Curiouser And Curiouser

As if understanding today’s America weren’t complicated enough in this wild election year, we have the Orlando Massacre to further confuse us. As people reveal their true character when they’re under stress, so do societies. We’re in the middle of an election that surprises everyone. Does Hillary exemplify Democrats? Does Trump exemplify Republicans? Each polarizes his/her their own party, not to mention in the country. Pundits need new roadmaps because everything has changed. It’s a wonder they dare provide analysis. I’d already written a column for this week, but I’m going to save it for another time because I have to address what happened Sunday.

There are at least four major themes: homosexuality, Islam, multiculturalism, and guns. I learned about the massacre at 6:00 AM Sunday while browsing online. I then turned on Fox News for a conservative perspective at about 8:00 AM and learned the scene was a gay nightclub and the perpetrator had Muslim connections according to an FBI spokesman. To watch how liberals were spinning it I tuned in to NBC’s Meet the Press at 9:00 where host Chuck Todd inserted coverage at the beginning of his show.

Todd must have known what the FBI was saying about the shooter’s ties to Islam, but never mentioned it. Instead, he brought on Pete Williams to emphasize the gay connection. Williams, who is homosexual, didn’t say anything about Islam either. Former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw also stressed gun control, saying he was brought up with guns in the midwest, but lost credibility when mentioning a non-existent assault rifle called an “AR-14” He likely confused the AR-15, used in Orlando, Sandy Hook, and San Bernardino, and the M14, used by Americans in Vietnam. No one else mentioned Islam until their token conservative, radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt, twice invoked ISIS. The rest of the panel, liberals all, kept bringing the conversation back to gun control and anti-homosexual hate crimes.

Later I went back and forth between liberal-biased MSNBC which continued emphasizing gun control and hate crimes, and conservative-biased Fox News which continued emphasizing radical Islam. President Obama gave a speech never mentioning Islam either, stressing gun control. Just last week, the Homeland Security Advisory Council prohibited the Department from using the words “jihad”; “sharia”; “umma” and others because they would disrespect Islam, which Sharia itself prohibits. How can DHS fight radical Islam while complying with Islam's own mandates? With zero evidence, President Obama insists that Guantanamo’s existence is a recruiting tool for terrorists and must be closed. There’s voluminous evidence that ISIS’s existence is the real recruiting tool, but Obama only pretends to fight it.

Referring to Florida law that allows concealed carry but not in an establishment serving alcohol, a conservative commenter online asked how many would be dead if Omar Mateen tried to shoot up a country-western bar instead of a gay bar. He seemed to be making the case that gun control is not the solution, but the problem. If the bar’s patrons were packing, Mateen would have been shot much sooner.

Regular readers of this column know I used to be liberal until conservatives converted me by presenting facts that didn’t fit my liberal world view. Now I’m wondering if any of today’s liberals will question liberalism’s dedication to multiculturalism when presented with the paradox they’ve avoided for decades and which Orlando is rubbing it in their faces: Two or their most cherished victim groups — Muslims and homosexuals — are incompatible. It’s always been true, but the Orlando massacre is forcing them to confront it.

Muslims countries regularly execute homosexuals under Sharia Law. A poll by Washington DC’s Center For Security Policy reported in 2015 that most American Muslims believe they should have the choice of being governed according to shariah. Should we really be surprised when a Muslim fanatic shoots up a gay bar? His parents come from Afghanistan where 99% of the population supports sharia law and his father seems as crazy as he is. Seddique Mateen supports the Taliban and declared on his TV show in California that: “Our brothers in Waziristan [Pakistan], our warrior brothers in Taliban movement, and national Afghan Taliban are rising up.” However, Afghan Muslim men are notorious for raping pubescent boys — another paradox.

How can Islam, a religion which teaches that homosexuals should be executed, that wives can be beaten by their husbands, and that no other religion should be allowed but Islam be compatible with the multiculturalism so beloved by liberals? According to the Washington Post, Omar Mateen’s ex-wife said: “He was not a stable person. He beat me. He would just come home and start beating me up because the laundry wasn’t finished or something like that.” Multiculturalism insists that all cultures are equal, but are they? Omar Mateen was a registered Democrat and evidence is emerging that he may have been homosexual as well.

The more we learn, the more complicated this gets.