The interval of elapsed time between the first knowledge of a senseless firearms massacre, police shooting or civil mass murder and the determination of whether the shooter was black or white, Jihadi or wingnut.

It determines whether one’s indignant response is directed at or designed to shame Conservative or Liberal, Christian or Muslim Fundamentalist, racist white cop or black ghetto thug.

C’mon, be honest with yourself. Upon first hearing of one of these incidents, don’t you cringe until all the facts are in before you log on to social media and either vent your self-righteous indignation or prepare to defend the indefensible?

Just think of the latest mass shooting in Orlando. Is this another example of Islamic terrorism, or a homophobic hate crime? (No, it can’t be both, we prefer to direct our outrage at an ideology we despise, and see our team as blameless victims.) Who do we get to blame for this? Its only 12:40 EDT, not all the facts are public yet, its still too early to tell yet.

We live in interesting times.