What most Americans will think when they hear ISIS and "Omar Mateen" is going to be the stereotype

[One Black Sheep]

of the typical Muslim extremist, unfortunately.

That is the lasting impression they will get from this story: Another Muslim terrorist killed a bunch of people, and they won't read beyond the headlines.

As we start to see there is a lot more to this story, that his former wife and his father both said they didn't think religion played a part in this, and that this guy was a regular at the gay night club where he ended up going on a shooting spree, this info won't penetrate most Americans first impressions of a foreign sounding name, and the headline of this crazy guy pledging allegiance to ISIS.

Just a somewhat gloomy late night musing, and thinking of most Americans short attention spans these days.

[JI7]

1. i don't see how what you say changes anything . other terrorists have been known to drink alcohol

pay for sex and do all kinds of things that is considered non islamic. but they still commit their crimes in the name of their religion.

[One Black Sheep]

3. yea, that's true.

but, I'm just saying that this guy maybe was using the religion thing as cover or an excuse.

I'm not saying for sure, but I think it is possible.

[RobertEarl]

2. His job was security

Worked for an international company that did work for governments. GS4, maybe G4S, I believe is the company's name.

Lots of funny things about this guy.

[One Black Sheep]

4. yea, it is strange.

To me, it seems like there is a lot more going on with this story than just the stereotypical headline: "Muslim terrorist"

[Nevernose]

5. The father also claims to be the president of Afghanistan

And supports the Taliban. Clearly batshit.

You're right, of course: Trump's been hitting the anti-Muslim immigrant note since yesterday, and many Americans are too stupid to realize that this asshole (like the lunatic in San Bernardino) was born and raised in the USA. Just like Columbine, or Virginia Tech, or Newtown, or dozens of other mass Americsn shootings.

But that requires complex thought about multifaceted problems, and many Americans like to respond to those complex issues with shit like "Build a wall!"

[One Black Sheep]

6. Yea, it sucks, but I have become very cynical about this stuff.

and you are right, the father does seem off.

[Joe the Revelator]

7. The father is a pro-taliban nut who claims to have his own NSA type org and to be....

running the Afgani shadow government from his home. That's not quite the character witness you want.

[mwrguy]

8. Islam is a scapegoat for the right

[MariaThinks]

9. the unfortunate part are the murdered people

if the murderer was gay and self loathing, it's because islam teaches that gay people should be killed and the murderers own father hated gays.

[CJCRANE]

10. The rebels in Syria throw gay people off rooftops.

Our own allies (who also happen to support those rebels) execute gay people based on religious law.

This is very much about a predominant and growing interpretation of religion.

Trying to ignore this issue won't make it go away.

[Quantess]

11. Sad, that DU is more concerned about the reputation of muslims, after a shooting

at a gay club, with 50 casualties and 50 wounded,

Poor, poor muslims!