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World, Media, Social Media Reaction to Orlando Gay Nightclub Shootings (UPDATED)

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World, national and new and old media reaction to the massacre at an Orlando gay nightclub by a pro-ISIS gunman that took 50 lives — the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history — is pouring in. Much of it is shocked, much of it is grieving, some reaction from government officials has been expressed grief and outrage, and some of the political reaction has been thoughtful and some truly craven. Here’s a sampling.

World reaction was swift:

Many of the leaders offering solidarity following the shooting in Orlando are from countries, such as France and Belgium, that have suffered their own horrific attacks recently.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel was one of the first leaders to send out condolences on Twitter, saying he was “deeply saddened.” In March, the self-described Islamic State group claimed a terror attack in Belgium’s capital of Brussels that killed 32 people.

…A number of members of Britain’s government, including Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, tweeted out their support on Sunday. Khan, the city’s first Muslim mayor, added the pro-LGBT rights hashtag “#lovewins” to his message of solidarity.

…French President Francois Hollande, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and the official city of Paris Twitter account all voiced their support and sympathies for those affected by the killings in Orlando. An ISIS terror attack in Paris last November that targeted a number of locations, including the Bataclan concert hall, killed 130 people and injured hundreds.

…Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Foreign Affairs Minister Borge Brende both sent out their condolences to the victims and families following the attack. Norway suffered a horrific mass shooting in 2011, when anti-Muslim terrorist Anders Behring Breivik killed 69 people — the majority of them teenagers — on the tiny island of Utoya.
…
Isreali President Reuven Rivlin called the attack “cowardly” on Twitter, and said his country stands with the United States. A terror attack in Tel Aviv, Israel, last week killed four people at a popular market, and wounded more than a dozen.

US political leaders of both parties immediately reacted with condolences. Politics was put on the backburner — but not for long. Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump, who had earlier Tweeted about the event, didn’t waste long turning the event into being about him


In fact, at the time he sent his tweet there was no solid proof that this had to do with radical Islam.

It also raised an issue about Trump: if his reaction was so instantaneous, without actual facts confirming his assertion, what does it say about how he’d react during a crisis that could involve or require the use of nuclear weapons? In fact, it fits in with an analysis on Politico that concludes Trump’s finger may not be the safest to have on the nuclear button.


UPDATE: And Trump didn’t even wait perfunctory amount of time before going into full, political demonizing mode: he later issued a statement blasting President Barack Obama and presumptive Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and promises a major address tomorrow.

The Verge ran the headline: “Donald Trump takes time to congratulate himself after deadliest shooting in US history.” Part of its post:

More than 50 people were killed this morning when a man, reportedly angry after seeing two men kissing in Miami, attacked a gay nightclub in Orlando. As the media hunts down and publishes every detail about the perpetrator’s life — including his alleged allegiance to ISIS — one man and his supporters are congratulating themselves for seeing it coming.

After quoting some of Trump’s tweets the piece went on to say:

The same tune is being played among Trump’s supporters on Reddit and elsewhere, where conversation about the attacks and media coverage quickly spiraled into a conspiracy theory about suppression of news related to Islamic terrorism. (The shooter was described by his ex-wife to The Washington Post as “violent and mentally unstable,” but “not very religious.”)

Charles Johnson noted about Trump’s initial batch of tweets, including those after he patted himself on the back: “Not a word of sympathy for the victims of this horrible attack.”

President Barack Obama:

Witnesses:

BBC report on the shooter:

A witness:

A mother of one of the missing:

A cross section of reaction on Twitter:


















Photo by Nastytroll (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

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