As I write this Tuesday morning in a safe suburb, eight miles from the site on Boylston Street of yesterday's awful Boston Marathon bombing, the radio news announcer in the background just stated that the investigation is "ongoing and fluid." An earlier report explained that the "search for answers continues" as to who committed the attack and why.
In other words we don't know -- or at least authorities have not yet disclosed -- what really went down yesterday, other than the carnage reports that describe three dead (one an eight-year-old from Dorchester killed shortly after hugging his daddy, who had just crossed the finish line) and 176 admitted to local hospitals, including some still in critical condition. Two brothers watching the race each reportedly lost a leg.
Yet this vacuum of definitive information on who was responsible did not stop me from venturing my view to a friend last night as to who the likely suspect(s) might be. Since I have no actual knowledge of who did this, it was an exercise in pure speculation and by this morning I realize I should not not have offered an opinion, when I lacked the facts.
Which gets me to thinking about how terrible events like this form a kind of Rorschach test, in which many of us probably fall into the trap I did of projecting our preconceptions, when in fact we simply don't yet know.
I remember eighteen years ago this week, when news broke of the horrendous bombing at the Oklahoma City federal building, which killed 168. There were preliminary reports of someone "of Middle Eastern appearance", who was allegedly involved. It turned out the perpetrator was the distinctly Caucasian-looking Timothy McVeigh.
It seems that every time we learn of one of these incidents it sets off a national guessing game, which itself may be harmless, but what I notice is how the speculation reveals the lens through which we are looking. While the FBI collects the residue of yesterday's tragedy and forensic testing has begun in what Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis today called the "most complex crime scene" in the history of his department, we leap to conclusions that more than anything mirror our prejudices, and that may turn out to be unfounded.
Were yesterday's blasts the handiwork of al-Qaeda? White supremacists? Gun nuts who fear encroachment on the 2nd Amendment? Anti-government activists aggrieved by Tax Day? Eco-terrorists? North Koreans? A deranged lone wolf with no agenda other than to seize headlines or perhaps get back at someone who ruined their childhood? None of the above?
Given the massively photographed events yesterday in Copley Square and the powerful law enforcement resources that have been brought to bear, it is likely that investigators will piece together a more detailed picture of what actually happened and may identify specific suspects before long. But for now we're left with only with rumors and our imaginings -- and what they reveal about the assumptions we reflexively make before the facts become clear.