Another School Shooting? Protect Yourself — From the Media!
This article was organically published in 2018. Some things never change.
Have you noticed that the media uses a standard formula when covering school shootings?
Only in the beginning do they report the Who, What Where and When of the tragedy. Immediately after reporting the news, they focus on the individual victims and their families, focusing on the emotional suffering they are experiencing.
At this point, the media is no longer reporting news and have shifted into influencing the emotions of viewers. Witnessing the emotions of others creates the sensation of those same emotions in us.
Emotions are contagious.
Back in 1991, Italian researchers were exploring how the brain controls muscles. They had implanted sensors into the motor cortex of a monkey and connected a busser that would go off when go off when motor neurons fired causing a muscle to move. One day a researcher returned from lunch with an ice cream cone. A buzz indicated that the monkeys neurons had fired, but the monkey had not moved.
This marks the discovery of “mirror neurons.”
We all understand that our thoughts drive our behaviors. Something not quite so apparent is our ability to predict the thoughts of others by…
