Monday, June 13, 2016

The Orlando Shootings and the Current Climate of Hate


Every day that morally minded people express their hatred of gay, lesbian, bi and trans people, the fuel for extreme acts piles up unattended.  'It's not right', 'they're peverted', 'it's an offence against God', 'we need to protect our children'....the list goes on.  Every comment adds another fluid ounce of gasoline to an ever increasing lake, evaporating it's highly volatile essence into the air. 

It's fine. We take precautions. Religious extremism might be tolerable in a free society as long as it's confined to the political arena.  Politically expressed hatred may be safe enough in a politically stable climate too.  A lone match stuck in its box won't ignite anything. Guns in locked cabinets don't kill people. But by peddling hate and indignation we create the fuel for attacks, shootings, brutal beatings and horror. 

If we continue to hate we provide the gun, the bullets and the motive to anyone who is ideoligally motivated to pull a trigger or toss a match into that gasoline. Let's end hate. It doesn't kill people but it gives oxygen and fuel to those who do.