Radical vs Extremist

Update on the violent tragedy that happened down in Orlando: 49 LGBTQ murdered, 51 wounded (5 critical), and 1 extremist dead.

I never liked hearing the word critical. For me it means one step away from dead. Hopefully that is not the case in this situation. Medical care has improved greatly over the years and I am sure that the doctors and nurses in Orlando are doing their absolute best. This community, and the LGBTQ community have suffered enough.

One thing that really bothers me (rather pisses me off) is that the news reports say that the shooter was “radicalized.” No he wasn't. He was turned into an extremist by some misguided individual or individuals who are abusing a religious text.

News reports show that he had hostility towards the LGBTQ community and was very vocal about it, especially after seeing to males kissing in public in front of his son.

Now, what is the difference between a radical and an extremist?

A radical is one that looks at a situation, like poverty, and asks questions like “why do we have poverty?” They then look at all the causes (corporations demanding high profits because of Wall Street, over paid executives, etc.) and look to take action to address those problems. Violence is never the first choice, if even a choice at all. Work slowdowns, strikes, union drives, demands for higher pay, etc are always the first choice of action. The capitalists are almost always the first to use violence and always push it to its limits. (Look at the Ludlow Massacre and others for examples of this.)

A radical keeps asking the questions “Why” and “What can we do ...” or “How can we change this?” leaving violence out of the equation. (Thank you Dr Michael Parenti for bringing that method of analysis to my attention in many podcasts that I have listened to on-line.)

As an example, the Russian Revolution was actually pretty peaceful, all things considered. There was some violence, but more by the defenders of the status quo than by the revolutionaries. It did get quite violent during the counter-revolution. Again, that is the people looking to restore the status quo.

An extremist looks at a situation and resorts to violence first and foremost. They look to bring change through violence rather than through other, more peaceful means. They hope that through violence they will be able to impose their will onto others. It is motivation by fear and intimidation.

The person responsible for the murder of 49 LGBTQ individuals and the 51 injured was an extremist. He was trying to impose his corrupt interpretation of Islam onto others through violence.

And it never works because violence is a turn off to many people.

The individual in question was a religious extremist who believed that he could address his dislike of the LGBTQ lifestyle through violence. If he killed enough people, then others would abandon that lifestyle.

The national backlash is leaving even those that I know that are conservative Christians who are opposed to the LGBTQ lifestyle because of their religious beliefs either quiet or openly condemning the shooter. Hopefully this event leads them to search their scriptures to see how Jesus treated so called “sinners” - with love and compassion. And by “love” I mean 2 words from Greek that are poorly translated into English. One, phileo, means (roughly) “friendship.” The other, agapao, means unconditional love, like that of a parent towards a child. (Idealized world in this definition.)

Somehow I don't think that the shooter had “love” of anything when he was committing his crimes.

More like fear.

Hopefully this event opens the eyes and hearts of other extremists to look at what they really believe and learn to accept people as they are. Not as they want others to be.

The other thing is that the only people in the Bible that I am aware of Jesus speaking harshly to were the religious zealots and extremists – the Pharisees and Saduccees.

Since I am not well versed in the Koran, I do not want to comment on what is in that text. I have heard enough imams on TV and radio saying that the shooter has his faith all wrong.

So, in this tragedy, let us hope that some people look into this tragedy as a mirror and not like what they see and begin the process of change.

I'm going to leave it today at that.

And an LED candle glowing in my window.

One that turns a rainbow of different colors.