violence and conflict, fueled by religion. He was trained at an early age to be skilled with firearms, and he still enjoys them — for hunting. So let me offer two more paragraphs:
If there’s anything I learned from my difficult childhood, it’s that those who use guns to destroy life shouldn’t be permitted to cloak themselves in facile rationalizations and justifications; they shouldn’t be allowed to use monikers to pretend their barbaric actions are anything more than they are. There is never glory in killing innocent people, whoever and wherever you may be.
When Republicans like Ted Cruz, John McCain and Donald Trump blame President Obama for the Orlando massacre, when they insist that “Radical Islam” is some magic incantation that will make violence evaporate, and when they attack Democrats for trying to keep guns out of the hands of other violent males, they are doing the bidding of the killer. They are enabling and amplifying his rationalizations.
Have I succeeded in interesting you in reading this? Would knowing who the author is affect that one way or another?
Please keep reading.
I will offer one last selection, hoping the author won’t mind that I am pushing fair use in the effort to persuade you to read the entire piece:
This monstrous 29-year-old male American who murdered 49 people at the Pulse nightclub tried to use some concocted fealty to a distant organization as an excuse for hate. We shouldn’t grant him that excuse. He was simply another young male who embraced the forces of evil over good, of darkness over light. He was a bloodthirsty creature who snuffed out innocent lives and sought fame in the process.
He’s no different from others of his kind. The Washington Post examined 73 U.S. mass killings since 2014 and concluded that only three were connected to Islamic radicalism. We don’t hear Republicans talking about the other 70 killers so much, do we?
Well, let’s talk about them here. They were mostly Christian. They were American. They had two things in common: they craved blood and they sought fame.
They are no different from brutal males posting videos of themselves throwing gay men off rooftops in Syria or brutal males raping children in the DRC. They are no different from their brethren who murder, pillage and rape across the planet.
The author is well known in political circles, and his recent work has unfortunately been dismissed by too many because both of the ownership of the media organization which he runs and because of his prior work for Hillary Clinton.
The author is Peter Daou, born of a Christian Lebanese father and an American mother, who grew up in a predominantly Muslim area of Beirut, growing up during a period of civil war.
He has worked on political campaigns of John Kerry in the 2004 cycle and Hillary Clinton in the 2008 cycle. He is currently the CEO of True Blue Media, which operates Blue Nation Review, in which this piece ran. Also involved with True Blue and BNR is David Brock, which has unfortunately been used by some to dismiss anything appearing therein, especially by supporter of Clinton’s primary opponent this cycle.
All of that, even if you truly believe it, is absolutely irrelevant to this particular piece of writing, which went up yesterday.
Daou argues against giving people like the Orlando shooter what they want, fame or if you prefer notoriety. He does not use the shooter’s name, and his links do not include those to any articles which do.
To me, equal importance, is his analysis of how the political reactions of some — primarily Republicans — to incidents like this miss what so connects mass killers across different countries and different cultures and religions.
Whether or not you agree with all of Peter Daou’s conclusions, I think given where we are as a society you will find reading this piece well worth the time.
Consider two more paragraphs, near the end
Anyone can kill an innocent and defenseless person. It’s not a noteworthy accomplishment. It’s the exact opposite. It’s the lowest and vilest thing a human can do.
Don’t publicize the people who do it. Don’t blame religion. And for heaven’s sake, DON’T LET THEM HAVE ASSAULT WEAPONS.
If you read them in context, what follows will have a powerful impact.
Which is why I posted this piece.
And if you have not yet done so, please now go and read this superb piece of writing.