First, a thanks to Warren Kinsella for posting this story (not gonna lie, I mine a lot of interesting stuff from his site).
This story speaks to a theme I have raised here time and again; people are not instinctively in control of their actions and more often than they realize, confabulate explanations for things they have done.
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Why?
Why would police officers, charged with keeping the peace and serving the interests of justice, automatically assume a horrific story was just that and not pursue the matter further? Why would our immigration minister suggest violence against minorities in Europe can’t be as bad as all that, despite the evidence and history that say otherwise? Why would micromanagers continue to stifle employees despite the evidence that doing so negatively impacts the bottom line and encourages turnover? Why would an organization committed to ending discrimination hyper-target a specific group and marginalize them? From the other end of the spectrum – what causes people to confabulate delusions of conspiracy theories?
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Our brains are complex machines, wired into other complex machines (our bodies) which in turn are gears in an even grander machine – society. Internal and external factors have significant impact on how our brains function cognitively; a lack of sleep or food impacts thought, external stress or joy can impact emotional content in thought, substances like caffeine or alcohol, or anti-depressants or stimulants, can equally impact what goes on in our noggins.
Think of your car – what happens if you don’t wash it? Rust. What happens if you get your suspension out of alignment and don’t get it fixed? What if the battery dies out, or you run out of gas? What happens if a car that hasn’t been kept in good shape loses control on a busy highway? The function of the machine and of the system of which it is a part is thrown out of equilibrium. Better yet, think of the body; if you hurt one leg and are limping, that can impact your other leg, your spine and as such, your whole physical well-being Our brains are part of that body. Who we self-identify as; unique individuals, personalities, souls – are all products of this machine.
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But it wasn’t fake, was it?
I could go on and on with examples of limbic, reactive, defiant or protective behaviour that goes contrary to the facts. I don’t need to, though, because you see them in the headlines every day.
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That issue is cognitive function, reactive vs proactive thinking – mental health. When we truly get what mental health, cognitive function and innovation are about, we can nurture the balance between thoughtfulness and action – but we can only get there if we’re doing it consciously.
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