When I first heard about the shooting in Orlando this weekend, I didn’t think I was going to write an article about it. In my opinion, there are simply no words that can even begin to describe the tragedy. As an avid YouTube fan, I was still reeling from the shooting and subsequent death of Christina Grimmie the night before at a venue a mere three miles away from Pulse, the nightclub where the mass shooting occurred. I read the news articles and mourned with the rest of the world, but decided to stay quiet.
I realized that the crimes committed by Omar Mateen, the nightclub shooter, and Kevin James Loibl, Grimmie’s killer, were eerily similar in terms of passion and motive -- yet the media was interpreting them in entirely different ways.
Mateen was painted as a Muslim terrorist, a symbol of the supposedly omnipresent threat that lurks within the religion of Islam. Few articles mentioned the fact that he frequented gay nightclubs for years, asked several men out on dates and belonged to more than one gay dating app. His ongoing struggle to come to terms with his sexuality was either forgotten or ignored as the media made cries of ISIS and jihad.
Loibl, a 27year-old white man, was portrayed as “creepy” and “unstable,” a deranged fan who took Grimmie’s life due to a twisted obsession. Despite the fact that police found two handguns, two additional loaded magazines and a large hunting knife on Loibl’s body, sure signs that he intended to take other lives in addition to Grimmie’s, the word “terrorist” did not appear once in any news coverage related to his horrifying crime.
If the blatant differences between the media coverage of Mateen and Loibl aren’t convincing enough, then take a look at the depiction of James Howell, the 20 year-old white male who was arrested in Santa Monica that same day. While on his way to the gay pride parade in Los Angeles, he was stopped with five pounds of mixed Tannerite-type powder, which can be used in explosives, assault weapons, long rifles, “clips” loaded and taped together, a camouflage outfit and a security badge. Although Howell was charged with felony intimidation with a deadly weapon and pointing a firearm at his neighbors, also a felony, in October of 2015, he has never been labelled a terrorist.
I am fully aware that Mateen has made several claims that directly link him to radical terrorist groups. I am not defending his actions nor am I defending the hate groups whom he allegedly pledged allegiance to. But the image below is a real comment that I found on my friend's Facebook page in the days following the shooting:
It was one of many.
There are more than three million Muslims living in this country -- and they are no less American than you or I. While I am still mourning the 49 men and women who lost their lives at Pulse last Sunday, I have also begun to fear for the safety of those three million Muslim-Americans in this growing climate of hate-mongering and bigotry. The despicable acts of terrorism that have taken the media by storm in the past decade or so are the result of a religion being perverted to suit the needs of the violent few. It is extremely important to note that Mateen’s June 12th attack in Orlando occurred during the month of Ramadan, the “time when Muslims around the world focus on prayer, fasting, giving to charity and religious devotion.” During this time, devout Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, sexual intercourse -- even gossiping -- and they most certainly refrain from cold-blooded murder.
Sensationalist media coverage labeling all Muslims as terrorists is not only offensive, but also life-threatening. Islam is no more inherently violent than Christianity, a religion whose most sacred text claims that eating shellfish is a sin that can and will send you to an eternal hell (Leviticus 11:10).
It is time to put a stop to this hatred. It is time to end the brutality.
