Since I learned of the mass shooting in Orlando, an attack that targeted a community I’m part of, I’ve been filled with rage–not towards the shooter, though he certainly deserves no shortage of my anger–but towards the circumstances that let this happen yet again.
I’m full of rage towards the organized religions that teach love, forgiveness, and tolerance, while demonstrating hypocrisy by precious few sects or denominations welcoming the LGBT community. Instead, we’ve generally seen religious groups’ fervent support of hateful and discriminatory legislation go unopposed by religious leaders and organizations–which seems exactly opposed to the teachings they claim to follow.
I’m full of rage towards our elected officials and their empty rhetoric. They offer “thoughts and prayers” that claim to be heartfelt, but are delivered with no more emotion or sincerity than placing a coffee order. These statements come so frequently, and are so rarely followed by action, that they carry no weight, they have no significance.
I’m full of rage towards organizations like the NRA, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, and their ilk, which claim to defend Americans’ freedoms while blindly ignoring the consequences of their lobbying.
But ultimately, I’m full of rage because despite this being “the worst mass shooting in US history,” despite the frequency with which these attacks occur, despite this being a hate crime, we’ll likely endure another of these events in six months time. We’ll go through the same pointless “national mourning” process, and the country will go back to what it was doing–growing increasingly self-absorbed and isolated from opposing viewpoints, oblivious to the experiences of our fellow Americans.
