The predictable outcome of “God, guns, and gays”

Probably the most sickening thing about the whole Pulse nightclub shooting, for me, is how quickly the media seized on the ethnicity and alleged religion of the shooter, as though Omar Mateen — Afghan-American, ostensibly Muslim — were the product of a predictable combination of medieval Islam and centuries of various tribes jockeying for power in the wilds of Central Asia.

Wrong.

Omar Mateen was a product of American culture, not Afghan. He was born in New York, and held ambitions of joining the NYPD, if his selfies are any indication. He lived in Florida, a state where the so-called “Stand Your Ground” law, otherwise known as Castle Doctrine, applies. He worked for the infamous “security” firm, G4S. He may have been nominally a Muslim, but as both his father and ex-wife have noted, he was not very religious. Indeed, truly observant Muslims leaders are all condemning what he did. You can’t lay his violent rampage at the feet of Islam, the Taliban, or, as some irresponsible outlets are suggesting, Daesh (remember, Isis is an Egyptian Goddess, not a fanatical so-called Islamic terrorist cult trying to conquer Iraq and Syria).

So where CAN you lay blame for the man who killed 50 people at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando? Simple. You can lay it on the Christian, conservative right of the good ol’ United States of Amnesia.

After all, the Religious Reich, as I like to call them, really ARE to blame for pretty much every element of American social, legal, political, and moral failure that allows the likes of Omar Mateen to flourish. It’s they who vote for war-mongering politicians who export good ol’ All-American imperialism to oil-rich countries inhabited mainly by Muslims, only to express shock and horror when the same Muslims they championed as the answer to godless communism end up going rogue on them. They’re also the ones who vote against gun control, even when a majority of Americans want some form of it. Every time there’s a mass shooting, they’re quick to offer “thoughts and prayers” — and to shut down any talk of something that works better, namely an assault-weapons ban. They’re the ones who babble about “Second Amendment solutions”, thus emboldening toy armies of religious whackjobs to hijack public lands and trash bird sanctuaries. They’re the ones who, with their talk of “pre-born babies” and “baby parts”, not-so-tacitly support anti-choice terrorists who bomb and shoot up abortion clinics. They think the Jews are forever conspiring to take over the world with a bogeyman called “Cultural Marxism”. They think feminists are out to turn their daughters into lesbians, and their sons into girls. And they are the ones who preach, hypocritically, about “loving the sinner and hating the sin” when it comes to LGBT people, while also exporting influential pastors like Scott Lively to Uganda to push for “kill the queers” laws.

And when one man kills 50 people at a gay nightclub, there they are, waving pompoms and cheering, and temporarily overlooking all sectarian differences between them and himself, because hey — at least they can agree on who they all hate!

Of COURSE they are the ones who lay the groundwork that allows “deranged” shooters to flourish. Because all their voting habits hinge around “God, guns, and gays”, and these votes in turn put politicians in place who empower bullies while leaving vulnerable people ever more marginalized.

So, right-wing so-called Christians of the US of A, this is on you. “By their fruits shall ye know them,” as it says in that book you claim holds the answers to everything. Omar Mateen may not look it, but he’s one of yours. It doesn’t matter whether you claim responsibility for him or not. You are responsible for what he did.

Because you’re the ones who fucked your country over to the point where a reportedly bipolar man with a history of domestic violence could still get his hands on an assault rifle and a 9-mm pistol. And to the point where he considered himself to be doing something righteous by killing as many others with that gun as he could. You’re the ones who let angry ‘phobes believe that they’re under threat from the evil queers, and that they must “stand their ground” against them. You’re the ones who want oil for cheap and, for all your talk of holding human life dear, obviously some lives are more precious to you than others. You’re the ones who invited terrorism — not by leading “godless” lives, but by thinking your god was the one to rule them all. You exported war, genocide, and imperialism, then wondered why when the blowback came to hit you in the face. You claim they hate you for your “freedoms”, but you won’t face the fact that you live in one of the least-free countries on Earth. It is a country dominated by right-wing patriarchs and held hostage by its own home-grown terrorists. You have no one but yourselves to blame for Omar Mateen.

And if you don’t like what I just told you, don’t bother trying to lecture me. I’m sick of hearing it, and I know better than to believe it. Anyone who trolls this entry is gonna wind up in the spam dump. I don’t owe you a platform; you’ve already had too many. I’m not about to convert to your fascist religion, and I don’t care what imaginary devils or all-too-real violence you threaten me with. Do what you’re always telling OTHERS to do: Repent. Confess your sins. Mend your ways. And oh yeah, above all: LOVE THY NEIGHBOR. Whether thy neighbor is a Muslim, LGBT, a woman, or whatever.

Only that way will you find salvation from all the violence plaguing your society. Go now, and sin no more.