So, some shit went down in Orlando in the early hours of this morning. A man walked into a club and shot a metric fuck ton of innocent club goers.
The current count is 50, but that's obviously an estimate. And says nothing of the 53 that went to area hospitals, some critically wounded.
There are some things that add information here - it was a gay club, and apparently Latino Night. The shooter told his father he was homophobic. He had been interviewed at one point by the FBI. He had, at some point, pledged his allegiance to ISIS. He was, apparently, a Muslim.
And we can talk about all of that, later.
What matters now is that one man, heavily armed, well-prepared and extremely organized, went into a crowded building, hell-bent on taking out a lot of people, and that's what he did.
And for every one of those 50 people, there are dozens of friends and family who will miss them. And for every one of the 53 taken to the hospital, there are dozens of family and friends who are worried. And several hospitals filled with staff who will care for them and watch them recover, or not. And there have been/will be emergency responders, police, detectives, FBI, ATF folks who have to see something so horrific that no classroom scenario could ever prepare them for.
It affects all of us, in some way. Maybe we make jokes to keep from crying, or watch the news coverage til we're numb. Or try not to think about the number of times we've been in a club minding our own business, or we can be grateful that we haven't been directly affected by gun violence.
But it affects us all, even if not directly.
I don't know how we fix it. But I want to fix it.
ae
The current count is 50, but that's obviously an estimate. And says nothing of the 53 that went to area hospitals, some critically wounded.
There are some things that add information here - it was a gay club, and apparently Latino Night. The shooter told his father he was homophobic. He had been interviewed at one point by the FBI. He had, at some point, pledged his allegiance to ISIS. He was, apparently, a Muslim.
And we can talk about all of that, later.
What matters now is that one man, heavily armed, well-prepared and extremely organized, went into a crowded building, hell-bent on taking out a lot of people, and that's what he did.
And for every one of those 50 people, there are dozens of friends and family who will miss them. And for every one of the 53 taken to the hospital, there are dozens of family and friends who are worried. And several hospitals filled with staff who will care for them and watch them recover, or not. And there have been/will be emergency responders, police, detectives, FBI, ATF folks who have to see something so horrific that no classroom scenario could ever prepare them for.
It affects all of us, in some way. Maybe we make jokes to keep from crying, or watch the news coverage til we're numb. Or try not to think about the number of times we've been in a club minding our own business, or we can be grateful that we haven't been directly affected by gun violence.
But it affects us all, even if not directly.
I don't know how we fix it. But I want to fix it.
ae
Comments
Apparently this "homophobe" was, by the way, gay himself, and couldn't deal with it.