Early this morning, there was a shooting at a gay club in Orlando Florida. There are 50 dead and 53 wounded. This was a terrible tragedy, and my heart goes out to all the victims and their families. Acts of violence like this should not be happening anymore, and it scares my how often they seem to be occurring now. Just yesterday, singer Christina Grimmie was shot and killed by a gunman. To all the dollars in Orlando: I hope you are safe, and be careful.

Another note: medical services in the area are in desperate need of blood donations, especially O negative, O positive, and AB. If you are in the area and can safely make it to a blood donation site, please do so. You could save lives. Please help out to make sure this terrible tragedy takes as few lives as possible.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/12/us/orlando-nightclub-shooting/

Here is a dollars thread that lists various places you can donate blood:
http://dollars-bbs.org/missions/res/1465744426.html

Here's another article. Blood is needed badly.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2016/jun/12/florida-nightclub-shooting-terrorism-suspect-updates

Heya! Apparently there's a kill list out from ISIS? I don't have solid proof, but here's a picture.

I'm assuming that they took responsibility of this. I'm not positive though, I haven't found the article. Either way, stay safe!

Never mind, they aren't associated with the shooting. It won't let me delete these right now so please just ignore my posts on this thread ^^;

Apparently they are involved in the shooting. At least from what I read. The father said that it didn't have anything to do with religion, but, anyone could say that especially if he is a Muslim himself.

As long as the perpetrator is muslim, IS can always claim responsibility regardless of its actual involvement.

>>9 If you think about it, it's much of a similar situation as presented in the way the word was spread around about the Dollars. To originally get the word around about the Dollars in the show, the members would claim responsibility for things whether or not they actually did them. There isn't any way to prove it right or wrong but the more it's said the more people will believe it. So in this instance, Dollars and IS in terms of getting rumors around can be seen as very similar.

I don't mean to compare our group to terrorists (because we aren't), it's just an observation.

This just breaks my heart. What if those people, what if they were apart of the dollars! It is possible, but we should make a video dedicated to them. Show them that the dollars are here for them

>>9 I actually haven't seen it written anywhere the perpetrator is Muslim. I mean, it's obvious that he is, but the guy pledged his allegiance to ISIS, not Allah or Muhammad or anything traditionally connected to Islam. Well, you know, not yet, but my head will be buried deep in the sand by the time it comes up.

It's not much, but it saves me from another week with a pit in my stomach, pondering the ways that Muslims are perceived in the West and being completely depressed about it.

>>13 Surprisingly the news is not lashing out at the muslim community as much as I thought (or maybe I'm just not paying attention anymore).

And probably because the singer who got shot was shot by the 'average-mentally-disabled-white-guy'. Calms them down a bit...shooters potentially exist in everyone.

>>13
It's not justtge west.
China, Japan, etc.
Muslims have a bad rep and truthfully they're not doing anything to convince the world otherwise.

>>13
And while we're on that debate, we refer to ISIS as muslims because as crazy as they are, as perverted their version of islam as it be, they're preaching quotes from the Koran, not from the bible or any other scripture.

Incidentally, in Eastern countries, although muslims is famous for terrorism, generally they're disliked because they impose their religion on others.

>>15 Correction, I asked a journalist what China and Japan thought of muslims in the 5 months she lived there. Her answer basically was....

....they don't give a shit. They're just another part to the booming population.

I don't think they're not doing anything (well I'm not), they just don't get to have media coverage which is ultimately dominated by the west. News articles unfortunately only fit the 'existing definitions' of a situation, they are the ones covered even before a journalist is assigned to cover it. It's what sells baby.

>>16 example, hey I know this line from one of Shakespeare's play that goes 'to be or not to be, that is the question'. I'm not sure what *context* it was said in but if a rapist mentions this I can *only* assume it means he's gonna rape the fuck out of a girl then either kill her...or not. Errrmegawwwwd how horribleee Shakespeare was a rapistt AAAAHHHHHHHHHH itallmakessensenow.

No, they're disliked because of pre-historic wars with muslims pitted against jews and christians. Now jews and christians are controllers of the media. Don't know what you'd call a fair battle if propaganda is all that is believed.

>>15 and why do they need to *convince*? They take more responsibility and scrutiny than any other race or group for the actions of other individuals. Does the Queen take responsibility for any dumb shit an Anglo-Celtic does here? I don't see her standing at a podium with verbal rotten tomatoes thrown at her. What about deranged school shooters in the US ? I don't see a white or black authority going up and saying 'I'm sorry we did this' while convincing people 'we're nice', because there's no *we* to the situation.

And it shouldn't have to be specified to one specific group to *prove* themselves. People gotta learn to use their own brain to be unbiased, not relying on someone and still be unhappy.

>>17
There was a brief article in the Japanese newspaper warning against the growing influence of muslims.
And if they want to continue participating in politics, reputation is important. And yes, in countries where muslims are basically nonexistent, no one gives a shit (except their politicians maybe).
And all of the major religions in the world are always having propaganda battle, it's nothing new.

For the convincing part, they don't need to do anything, really. Just go about their daily lives and it's all the convincing they need, whether it results in good or bad rep.
And you're talking about responsibilities in the U.S. What about in other countries? Anyone who was Christian was slaughtered in Japan during the warring era. Anyone who didn't convert to christianity had molten metal poured into their mouth during the medievals.
And you can never count on empty apologies from a political figure anyway. Do people really throw rotten tomatoes? -_-

Forgot to say this, but what I've been referring to is the political & religious bodies. Aka politicians & clerics.
The general populace mostly either obeys the clerics or secretly hate them after all.

Ugh. Had a long-ass reply, but then chrome crashed and now it's gone. Here's the gist of it.

>>15 Yeah, when I said West, I guess I lumped those countries in as well. For the sake of argument, assume West for me means most non-Muslim nations. Also, Japan is a pretty Westernised nation. One of the only situations in which Western intervention didn't completely ruin everything.

>>16 Basically >>17. Of course they're teaching the Quran. The Quran is the major book that all Muslims follow. They're also going on Hadith, which is considered by some to be hearsay. The Quran isn't a constitution style set of rules, it's basically a compilation of fables and verses. It's incredibly open to interpretation. Most level-headed Muslims will tell you that ISIS's interpretation of the Quran is really narrow - to the point that it completely leaves out bits if they don't like them. Like the parts that talk about treating sinners well and letting Allah judge them when the time comes.

People are completely denouncing Islam and Muslim because of ISIS, and what irritates me is that when people refer to ISIS as crazy Muslims or crazy Islamic people, that kinda lumps me and people like me with them. People will come to think of all Muslims as harbouring the same kind of thoughts and logic. It's dehumanising.

I had more, but I can't quite word it in a way that's particularly convincing or palatable. Suffice to say that I think that most Westerner's perceptions of Muslims and Muslim nations is completely fucked.

>>21
Is that so? war and slaughter are very humane to me. No matter how much they try to deny history, it's human nature to fight and eventually kill each other for whatever they don't agree on.

It's bothersome to explain my point of view, so I'll just list all of the things that irritate me about muslim and compare them with other people.
1. Too orthodox
2. Too many rules, and violent reinforcements of said rules
3. Any public joke about the prophet or whatever is usually paid with blood
4. Once you're born in a muslim family, it's too hard to change religion
5. Mosque broadcast using megaphone every 4.30
6. Expecting other people to just comply with their needs due to religious reasons, even when it would in turn be inconvenient to other people
7. Deny any wrongdoings of Islam. Yes it's not exclusive to Islam, but that doesn't mean you can deny it ever exists.
8. Limiting inflow of information. Anime and manga are censored. My BL....

Any religion that has a holy scripture WILL selectively interpret it for any reason. IMO what sets muslim apart from other religions such as Christianity and Catholic is the number of leaders that keep reinforcing old values. In christianity for example, the number of gay-hating bozos are decreasing. Any religion in its "pure" state is actually pretty toxic in modern times.

I agree with >>22 on most counts. I know a professor at a Christian university who even tells his students that any religion beyond the control of the state is basically a cancer in any country, because anyone who is truly religious is definitionally more adherent to whatever they believe is religiously correct than what's good for the country or morally good from an unreligious perspective (there's an important difference).

Islam in particular I believe to be in the same phase which in Christianity produced the Crusades; A general effeort to suppress secular learning in favor of religious education (empirically, where once great men had gone on to become scientists, mathematicians, & politicians, many more were then disposed to religious scholarship), & willingness to advance the religion by force & atrocity due to a disregard for other religions stoked by religious leaders.

Both of the above are particularly true about the modern form of Islam, because it imposes such a prominent role in its adherents lives (Eg. megaphones), prescribes deeply evident distinctions in daily conduct between its adherents & those of other religions (the necessity of halal food, for example), & firmly rejects other religions & secular schools of thought, thus rejecting rather than accommodating to modern realities. & These are all distinctions are here to stay for now.

This reply is over 1000 words. Fun.

>>22 Can't tell if your first two sentences are sarcastic or not.

Look, Muslims are not a homogenous group, and the only example I can think of that probably enforce all of the rules you bring up are countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, and other oppressive, third world countries that are ruled by corrupt governments whose leaders are arrogant, over-privileged pigs. In those cases, Islam isn't a religion so much as it is a tool of oppression.

In any case, nothing is black and white, and these are my thoughts on each of them.

Too orthodox

Too vague. Assuming you mean what I think you do, there are plenty of moderate and barely practicing Muslims out there. Not quite in the way that there are Christians, but they exist.

Too many rules, and violent reinforcements of said rules

Subjective. I'd say that violent reinforcement of religious rules is more a symptom of a culture and how they interpret religious scripture than the religion itself, And most Muslim nations are severely developed compared to Western nations. Some might even say because of them. and although there are verses in the Quran that seemingly justify violence in certain circumstances, there are just as many that speak against it.

This doesn't quite account for Islamic terrorism in the West, though. Like I said above, it's all subjective.

Any public joke about the prophet or whatever is usually paid with blood

As far as the offense taken at these kinds of jokes, I'd attribute this to cultural differences as well. I think a lot of where Islam and the West come into conflict is in regards to how each society has developed, and, well, in their society joking about the Prophet is just something you don't do. Western nations have been secular long enough to develop a sense of humour in regards to religious, Muslim societies not so much. They don't see the humour in a joke about their Prophet, all they see is disrespect. I suppose in a simplified sense, you've insulted their honour, and they need some kind of reparation for that. Like I said, their societies just stopped developing after a point.

Still, the violent response is still totally unjustified and has no place in this day and age, and more Muslims should learn to just chill. I totally agree with you here.

Once you're born in a muslim family, it's too hard to change religion

Well, that depends on the family dynamic, country and social atmosphere, doesn't it? I was born into a Muslim family, and although I went through a bit of an atheist phase in high school, I can't say that I've ever considered changing my religion. Not that I don't think that it happens, it's just that I think most Muslims know - or basically, it's one of our beliefs - that Islam is basically just the last fully formed Abrahamic religion, and the Jewish and Christian revelations are considered to be religious canon that's been corrupted over time. So yeah, this means that the Torah and the Bible are considered to have originally been the word of Allah.

I think that most historical scholars would agree that what Muslims consider to be older prophets and revelatory texts are basically the same as well. And with that in mind, I can't really see many people "going back," if you get my meaning. I suppose there's that air of lessened restrictions (I don't think Jews have to be be devout at all, they're judged by God based on, like, something else) that the other Abrahamic religions offer, but even so if a Muslim were to abandon Islam I feel like they'd probably lean more towards atheism.

Mosque broadcast using megaphone every 4.30

5 times a day, really, and it's not nearly as intrusive as it sounds. My family in Pakistan lives right behind a Mosque, so we get the full brunt of it, and aside from my Dad wanting us to turn down the volume on the T.V. to listen, it's nothing more than a friendly reminder that you probably should pray soon. You know, if you're a good Muslim. It's not like they install speakers and camera's inside of your house and force you to pray at gunpoint, it's just a harmless call to prayer.

Dunno what it's like in Arab countries, but when I was in Dubai I never heard the Adhan once. Probably because of all the tourists, but yeah. They only broadcast it from Mosques.

Expecting other people to just comply with their needs due to religious reasons, even when it would in turn be inconvenient to other people

Examples? Unless it's a really pressing need, I'd say anyone who does this is just a precious, touchy idiot. There are some Muslims who like to flaunt their religious knowledge and adherence purely because it makes them superior, and those people are just arrogant assholes.

Deny any wrongdoings of Islam. Yes it's not exclusive to Islam, but that doesn't mean you can deny it ever exists.

This is a bit vague as well. If you're talking about terrorism and, to a lesser degress historical conquests, then there may be an element of defensiveness in that. In regards to terrorism, whenever a criminal is a Muslim, the media and the public like to up-play that fact, and of course Muslims start to feel attacked. It makes them look bad, and most of the time they don't really have a decent platform on which to defend themselves. You see the same thing happen with other groups of people, the most obvious example to me being African American people.

And then you have some bigoted or misinformed people who see some of the things that Muslims supposedly do and blame it on the religion as a whole. It's a common perception in the West that Muslim women are oppressed, and while this may be the case where there's a domineering family or husband or a generally oppressive environment, in my experience this is... subjective. There are restrictions on women in Islam, or perceived restrictions probably born of a traditional patriarchal skew, but Muslim feminism is definitely a thing, and if those countries were in any state in which free speech or thought was a thing, I'm sure it'd catch on. Hell, it was going alright in Iran before the Islamic Revo... okay, that's a bad example.

Whatever. In Pakistan I'd go to malls and see young women with long hair wearing jeans and t-shirts, so it's not like everyone's forced to wear a niqab.

On a broader level, though, I've met full on academic Muslims who will have a full-on philosophical discussion with you in regards to Islamic conduct, beliefs, Quranic verses and their meanings etc. You could tell them your problems with Islam, and they'd listen and give you a clear, succinct rebuttal without getting heated. It's not like Islam is so written in stone that any dissenting opinion or thought is immediately squashed.

Limiting inflow of information. Anime and manga are censored. My BL....

Well, rich, oppressive governments gotta oppress their people somehow.

And anything complaining about the government's is immediately invalid. Most Muslim governments are fragile, poor and/or corrupt.

Well, ending this ridiculously long, biased, and probably grammatically incorrect not-rant that probably didn't address anything to a sufficient degree but sums up my opinions and concessions pretty well - I think there are problems with Islam and Muslim nations as well. But I also think there's a right way to interpret the religion, and that finding that right way is the whole point to being a Muslim.

It's like, too hard to have an all-bases-covered opinion on this, man. But in any case, I still think they should let refugees in. The alternative is too painful.

>>24
I'm a cat. My words are always sarcastic (and most likely true).
You are correct about the 3rd world country. I came from Indonesia where they would blast the volume of the megaphones and wake me up while I'm trying to sleep.
In essence, you can't have an unbiased discussion about religion, since religion itself is a subjective topic.

Now first of all, yes, I'm aware that there are different groups of Islam, but people just don't say it. Either they say "our Muslim brothers and sisters," etc. or they say "they're not Islam. They are invaders using the name of Islam"

For the most part, the Islam practiced in America seems to be very different than the Islam practiced in other parts of the world, but you have to remember that the face of the Islamic world is not America, but those third world countries. And might I remind you that even though the oppressors used Islam only as a preface, the ENFORCERS are muslim adherents themselves. Mostly civilians with no relations to the government. Self-proclaimed adherents, admittedly.

Americans are dumb herd-dwellers who can't even decide what they want to say, but I don't think it's right to just outright ignore their concerns. For example, in the matter of refugees, it's true that letting them in might be better, but you have to remember that those refugees came from Islamic nations with different rules. They say that it's just the politicians' ignorance about Islam, but the ignorance goes both ways. I'm ignorant about Islam (not planning to change that) but the Islamic world is also ignorant about my customs. if you let those refugees in, would they adapt to your customs or would they make you adapt to them?

>>24
And yes, it's fun.

>>25 I think the fact that groups of Muslims can be separated so easily should make people more wary of attacking the religion outright, especially when it's generally agreed that it's a small number of Muslims that are an actual threat to the rest of the world. Religion is important to these people, and as such it can be skewed to mean anything, but the fact that so many people don't want it to be associated with violence and terrorism should be taken to mean something.

Of course, it's hard to make that argument particularly convincing when 50 people who just wanted to have a good night out were just massacred in the name of the "Islamic State." It makes it worse that they were all presumably gay, because unlike the violence aspect, that can be directly attributed to the religion. The Quran just doesn't look favourably upon gays.

I'd say that at least part of the more controversial face of Islam in the West is based mostly on the the hate that a lot people have for the West, which I'd say is often born of experience. They've probably grown up poor and miserable, with Islam as their only consolation, maybe they've even seen the casualties of American "counter-terrorism" operations and such. The West, in particular America, is this big, evil, wealthy empire that pays the government to oppress them so that they can keep on using their country's natural resources i.e. oil. Couple this with rumours about the U.S. indirectly funding terrorism as well as a growing hostility towards Muslims in the West because of it, an opposition to economic migration and immigrants, and well, what kind of reaction would you expect them to have?

On the other side of the equation, you have the American people seeing all this hate and hostility and it makes wonder "why do they hate us?" They don't understand and they take it to mean that they do so purely because they're evil or malicious - or because they just hate non-Muslims. And America has, like, drones and nukes and stuff, so yeah, they could probably bomb the shit out of the Middle East if they really wanted to. And I'm starting to worry that they do.

Also, I think that perception of Islam in the Western media just lacks any kind of nuanced understanding. For example, they sees women in Burqa's and assume that their husbands are oppressing them. They judge their culture based on the morals that they've only developed over the last 40 years or so, and denounce it. They fail to understand how quickly their society has processed compared to others. Most Muslim nations were fully formed and working relatively well thousands of years ago, and then you've got America that barely 200 years ago were a group of colonies who were at fucking war with each other over slavery, which incidentally is something Islam had denounced for years. Now that the West is supposedly ahead, they judge the Middle East like they're some kind of moral authority figure, when only 60 years earlier most probably wouldn't have given it much thought if an openly gay dude was beaten up and killed on the streets. The secular West isn't exactly an old idea, and in some ways people are still fighting against it.

I think Americans have more to them than you give them credit for. Like I said above, as a culture, they've developed remarkably well, and the are probably the leading political power in the world today. They may have something of a cultural arrogance streak (which I hate), but even so I think America is probably one of the few true bastions of free speech and varied opinion in the world. I think that, if given the right information and any actual choice in political affairs, most would make the right decisions, but the problem is that their culture is so obsessed with and controlled by the media that big cultural shifts can take place almost solely as a result of the right marketing campaign or social media trend. And then it has an influence on political decisions too. I think it's one of the reasons Trump is getting uncomfortably close to being their next President - he's fucking brilliant when it comes to marketing himself and making himself an endearing character. Hell, even I kinda like him.

Refugees need time to settle, and it doesn't happen as quickly as people think. I know plenty of relatively devout Muslim families who are fairly insular, and while they haven't totally avoided assimilating into Australian culture, they've sort of kept inside of their own little bubble while also finding a place within Australian society. A foot in both sides, if you will. I hear people talking about how accepting refugees will wear down on a country's culture, and honestly I think that argument is just fucking stupid. Culture's aren't solid, they shift and evolve over time, and there's no maintaining a culture exactly how it is at any one time. Recorded history can be forgotten, but that doesn't change the impact that it had on a society. The Jews went through a massive attempted cultural (and literal) genocide in the late 40's, but they're still alive and kicking today, with a wealth of traditional knowledge and practices at their disposal. And in any case, there is no culture that is worth making an effort to preserve over the lives of thousands of people. So yeah, I agree that refugees should make an effort to learn about your customs if they want to keep living in your country, but at the same time, the fact that it's your country doesn't make you more entitled to be understood than they are.

In any case, they'd be greatly outnumbered, so the chances of them forcing others to adapt to their culture are slim at best.

I'm ignorant about Islam (not planning to change that) but the Islamic world is also ignorant about my customs

And that's the thing, isn't it? When both sides are completely unwilling to understand each other, all you have is a problem that'll never be solved. You know, until one side is completely dead.

>>27 Back in highschool when I was in a catholic school some of my classmates started bashing the Somalian community for trying to find 'their own kind' and not assimilating. The calmest answer I gave was that as much as they try, Anglo-celtic Australians can't provide them their culture that people are trying to rip away from them.

Of course they'd create their own Somalian sisterhoods, can an 'Aussie' really keep up with meeting in a big gathering once every few days?? Anglos would go mad. The Somalian community is HEAVILY reliant on each other. I wouldn't be able to cope. I don't expect them to get along with me as much, Pakistanis are mostly introverts.

What's with this issue of assimilation...Let's all be robots.

Oh btw.

Australia's citizenship test is a joke.

>>27
I beg to differ. It's not exactly easy to discern one group of Islam to another (with obvious exceptions like boko haram & ISIS).
And yes, America is famous world-wide as the bastion of free speech and liberal arts. Doesn't make their people any less dumber. It doesn't even have anything to do with politics, their education system is shit (psychologically speaking. I'm a psych student btw).

As for the part about being poor, yes it may play a big part, but that doesn't give the whole explanation. What Americans are probably worried about now is the power balance. With organisations like CAIR that sue companies for not allowing prayer breaks (this is what I mentioned about muslims imposing their needs on others), what would happen if tens of thousands of muslims come barging in? I think most Americans believe that they would be forced to compromise for the refugees needs'. It might not be that correct, but it's not entirely wrong. They are minorities, but they're not powerless. The term Islamophobia goes really far in courts.

As for the ignorance part, I'm gonna use the prayers break as an example. We don't have to completely understand each other. In fact, there's probably no need for that. It works with other minor religions, they can live comfortably in societies, but why not Islam? My take is that they demand too much. And lots of organisations are backing those demands. When you're moving to a new country, you can't make the country compromise. You have to compromise for the country instead. Isn't that the appropriate attitude?

>>28 There's a balance to be struck between adoption of the culture of the foreign culture you live in and maintaining the culture of your family, and some of the most well-adjusted people I've ever met are second-generation, devoutly Muslim Pakistani-Australians, who I'd imagine could comfortably live in either country.

There's nothing inherently wrong with immigrants seeking out and mixing with your their own culture, but at some point there has to be a level of concession in regards to cultural mixing otherwise there'll always been an element of "us" and "them" within multicultural societies, and I don't think it's healthy. It'll probably dissipate the more amount of time is spent with different sides getting used to each other.

Probably.

Put this somewhere else, but I'm going to put it here to, just so everyone knows. If you want to help those who have been affected by the Pulse Nightclub Shooting, visit their official GoFundMe campaign. Every donation helps a victim.

https://www.gofundme.com/PulseVictimsFund

>>30
That's what I was saying. In multicultural societies, there are indeed many different cultures, but they usually compromise and practice their cultures in private.
For muslims, a lot of people (especially first generation migrants) are unwilling to compromise so there will always be us vs them mentality.

They're probably going to assimilate. Or most likely one culture will be absorbed into the other. We'll know in a few centuries.

>>32 I didn't reply to your >>27 post coz I had to be somewhere and ran out of time writing it (I had a lot to say... again), but I think this is basically where we disagree. I think that some level of assimilation is a good thing, and near-complete assimilation into a society will probably help immigrants become more accepted. But that doesn't and shouldn't mean that people have to give up a large part of their identity by sacrificing any form of cultural display.

I don't know where you live, but most Muslims I know and are in contact with in Melbourne do practice their religion in private. Occasionally I see some guys praying in weird places, women wearing hijab's or even burqa's, but aside from the fact that I personally see that as... well, flaunting, for lack of a better word - I refuse to judge them in any kind of moral way because they're not really harming anyone with those actions.

Look, if it's not hurting anyone, I really don't think people should be made to feel obligated to practice their cultures in private just because they're living in a foreign country with different customs. If it pisses people off, that's because they're not used to it and it makes them uncomfortable, and that's a sentiment that will probably dissipate in time, but when they try to get them to stop acting in particular ways because it's "their" country and they just don't like it - well, that's not exactly reasonable, is it?

Coming back to Muslims, the think about Islam is that people are starting to see it as the religion of terrorism, and therefore any expression of it immediately makes some people uncomfortable and suspicious - which I understand, I really do, but it still makes me really fucking angry. As understandable - maybe even justifiable - as the sentiment is, it's still a form of bigotry, and it's incredibly unfair to the vast majority of Muslims who have done nothing wrong and probably never will.

Especially refugees who are fleeing a force as deadly as ISIS.

didn't the christina grimmie murder happen in the same city?

>>34

Yes, that also took place in Orlando.

I wasn't sure if I should put this in news or art but since this thread is already made I'll put it here.

Its hard to see but I included 49 white leaves on the neckline, sleeve cuffs, and sash for the victims of the shooting. My heart goes out to everyone who was at the club, and all of their loved ones as well. Please stay strong and hang in there <3

If anyone needs someone to talk to, my e-mail is nyx.dollars@gmail.com

>>35

odd coincidence.

I'm pretty sure this is linked to this event. Of course, this was just a Twitter threat so it's nothing to be sure of, but anyone planning on going to or being around this, please be safe!

>>39 Okay, what the hell is with our world being full of psychopaths?! Even if that's just some scare tactic or prank by some kid, the fact that they are twisted enough to even post that is just sickening.

Holy fucking shit we have to do something

Regarding >>39, please alert the police ASAP! The more calls about it, the more attention it will be given.

Now I haven't read everything so forgive me if this was already stated etc.

The thing is, in terms of religions etc beliefs, way of life etc. Who has actually read everything here. I.E Read the Bible but also the entierty of the Quran and all other religious texts. I mean, I honestly don't think many have. Maybe those that really study religion I guess.

These days, everyone wants to tolerate things. I have probably stated this so many times that people are getting sick of it. The truth is, people want to accept other people because thats "the right thing to do". People put up a front all the time. They want to look good but inside everyone is thinking different things. Hell even on the internet we all post different things in order to try not offend other people despite what we really think.

In terms of Islam. It doesn't matter if it is minority or not. The problem is that there are muslims doing acts of terrorism. Now, how do you tell that apart from the average muslim? Are you going to go straight up to them and ask them because I'm pretty sure anyone could say that they aren't a terrorist. Even if we ask the supposed "non-terrorists", they may quote and claim that Islam is a peaceful religion, but that's all they say. For all you know they could be secretly plotting terror attacks and you wouldn't know. This isn't restricted to Islam of course, this goes for everyone.

As for Islam being ignorant of your customs. I don't know if that's the case. I think the that they are specifically attacking you because of your customs. I think it's more an ignorance on the part of the western world who is trying to "tolerate" everything. Now I have muslim friends. Not every muslim is a terrorist. I think we all agree on that. However, I think it's important to learn what they teach. I don't think it's simply just "another" religion. Let's be honest here, me included (to an extent). How many of us here actually know what the Quran says in context. Full verses and not just short snips?

Shouldn't we all learn first what people believe before so actively saying no to it or even assimilating it. Well got to go, couldn't write all I wanted to so I'll end it short here.

>>43 I'll admit to not having read the Quran in its fullest yet, but I have read the full Bible. The Bible is a very violent thing promoting an incredible amount of hatred and intolerance. By breaking off and rewriting a less violent portion, calling it the New Testament, less extreme Christians have started pretending that the Old Testament is no longer relevant (despite the New Testament specifically saying all of God's laws are to be respected regardless of the book they are in) to avoid the stigma that comes with it.

However, that doesn't change that there are extremist Christians, including those who still consider the Old Testament to be part of God's teachings. Are we to just put up with that because it was already here? Is the darkness that Judeo-Christian religions teach more acceptable than the darkness that may be found in the Quran, simply because you've personally gotten used to hearing it?

We are tolerant of all religions. America was founded on and is the embodiment of religious freedom. It doesn't matter what their books say. If someone following them breaks a law, they are responsible for their actions, but they are free to worship whatever they want no matter how violent it may seem to outsiders.

You cannot persecute or ban people based on their thoughts, only their actions. That is the basis of American law, and it will not change simply because there are fearful people who do not understand it.

SENDING LOVE TO ALL THE VICTIM´S FAMILIES :( THIS HAS TO STOP.

I hope the shooting just doesn't take any other lives, let's hope the blood donations will help save the rest of them.

Ah, sorry I'm pretty behind on this news. However, I feel really sad about what had happened and I hope it doesn't happen again.

I think it's stupid that people instead of donating blood just change ther profile filter

>>50 Basically all Americans after the Paris attacks.

>>51
Basically all Americans anywhere, anytime.

Hmm, if people truly cared about the lives of the people victimized, wouldn't they be willing to donate their blood? Of course if it doesn't involve them they can't be bothered.

I think we all need to remember that not everyone (even if they wanted to) can donate blood, as they could not be the same blood type, not live in the area, or don't want to pass any health risks onto the victims. But if you think about it, doing something as simple as changing their Instagram filter, could show the victims that they aren't alone in their time of need.

>>54
And they're alone in any other time, say, after two weeks passed?
Social media reeks of hypocrisy. No amount of nice words and subtle gestures will change that.

>>55
When I said "alone" I didn't mean physically or mentally alone, since they will have their friends and family grieving with them and supporting them that way. The pint of the filter change is to show support, saying something like "we know it is far for you know, but we are here for you." If they mean it or not is a different convesrstion but it brings awareness to a problem. Worldwide awareness to those who have been affected greatly by an act of terror. Those affect won't be alone two weeks afterwards, our support is suppose to be encouragement. May it be empty or not is not something that I can confirm or deny.

During the attack, I was on a trip to Vegas. I wanted to give blood but by the time I got back the hospitals said they weren't taking more blood right now, hopefully that's changed. It sucks not being able to do anything and just wait. :(

I wish I was old enough/weighed enough to donate blood because I have O positive blood. I also wish I lived near Florida to be able to donate. It sucks that I have something that they need/needed and I wasn't able to help because of dumb rules and restrictions. It makes me feel bad that I couldn't do anything for these people that were injured...

>>58 But those restrictions are there to protect both you and the victims if you think about it, and you shouldn't feel bad if you live across the country but want to help. Instead, maybe if you have friends in that local area you could convince them to donate blood and do something like that. If you can't directly help you can always try indirectly.

>>58 Those restrictions exist to keep you from being injured from donating too much blood. The minimum amount they need to take for the process is too much for small/young bodies to handle. Don't take it personally.

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