Orlando And The Bigger Picture

Why must it take hundreds and thousands of innocent lives to be robbed of their freedom to live in a safe place before a Government body decides to take action? In America over 6,000 people have died from gun violence, 138 by mass shooting this year alone.

These statistics are outrageous. Why is safety so unobtainable in public places and spaces? Why can’t children go to school, why can’t homosexual people go to a safe place that promotes something that other members of society often shame them for? Why are people still allowed to carry guns like handbags?

This attack is only resurfacing the multitude of arguments that have come before it. Don’t these questions and protest posters sound all too familiar?

While it is true that Australia has not had a single death by gun massacre since the Howard Government created a firearms law, what happened in Orlando is not a means to debate whether Australia is better than America.

In fact, this is not an argument about ISIS, or religion, or even particular countries who allow gun violence. Those arguments are to be had by experts in their field–those who understand what ISIS is and how they operate, those who make the decisions that affect governments. In arguing these things, we are losing sight of the bigger picture.

For us in Australia, this is an issue of mental illness and the stigmas that exist in society and how we, as a people, approach and discuss the things that happen.

The media fail to give weight to the brunt of what is important in this situation–which I realise is a somewhat ironic thing to say. As far as I can see, an ostracised group was targeted, a group that was already running from a society that condemns them, into a space they believed was safe and they were attacked by a member of the public who was mentally ill. Yes, he did tell a 911 operator he was pledging his allegiance to the terrorist group–which is an essential part of the ISIS protocol. However, this oath, which can be carried out on whatever public platform (a couple in California went for Facebook, a man in Texas on Twitter) is all that is required by the Islamic State in order to be deemed a follower. Whether an individual genuinely believes the Islamic State’s beliefs or whether they are mentally ill and are looking for support and a purpose for their snap is hard to tell–especially when the attacker has killed himself or is killed in the process. Regardless, this is a hate crime and it’s a horrific one–the worst one in US history.

If what happened in Orlando occurred in a church or a synagogue or a world building (like the Eiffel Tower or the Opera House or on the Golden Gate Bridge) we’d assume it was an attack on a particular country, or political party, or religious body. Why isn’t the media seeing this as a specific attack on a group of people? Why is the fact that it was in a gay and lesbian bar swept under the rug?

What can we, as Australians do about it? We have no control over America’s laws and how America chooses to approach the issue of firearm acquisition. What can we do about ISIS and those who pledge?

Maybe we can’t do anything large scale, but we can definitely do something small scale, which ultimately contributes to the good of society. We need to become more educated about mental illness, we must support good systems and if they don’t exist, we must pester our Government to support the creation of better ones. We need to treat those with a mental illness as people, and not ostracise them from our societies. Maybe if there was more love in the world, mentally ill people would get the care they need before it gets out of hand, less people will want to shoot others, and there would ultimately be more peace in the world.

In the words of John Lennon, “all you need is love”. We all have the power to show and give love to people–let’s actively pursue that love to all peoples and leave the big issues up to the experts who dedicate their lives to solving them and the people who are there to actively support and promote change.