After an Afghan Muslim terrorist shot up a gay nightclub, the media completely ignored his identity and motives, despite them being clearly stated in his conversations with police, and instead pushed a discredited myth that he was a gay homophobe.
Yes, that was the narrative. Today the media still claims that the Pulse massacre was about homophobia and completely ignores the identity of the shooter.
From the beginning, the media pounced on the fact that the Colorado Springs gay nightclub shooter had a Republican grandfather. They then blamed the shooting on everyone from LibsofTikTok to Christopher Rufo for inciting the violence.
Then the shooter’s lawyer filled material claiming that he’s “non-binary”, uses “them\they” pronouns and wants to be known as Mx. Now this might be trolling by the shooter or an attempt by the family and/or the lawyer to create sympathy and change the narrative.
Lawyers generally don’t participate in stunts like this today. For one thing they generally aren’t paid enough to wreck their credibility or careers in the age of the internet. But they will put forward material if they’re told it and sometimes they may not check. Or they will selectively report things. The lawyer for one of the two alt-right plotters who targeted synagogues in New York City emphasized that he was the grandson of a Holocaust survivor. Presumably true, but doesn’t actually change what happened.
Whatever the narrative, a bunch of people were shot and killed in Colorado Springs. Whatever the shooter’s motive, he should be strapped into a chair and the juice turned on.
That said, even the media is introducing some ambiguity into the narrative.
Until age 15, he was known as Nicholas Brink, living in San Antonio, public records show. His parents separated when he was a toddler, and when he was 12, his mother, Laura Voepel, was arrested for suspected arson, according to court documents. She was later found guilty of a lesser offense in connection with the same incident.
At age 15, he became the target of a particularly vicious bout of online bullying in which insulting accusations were posted to a website, along with his name, photos and online aliases, according to a review of the site by The Washington Post. At some point, a YouTube account was created under his name, featuring a crude, profanity-laden animation under the title, “Asian homosexual gets molested.”
For unstated reasons, just before his 16th birthday, the young man petitioned a Texas court — with two of his grandparents’ names on the document — to legally change his entire name. His mother’s name did not appear on the petition.
In June 2021, Aldrich was arrested for an alleged bomb threat, one that prompted a partial evacuation of the Colorado Springs neighborhood where his mother lived at the time. He was charged with kidnapping and felony menacing, but was never prosecuted, for reasons that remain unclear. No bomb was ever found.
Whatever happened here, it’s a safe bet that Brink\Aldrich had some major issues. He should not have been on the loose after what happened in 2021, but as I previously discussed, Colorado embraced criminal justice reform and Aldrich’s mother, like a lot of the mothers of mass shooters, didn’t cut him loose no matter how bad things got.
It’s a familiar story and it’s happening all too often. And we should be talking about that.
Combine divorce, a broken family, a boy raised by an indulgent single mother with her own issues, school bullying and alienation and we have the ingredients for a lot of young male mass shooters.
It should not be surprising that the suspect is now seen to have had a troubled personal life that contributed to serious mental and emotional problems. It is difficult – perhaps impossible – to put his behavior into some logical framework. Above all, why would a man who supposedly identifies as “non-binary” or “trans” go into an LGBTQ+ establishment and start shooting people? You might expect him to go into a church or a supermarket, so why did he pick this club? Had he been there before? Did he have a grudge against someone there? Had he previously been thrown out of the club for some reason?
Maybe he was attacking what he hated most: himself? Lots of Jews follow that pattern.
why bring up Jews just now? obsessed or something? haven’t you heard? we fight back
Type less and pay attention to who posts what on here, over and over, okay? Bringing it up drives the point home to MY fellow Jews in a way they can understand–assuming they pay attention to the many, many Jews who attack Judaism, Jews, Israel…and that they’re not all knee-jerk circling ethnic wagons (like you) without paying attention to which manic-depressives and sociopaths they’re sheltering in the kraal.
Fight back! I lived in Israel for ten years: high school, army and part of university.
Pay more attention to who writes what on this site. Plenty of Jews attack other Jews, Judaism and Israel; I’m driving the point home in a way another–a fellow–Jew can understand, assuming he pays attention to the phenomenon of self-hate. You, OTOH, circle ethnic wagons w/o paying attention to who you’re sheltering in your kraal.
Maybe gays ought to pay more attention to their own and police themselves a bit more?
As for fighting back, I lived in Israel for ten years: high school, the army and part of university. THAT is fighting back.
then you should get on well with them
That was my first thought when I saw a photo of him. I thought it was probably personal, he was turned away at the door, kicked out of the club, or was rejected by or had a personal problem with someone or a group that frequented the club.
He reminded me of someone who worked at our shop for a few months a few years ago. Obese, baby faced, this guy didn’t identify as ‘non binary’ but he said he was bisexual. He lived with his mom, went to gay bars, straight bars, and would tell of the things he supposedly did in graphic detail to his fellow workers, many of whom were women that were uncomfortable hearing it. He seemed more of an “any port in a storm,” or “anyone that’ll do me,” kind of person. He was bad about misplacing things, and when we couldn’t find a tool or part, the guys in the shop would joke that it was probably up so-n-so’s butt, or ask the person looking, “Did you check up so-n-so’s butt?” He was a little imbalanced because he pitched a fit and quit because nobody wanted the food he brought in one day and was trying to give away.
Didn’t like my comment, Daniel?
If you’re going to insist on lumping minorities together in your mind then you’ll need to add yourself to the minority of genuinely stupid people who think this way.
In the immortal (paraphrased) words of Dean Wormer….”Fat, stupid, and non-binary is no way to go through life.”
In the immortal words of Dean Wormer (paraphrased)…””Fat stupid and non-binary is no way to go through life, son.”