Cooper: Too soon to spin Orlando

Dr. Mohsin Ali speaks to Chattanooga mourners Sunday during a prayer vigil at the Islamic Society of Greater Chattanooga in response to an Orlando, Fla., mass shooting earlier on Sunday.
Dr. Mohsin Ali speaks to Chattanooga mourners Sunday during a prayer vigil at the Islamic Society of Greater Chattanooga in response to an Orlando, Fla., mass shooting earlier on Sunday.

Read more about the Orlando massacre

No angle, connection, tie, assignment, linkage or membership of any aspect of the terrorist attack on a nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Sunday morning compares to the stark loss of life.

None.

Forty-nine people who were dancing, drinking, laughing, talking with friends and minding their own business are dead. More than that number are injured.

The potential of those more than four dozen dead was limitless. Some may have helped cure diseases, some become parents, some publish best-sellers, some become politicians.

The innocent dead should be the starting point of all perspectives on what happened. That the nightclub goers were gay, that the assassin was Muslim, that he was a registered Democrat, that he bought his guns legally, that he'd been looked at by the FBI, that he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State during the terror attack should take a back seat at least at the beginning to what was lost.

Unfortunately, since we know so much so soon from the internet, from social media, from the immediate access of smartphones, that's not what typically happens. We react. We spread facts. We spread rumors. We tell what someone else heard. We mix in our ideologies. We add our own spin.

Suspected killer Omar Mateen has ties to terrorist groups. He was a lone wolf. Too many guns are the problem. Too few guns are the problem. Christians are the problem. Muslims are the problem. Republicans are the problem. President Obama is the problem. Gays are the problem. People who believe homosexuality is immoral are the problem.

In time, the truth and the dead are quickly lost in a hazy, emotionally laden, finger-pointing cesspool of words.

But we can't go back, nor should we.

Instant communication allowed law enforcement authorities to reach the scene sooner, to identify the shooter more quickly, to know his background faster and to look into his past as soon as possible. In time, they'll be able to better understand why the incident happened and how they might prevent similar incidents in the future.

In the meantime, though, we're left to deal with the fringes.

Should we, a la Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, ban Muslims from entering the United States? If we could ban just the ones we know will be violent, we should do it. Of course that's not possible. Mateen, though, was born here.

Should we ban assault weapons of the type the shooter used in his slaughter? If we could collect all the ones currently in the possession of anyone who plans to use them for nefarious purposes, we should do it. Of course that's not possible. And the shooter bought his legally.

Should we blame homosexuals for inciting Mateen to take the action he did, as was suggested by his father? If we knew the behavior of homosexuals was significantly more deviant than that of heterosexuals, we should point that out. Of course that's not true. And Mateen should have had the self-possession to keep his feelings to himself.

No one today can say definitively why a divorced, Muslim security guard from Fort Pierce, Fla., killed 49 innocent people as jumping, thumping music enticed attendees to dance in a central Florida nightclub. Anyone who says they do, knows how to fix it or assigns blame isn't worth listening to.

The truth will emerge, just as it did in the Chattanooga terrorist attack more than 10 months ago, and maybe it will match the spin and maybe it won't. But today is for the dead, a time to mourn the loss of potential, a time to think of what might have been, a time to realize what never will be. And to weep.

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