12 June 2016

Best not to jump to conclusions about the Orlando massacre

Updated. Our natural tendency as humans is connecting the dots that are available, even if that draws a picture that’s incomplete and misleading. We find clarity in what’s vague, and only a single possibility in what’s ambiguous. That brings the closure we seek, but it also takes us down wrong roads and blinds us to the road to truth. Initially remaining agnostic about an event’s causes is the intellectually prudent approach, but it requires considerable self-discipline and tends to infuriate those who are certain that the known facts permit only one conclusion.

I’m not ready to conclude at this point that the massacre in Orlando was anything more than the horrible act of a madman. According to the Huffington Post, the gunman’s father says his son was “…not driven by religious ideology, but did grow upset after seeing two gay men kissing in Miami a few months ago.” That’s undoubtedly not the last word on the subject — sons do things and become persons that surprise and appall their fathers — but it does suggest that there’s wisdom in not yet concluding the murders were an act of Islamic terror orchestrated by ISIS or Al Qaeda.

Update at 1415 MDT

The NY Times reports that 20 minutes into the massacre, the gunman called 911 and “pledged allegiance” to ISIS. That does not mean he was recruited by ISIS agents. He might have been self-radicalized, which would not be good news.

This will help Donald Trump.