Matthew Knott

I heard someone say once that they don't understand how people can be upset when someone dies they didn't even know. The scenario they were refering to is when you hear that someone died, some person you've never heard of, and you feel upset by it.

It was implied that being upset by the death of an unknown is a weakness, that you are feeling what the media want you to feel. 

I think this is one of the most closed minded opinions I've heard. You hear about deaths all the time, murders, rape, suicide. Generally I don't get upset, but there are exceptions. One that comes to mind is the death of Rhys Jones. The young boy shot to death in Liverpool. This upset me because as a father, I can imagine by proxy the grief the boys parents must feel. I find myself engrosed in the emotions sometimes, feel that pain and have to force myself to stop thinking about it. You just can't help but think about the life that boy could've led.

The other one, and most recent, is Sean Kenedy. The reason I'm upset by this is that it's such a painful story of a kind soul and the injustice of the world we live in and the hate directed towards different groups. 

I'm aware that I'm rambling, but I'll keep going. I know that by talking about this, I'm not actually doing any good, I don't think I put across any reason to stop hating, to stop the violence, mainly because I don't know what I could say. I don't understand it. I think I can say that I've never hated anyone because of sexual preference, nationality, or creed. I've hated people before, but I can count them on one hand, and mostly because of the misery and suffering they've caused me. But to hate someone because they are gay, to murder someone because they are a homosexual, I just can't comprehend it. Was Steven Moller (Sean Kennedys Murderer) that afraid, that threatened by a kind sweet 20 year old boy that he felt compelled to threaten and kill him?

I want to help change perceptions and feeling, but I don't know if it's too late for the likes of Moller. The education needs to take place from the earliest oportunity. The problem, especially in America, is that so-called Christians are brainwashing their children that homosexuality is wrong. People told Sean Kennedy's mother that Sean was in hell, and that she would go to hell for loving him and trying to defend gay rights. How can a human being who considers them selves a good person, a Christian, go to a grieving mother, also a Christian, and tell her that her son is in hell. To an aethiest, that's one thing, but to someone who believes in heaven and hell, it's just unacceptable. Is it any wonder that the institution of the church is in decline?

Although I don't really subscribe to any religious belief, there are aspects of a number of religions that I admire, peace, compassion, love, and helping those in need. How does a Christian Minister preaching that homosexuality is a sin, differ in any way to a Muslim Cleric preaching hate against the west?

The answer is there is no difference, it's inciting hatred, and these people should be bought to justice now, because until they do, America, and the rest of the world that allow this type of behaviour to continue, are total hypocrits.