The massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando early Sunday morning was an unthinkable tragedy that serves as a chilling reminder that homophobia still exists, says a Brock University professor<\/p>\n
Julian Kitchen, an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education, says the killings prove there\u2019s still a long way to go when it comes to equality.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis reminds us that the fight for rights and for acceptance isn\u2019t over,\u201d says Kitchen. \u201cAs a gay man, this creates feelings of vulnerability.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt used to be an act of courage to go to or march in a (gay pride) parade. More recently it has become more of a celebration. I think this will add a certain amount of gravity to the celebrations this month.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a Faculty of Education professor, Kitchen instructs future teachers on how to handle diversity issues in the classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best way to prevent big things like this is to address the little things,\u201d he says, pointing to bullying issues like name-calling or shoving as things that lead to bigger problems.<\/p>\n
Another Brock associate professor, Angela Book, from the Department of Psychology, researches topics such as psychopathy and victim selection.<\/p>\n
She says the terrorist responsible for the attack in Orlando is a textbook narcissist.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe narcissism makes them think that they deserve to do this,\u201d she says. \u201cIf they\u2019re disenfranchised, one way they think they can get famous is by doing something like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Book is concerned that media coverage focusing on the shooter or highlighting that it was the deadliest attack ever will make others think they should do something similar \u2014 trying to beat the record in some sort of sick, psychotic contest.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s upsetting that they give so much attention to it and the person. They\u2019re using headlines that only encourage copycats,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely a danger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brock University President Jack Lightstone also issued a statement Monday morning cautioning against reprisals for the \u201creprehensible\u201d massacre.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cOver the weekend at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, 49 persons were shot to death and about 50 others were wounded when a gunman, self-proclaiming allegiance to the \u2018Islamic State\u2019 (IS), opened fire with an automatic assault weapon. The massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando early Sunday morning was an unthinkable tragedy that serves as a chilling reminder that homophobia still exists, says a Brock University professor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":39619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3319,4052,1],"tags":[3418,546,98,522,4185,4187,4186,29],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39618"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39618"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39622,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39618\/revisions\/39622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u201cIn the past it has been my practice to issue statements when shooting incidents have occurred in educational settings, on the campuses of sister institutions, however I feel compelled to also speak out in this instance.
\n\u201cThis is the largest number of victims of any mass shooting in the United States (or Canada). That the victims apparently were targeted specifically due to their sexual orientation makes this act of violence all the more reprehensible, if murdering innocents were not reprehensible enough.
\n\u201cI should like to express my personal and Brock\u2019s sympathies to the families of the victims and to the survivors. I also wish to state that any act of reprisal against our Muslim friends and neighbours would be equally reprehensible and cowardly. Bigotry is not the answer to bigotry. Rather we all need a society in which empathy is increasingly the norm.\u201d
\n<\/em>
\n\u2014 Jack Lightstone, President and Vice-Chancellor, Brock University<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"