At a news conference at Orlando Regional Medical Center, shooting survivor Patience Carter described praying to die as she lay on a nightclub bathroom floor covered in water and blood. She said Mateen talked about wanting the U.S. to "stop bombing my country," a possible reference to his father's native Afghanistan.
not to trivialize anything, but the us has bombed afghanistan, and killed a lot of people as "collateral". i wouldn't endorse shooting up a nightclub in response. but, some act of protest is warranted.
i see no evidence before me that the sexual orientation of the victims was in any way relevant to the victim's choice of targets, perhaps other than something interpersonal.
see, here's the thing: somebody kills 50 people in orlando and it's the worst mass shooting in the country's history - which is of course not actually true. the first counter-example that comes to mind is wounded knee, but a hallway documenting worse massacres (many in the civil or revolutionary wars) could fill a long trail of tears.
somebody kills 50 people in afghanistan and that's tuesday.
this is a shitty discussion, and i'm having a hard time articulating myself well - even after almost twenty years of trying to.
but, there's a saying: "you have to stand up to a bully".
i dunno how else to say this. nothing else is working.
if that was his motive, it's hard to condemn him without coming off as a hypocrite. sorry.
see, this is another ternary logic problem, though. you can refuse to condemn him without condoning him; pointing out that america is long overdue for a response is not the same thing as supporting the action. and, agreeing that america needs to shift it's policy to prevent future attacks is not the same thing as supporting the attacks. even if this is going to blow up the binary thinker's head.
what exactly would you propose that an afghan national do to stop the bombing?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/14/omar-mateen-told-victims-his-attack-was-retaliation-for-america/
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/346631-orlando-violence-us-isis-mateen/?utm_source
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i think this is pretty conclusive.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/15/orlando-shooting-survivor-pulse-nightclub-hostage-interview