In the days before Internet, the Orlando LGBT nightclub killer would probably have shot to death a spouse, a relative or a co-worker – one, two or maybe three murders to vent his rage.
But nowadays, these Internet-savvy killers feel compelled to go “big-time,” killing as many people as possible to sate their seething hatreds. The cowardly copycats try to top the death tallies of previous killers, and that’s why they strike at crowded night clubs and company parties. Lots of human targets, easy to hit.
The prevalence of hatred and violence on the Internet and other media sources fuels these haters. ISIS, which is a cult of death posing as a religion, gives aid and comfort to these raging malcontents, providing them in their twisted minds a “legitimacy” to do their evil deeds and promising them a special place in “paradise” for their vicious crimes. (Some “paradise” that must be!)
The Orlando killer (we will not acknowledge him by using his name) was clearly on the path to murder and mayhem. His first wife of four months, whom he met online (go figure!), said he became abusive just weeks after the marriage. Some co-workers said he would seethe with anger, rant against other races, other religions and make homophobic jibes.
He was on the FBI’s radar – twice – for possible connections to terrorist organizations. Nothing could be proven. Since he had no criminal record, he legally purchased the guns used in the massacre.
Ironically, this deranged individual all along was showing symptoms of someone ready to go over the edge big time, but nobody connected the dots. And, sad to say, an intervention to get him mental help probably could not have helped prevent the horror, anyway.
People like the Orlando killer are like time bombs. They can and do pop up anytime, anywhere to wreak their bloodbaths. Once upon a time, such seriously sick individuals would seethe and fester in their own towns, disconnected, alienated and tragically ignored by those who could have maybe gotten them the help they needed. Nowadays, largely because of the Internet, these people, once so isolated and alone in their mental illnesses, are finding like-minded others in the Cyber World. They’re not so alone and crazy, after all – so they think, and thus their seething hatreds become legitimized to themselves within their warped mind frames. And all too often, the new “brotherhood” they find online is the Brotherhood of Death – ISIS being just one example.
It speaks volumes that the Orlando killer, in the midst of his butchery, called 911 to announce he was loyal to ISIS and then blabbering into his cell phone some adulatory nonsense about the Boston Marathon bombers. Here was a lunatic desperate to get widespread attention and “credit” for what he was in the process of doing – blasting people to death.
What to do about these ticking time bombs? That may be the biggest question of our time. Five things spring to mind:
- People aware of such dangerous, erratic behavior, and their threats or connections to terrorist organizations must report them.
- Venues where packed crowds gather must work constantly to improve security.
- Law enforcement must be well trained and up-to-date on how to deal with these killers, and in the Orlando case, the police department and other first-responders did perform with shining colors, saving many lives.
- We should stop wallowing in and romanticizing violence. ISIS does that on its propaganda videos, but, not to forget, so do some video games, movies, music and other forms of “entertainment” manufactured right here in America.
- Last but not least, we should stop equating Islam with ISIS the Cult of Death and with lone-wolf haters and killers.
