Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/03/08/13-shots-fired-into-tulsa-gay.html
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Awful.
All the policy focus on theoretical foreign terrorists really is missing the actual terrorists among us.
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Liked for “Oklahomo!”
Not every minority group is comprised of pushovers. When you take the first shot, or start waving weapons around at people, the response might not be passive. It might be commensurate. The life you save might be your own!
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“Oklahoma legislators are planning to pass a bill that reportedly strips LGBTQ people of housing and employment protections.”
fixed it, because it’s important to remember that us queers are people.
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Meanwhile, in the Garden State: http://www.app.com/story/news/crime/jersey-mayhem/2017/03/06/garden-state-equality-leading-lgbtq-advocacy-group-headquarters-vandalized-asbury-park/98802702/
Not as bad as gunshots, but there is a disturbing pattern forming, even in the blue state of NJ.
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That put me in an angry mood, really angry mood.
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That’s what terrorism is supposed to do.
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No, it is supposed to make you fearful. When we get angry, we respond with force, or at least quiet determination. There are many examples in history of actions taken to terrorize, which were met instead with anger, and resulted in the perpetrators being obliterated. The attacks on Pearl Harbor, for one example.
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Thanks for telling me how I am supposed to feel.
How about this is one of the conversations you don’t do this in?
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Not sure if it’s grammatically correct, but at some point I learned that it could be improved as follows:
“Oklahoma legislators are planning to pass a bill that reportedly strips people who are LGBTQ of housing and employment protections.”
Because they are people first and foremost. Seems it’s too easy for some to forget this simple fact.
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Oh, FFS.
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So in your metaphor the shooter is supposed to be Japan?
This is not really comparable to a war, especially since it’s citizens attacking other citizens–with this animus being encouraged by elected officials.
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Thank you! And I applied the fix.
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FIFY 
I know, 6 of one, half dozen of another.
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Most of the time, the intent of terrorism is to terrorize, which is very simplistic, but accurate. If you kick a dog, there is a decent chance that it will become fearful and submissive. This does not work on all dogs. Eventually, a person who goes around kicking dogs is going to get their face bitten off. Neither that analogy or the Pearl harbor one are perfect. But they are based on an attack where fearful submission is the expected response. The members of my family who are part of the LGBT community,(including my sister who lives in Tulsa) are not people who respond to threats or attacks with fearful submission. Quite the opposite.
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I think that response is a little severe given the comment.
Max is right in that the usual goal of terrorism is, of course, terror (fear). Whether or not you feel that way, and whether or not the reaction to terrorism is fear or not, however, is not left to the cowardly perpetrators of the act, but to the rest of us.
Reacting with an emotion other than fear is almost certainly not the goal of the cowards that shot into the facility - and it’s through emotions like the anger you are feeling that terrorism is undone.
For my personal reaction, I am afraid that my friends who frequent LGBTQ locales may be targeted, even here in a city largely accepting of the community. I despair at the fact that even now, with the internet having spread knowledge to all the corners of the world, this sort of hate and bigotry still exists. And I, too, am angry that these acts are applauded or even encouraged by far, far too many, and because of this, I pledge to stand even more solidly beside those targeted.
Almost certainly not what the bigots wanted in reaction.
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I’d hate to play any part in any further derail into semantics and definitions (eta:or pearl harbor) in this potentially productive conversation about domestic terrorism against a gay center.
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I chose to read the more accurate version of this story, even though it does not dispel the hate and potential life harm that could have resulted. They were not bullet holes fired by a gun, but pellets. Obviously a move to frighten - which I realize is terrorism in infancy stage. The man that walked in to the center was a vet and was extremely agitated, telling them “I wish you would all just die.” Obviously has issues. And with the right weapon on the wrong day - has potential to destroy much more…
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I’m sorry, I wouldn’t have realized that the feelings, both generally and mine specifically, surrounding the effect this particular act of terrorism caused would, in your world, be considered offtopic or a derailment. I apologize.
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Looks like they had bulletproof glass.
The fact that a gay center had that put in because they expect just this sort of thing to happen is just sad.
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