The hate-filled synagogue shooting represent what is wrong with our society

Acts of hate, be it physical or verbal, are repugnant and have no room in our society any longer. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

Eleven.

That is the number of people killed in a senseless, hate-motivated shooting Saturday morning at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

Robert D. Bowers, 46, is the man authorities say was behind the heinous act.

As he fired shot after shot, his words pierced as well, allegedly shouting, “All Jews must die.”

However, it was not the first time Bowers used hate speech. On his Gab account, a social media site similar to Facebook, his anti-Semitic nature was clear.

“…jews are the children of Satan,” his bio on the site said, according to The Washington Post.

It is 2018, not 1945.

Hate against Jews, or an ethnic group of any kind for that matter, was not OK then, and it is certainly not OK now.

Unfortunately, this is not the only act of hate in recent memory.

Just last week, Cesar Sayoc, a man from South Florida and passionate supporter of President Donald Trump, allegedly mailed packages containing explosive devices to a number of Trump’s political adversaries all over the country.

Before Sayoc was Parkland, before Parkland was Las Vegas and before Las Vegas was Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.

All senseless. All despicable. All hateful.

The conversations between the American public that follow these acts can often be divisive in their nature as well.

Divisiveness is not the way to solve an issue, it heightens it.

No matter your stance on issues such as gun control, the victims of senseless events like the one in Pittsburgh should not be catalysts for more hate to be spread between two opposing sides. Instead, tragedy should unite us.

It is time for the people of our nation to realize that there is more that unites us than divides us. Political affiliation, race, gender and religion are not what makes us different, it is what makes us unique.

Terrorism, be it domestic or international, has no place in our society.

The blatant attempt to incite fear into the hearts and minds of others for personal or political gain is not just wrong, it is also regressive.

In a time where the fight for civil and equal rights are at the forefront of the conversation in nations all over the world, the U.S. should not be defined by the acts of terror and hate carried out time and time again.

 

Jesse Stokes is a junior majoring in political science.