HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2016-06-22, Page 44 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, June 22, 2016
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What's going on in Orlando?
e place nicknamed "The
City Beautiful,' has easily
lived up to its name in the
past. Recently though with all the
chaos looming around metropoli-
tan Orlando, not much is luring
me there or anyone else at that It
seems some locations where peo-
ple are supposed to feel the safest
are just not as secure as we all
thought they were. This is just a
guess, but I'm thinking the munic-
ipality, which saw 62 million tour-
ist in 2014, solidifying it as the
most visited geographical area in
North America -should expect a
decrease in travelers. It may not
affect the overall year much, but it
might playa negative role in the
numbers in the last couple weeks.
This murderous mayhem started
at "The Plaze Live, on Friday June
10 when YouTube sensation and
the NBC's "The Voice" contestant
signed autographs (note in a place
she should feel safe), to then be
gunned down or what I call an
assassination. Like, where is the
security? But on the other hand a
person taking some time out of
her quite likelybusy day should
not have to worry about some
crazed man with not one but two
handguns accompanied by a pair
of loaded magazines as well as a
darn hunting knife. That is just
ridiculous, not only is it sad that
she was only 22 -years -old, it's also
not fair because this young
woman according to several pop
icons like Selena Gomez and
Adam Levine, she hadn't even cli-
maxed yet in her short career. It
was looking as though 2016 would
Secularism proposal
Wen the Parti Quebe-
ois went down to
c
defeat in April 2014, its
odious values charter went
down with it. Now, Jean-Fran-
csois Lisee is bringing it back
onto the public agenda --
although given that his party is
in opposition, it's more insult
than injury.
The policy paper on secularism
published last week by the PQ
MNA and leadership candidate is
more limited in scope and less
coercive than the original charter.
However, it is nearly as troubling.
Lisee would bar judges, police
officers and prison guards from
wearing what he calls religious
symbols. Unlike the former gov-
ernment's charter, his would not
Column
Shaun Gregory
be her breakout year. It's just
downright nonsense how some-
one can end all your hopes and
dreams in a matter of seconds. For
what? As it stands and alleged by
several media outlets, the man
was 27 -year-old, Kevin James
Loibl of St. Petersburg, Florida.
From what it's reported he was an
obsessed fan. Not only is this terri-
ble that this singer has lost her life,
do you knowwhat this does to
future singers? I can only specu-
late, but the next superstar is prob-
ably going to think twice about
signing autographs, let alone feel
safe in a venue that's meant to
embrace them as artists, while
showing respect to the fans who
adore them. And to think this car-
nage was a fragment of what
would happen a day later. A short
13 -minute car ride from one
another is where the Pulse night-
club is located. An oasis where
gays, lesbians, transgender etc,
could let loose, be themselves with
no consequence. Well at least
that's what they thought. Instead
of dancing and enjoying their
necessarily extend that ban to
other public -sector employees --
although he leaves open the pos-
sibility it could be applied to new
hires. And unlike the charter's
prohibition only of "ostenta-
tious" symbols, Lisee's rules
would apply regardless of size.
Call it "values lite:' But like the
original, this version is fundamen-
tallymisguided. In the name of
upholding state secularism -- a
principle Quebecers are pretty
much unanimous on, notwith-
standing the prominent crucifix in
the National Assembly -- he would
needlessly trample on religious
freedoms, in away that would
affect certain non-Christian reli-
gions more than others.
Considering hijabs or
night with people that share the
same preferences and sexuality as
they do, the patrons hid for cover
during a shooting that would kill
49 and injured dozens. The event
is considered to be the deadliest
mass shooting on U.S. soil. When I
first heard this I was in shock It
disturbed me for quite some time.
People that are from the LGBT
community have enough on their
plate. Of course it's not the same
as it was a decade ago, however
being gay these days is no walk in
the park It comes with criticism,
judgment and misunderstanding.
Forme, I just don't get it. Do you
think these people choose to be
gay? Yeah right, so theyjustwake
up brush their teeth and say well,
I'm gay today. No actually, a lot of
people are bom like this and so
what, if they do getup and want to
be gay, it's their life. I live like the
Michael Jackson song, "it don't
matter if you're black or white" or
some new words to add to the
song gay, lesbian, bisexual, hetero-
sexual or you simply do not know
what you are yet, so be it Okay, say
you do have a problem with these
types of people, why go to a gath-
ering where they seclude them-
selves with an automatic assault
rifle and start shooting? Perhaps
as time moves on there will be
some questions answered as to
why, the killer, Omar Mateen did
what he did. What a crazy week-
end for the city of Orlando, two
horrific shootings in two days. It
was to some extent calmed down
as the weekend finally came to an
end. People were still in the
yarmulkes or Sikh turbans to be
merely symbols, like a discreet
cross pendant might be, may
apply a single standard to every-
one, but the effect is discrimina-
tory. There is nothing in Christian-
ity that requires the devout to wear
religious jewelry, though some
people choose to. However, some
other religions mandate not just
beliefs, but also behaviours, such
as covering the head. Lisee is also
missing something important
when he equates wearing "reli-
gious symbols" with displays of
personal convictions like environ-
mentalism. Thus, `values lite" still
would curb freedom of religion
and/or exclude the faithful of
some religions from certain jobs.
The state should have no
hospital for gun shot wounds, the
media looked at the story from
multiple angles like they always do
when there is tragedy of this mag-
nitude. Maybe this was it. Perhaps
the city had dealt with enough
stress in 72 hours. The following
Tuesday proved that statement to
be incorrect. The place that racks
in more than a billion dollars a
year is where the additional tur-
moil would continue -Disney
World. Which is give or take, with a
vehicle, roughly 18 minutes away
from Pulse. Sitting by the shallow
water's edge with his parents close
by, Lane Graves, 2, splashed in the
lagoon waters. Out of nowhere
identical to the other two atroci-
ties, death came creeping up, this
lime there was no gun, more like a
1.2 to 2 metre long alligator. The
reptile latched onto the boy and
into the dark night, vanished. The
father attempted to wrestle the
animal, but was unsuccessful. The
next day the boy would be found
and pronounced dead, with
drowning the apparent cause of
death. After this happened, it was
like what else could be next for the
city? It's hard to comprehend
these three disasters happened in
four days within a distance similar
to that from Seaforth to Goderich.
I just hope the city can come back
to life and rise above these cata-
strophic happenings. Signing out
from the Expositor office on Main
Street, Shaun AKA the guy who is
wishing nothing but positivity and
closure for the families and friends
who knew the people in these
three horrific events.
religion, but that does not mean
each of its agents must person-
ally be religion -free; the state
has no gender, but its employ-
ees aren't expected to hide
theirs. Rather, all agents of the
state must be required to
behave in a professional, secu-
lar, politically neutral manner.
While Lisee would avoid coer-
cive measures in other sectors,
he would have the government
make its preferences known,
something that would send a
disturbing message of
exclusion.
By all means, let's ensure our
state is secular. And that starts
with not curbing freedom of reli-
gion or discriminating against
citizens on religious grounds.
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