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BBC - Owen Jones

I'm fairly sure there'll be some sort of command structure. Some sort of support structure. They're probably not just a bunch of unrelated randoms doing whatever they individually feel like on the day.

In the case of Al-Qaeda it was my understanding that there were a wide range of levels of command and support, from those who operated on orders from the leadership, to those who were given training and guidance but then left to their own devices, to those who were essentially "self radicalised" and acted by themselves. It seems pretty likely there could be similar different levels for IS, particularly given their propaganda efforts.

Many people seem to be determined to cast this killer as one or the other, either as a typical American spree killer driven by his own neurosis, insecurities and misanthropy or a terrorist who is driven by an external foreign islamic ideology. But in reality I'm not sure the two can always be separated. I don't think you can read too much into the fact he didn't know the difference between IS and Hezbollah, I'm sure there were plenty of idiots who made their way to Syria to join IS who didn't have much of a clue about the politics of the region.
 
Sure and we don't know whether he targeted it due to his religious beliefs or due to non-religious homophobia. We do know he phoned 911 claiming allegiance to IS though.

There was 15 people killed in a Mexican gay bar the other day; the official story is it was a drug thing. But people are challenging that, trying to hilight the homophobic angle.

He targetted the Pulse because he's a homophobe. Pure and simple - a homophobe is a homophobe is a homophobe. The other stuff, whilst definitely factors, are secondary.
 
He targetted the Pulse because he's a homophobe. Pure and simple - a homophobe is a homophobe is a homophobe. The other stuff, whilst definitely factors, are secondary.

But it's not that simple. Homophobes are not born homophobic. And many homophobes as horrible as they are do not kill anyone, nevermind 49 people.
 
what; there's levels of homophobia?
Well there are, for sure, but that's not the point. As mentioned above, the homophobia probably doesn't stand alone, devoid of any other context.

Take Copeland and the Admiral Duncan bombing. Was that a homophobic attack plain and simple, or was he a nazi scumbag with mental health issues too?

He also attacked ethnic minorities in Brick Lane and Brixton. Did he hate blacks and gays and become a nazi because of that, or did his nazi sympathies lead him to kill blacks and gays?

So, politically motivated or homophobic? What makes it more one than the other?

There are loads of questions, it's not simple at all.
 
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Sorry, but where has this supposed denial that it was a homophobic attack, driven by islamism to some unknowable extent, come from? One remark from someone storming out of a studio? There has been no such denial, every report I've seen mentions his pledge to Isis or other such links. The point about the importance of saying it was a homophobic attack isn't to deny that it was islamist, it is to stop right wingers, who are undoubted homophobes, trying to say 'well it was a gay club, but it really could have been anywhere - one of us' - ie not on of 'them'. As OJ was pointing out before leaving, no one would dream of saying the attack on the bakery in Paris wasn't anti-semitic, even tho it was islamist as well.

And even if you dont go along with that, it's an act of basic solidarity, acknowledging which community has been affected.
 
On the index of victims of homophobic crime in America show us where there is a precedent for an attacker killing dozens of strangers who it turned out was gay himself?
Accordingly, in order for your stance not to appear entirely ridiculous there simply has to be precedent. Over to you.

I have not denied that religion may well have been a factor.

But he targetted a gay venue. He murdered people because of their sexuality as well as any other motives.

If a Christian did the same would his homophobia be questioned at all?
 
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