Mass hypnosis is, by definition, ubiquitous, seemingly everywhere, affecting everyone. Am I unwittingly the victim of mass brainwashing? Can I discern the difference between social media's portrayal of reality and actual 'on the street' life? Is my worldview being shaped by the Machine that selectively shows me only a few minutes or hours of activity from the billions of daily interactions of eight billion people and organizations? I am striving to unearth and survey my own buried, perhaps invisible biases and hidden thoughts through a process of relentless 'but maybe' cross-examination questions to myself. I find it easy to follow me around for a month to observe my natural behavior rather than get lost in my head in a unique, subjective world of swirling thoughts and feelings. To that point, I feel a fire burning in my heart to focus on helping others remember that we are all of the same species. We can all do much better collectively through peace and cooperation. Alas, my message may sound like the words of a hopeful idealist, but I am a realist. Liking tangible proof of claims and reports, I dug into deep research about 'man's inhumanity to man' and was dismayed to learn the unfathomable depths of depravity. To repair my mood, I chose instead to study the biographies of persons that made me feel proud of people in this Anthropocene period. I refocused on the best of what it means to be human. To me, the best is universally shared bonds of trust, compassion, and love, an appreciation of all creation, especially our neighbors. Sadly, our collective mind is young in terms of geologic time. Our brainstem’s reticular system is wired with many 'fight or flight' self-preservation synaptic triggers. And thank goodness for that! Let's become more self-aware. Let’s not get lost in the bad news, which constantly bombards our senses. Monica Guzman refers to these neurochemical synaptic spikes as 'dopamine lollipops.’ To heal my media-infected blue attitude, I've researched the honorable side of human nature to restore my faith in humankind. Now, I feel better and can see things from a dispassionate, elevated point of view. Who's driving my brain anyway, external stimuli or my own consciously chosen second thoughts?
This article in this series will be concise for two reasons: 1) It's a nasty subject that is already amply covered by many other researchers and writers; 2) My preference is to move beyond statistical reports and societal trends to defining root causes of violence, and to suggest some proactive strategies for mitigating workplace violence. As case studies abound, instead, I will share observations about the core reasons for workplace violence and some ideas for how to prepare for and prevent violence. AI suggested providing statistics and case studies, which will be listed below in the reference area. I do not want to flood your mind here with evidence of man's inhumanity to man. You already know that mass shootings have transitioned decades ago from a rare occurrence to hundreds every year, so I won't bore you with bloody references. Overall, during the past few years, there has been a downward trend in violence in our cities' streets. To me, the real tragedy is that we have been conditioned to accept violence as commonplace and usual, when we should be outraged at the continual loss of lives and sanity. Alas, many seem too mesmerized by the latest bad news event to stop and focus on preventive measures. Enlightened leaders install workplace violence policies and protocols.
Given the popularity and propensity of quick-fix recipes, systems, solution processes, or courses, including everything from the Tyranny of Noisehow to cut a mango to how to live the perfect life, I've decided to venture where cynics go to share ideas on how to screw up everything in your personal and business life. This is intended as tongue-in-cheek discourse and a public confession (albeit craftily embedded within) about my bad and sometimes embarrassingly inappropriate decisions. 'Negative assertion,' a concept taught in the 80s in Assertiveness 101, always delights.
December 25th commemorates the birth of the most influential, controversial life, that of Jesus Christ, whose teachings centered on the phrase "Love one another." This universal ideal is a vision of a utopian society resonating with peace and harmony. However, despite this lovely aspiration, we confront a sobering reality of a world of persistent "wars and rumors of wars," casting doubts for many about the possibility of society ever attaining an enduring peace and power equilibrium worldwide. Often, particularly from young people, I hear discouragement and negative expectations about the future. The contemporary state of our global affairs is a disheartening landscape. Societal discord, aggravated by wealth inequality, ethnocentric prejudices, mismanagement of natural resources, and ingrained biases, paints a bleak picture of our collective future. Today's youth grow up in a world where negativity, although not representative of the larger reality, dominates daily news noise, including distressing reports of an average of two mass shootings per day. The mass migration from personal tete-a-tete conversations in actual rooms to virtual communications has accelerated narcissism. Our self-interest drives us to draw the attention of Facebook contacts by posting pictures from our personal lives, environs, and even our meals. Instead of dwelling solely on negative trends, let’s probe deeper into the underlying societal shifts and their root causes. Toward the end of this article, we'll explore the multifaceted nature of love as defined by the ancient Greeks. Even in conflict, such as war, an underlying motivation emerges, love for one's country, a form of self-love. Numerous surveys conducted in the United States indicate a decline in empathy over the past four decades, with the recent acceleration attributed to factors like the prolonged lockdown, increased social media dependence, and online addiction.
The January 2026 Minneapolis tragedies—especially the ICE murders of Renée Nicole Good and ICU nurse Alex Jeffrey Pretti—have evolved from ‘breaking news’ to what psychologists term a ‘cascade of collective traumas.’ The relentless flow of disturbing reports significantly impacts people, both positively and negatively, creating fertile ground for those who profit from chaos and confusion. The Minnesota failures of our safety system are ‘critical error’ messages in our social contract. ICE criminal abuse events, captured on high-resolution video and distributed via 24/7 news cycles, are a profound psychological ‘distraction engine’ that directly impacts the modern workforce, everybody from the custodial engineer down to the lowly and humble CEO.
Like you, I am always trying to make sense of things, especially the deepest, most perplexing, confusing, or foreign things. As a much younger man, one of the most foreign things I’ve never really completely understood was how global trade magically and smoothly emeshes the distribution of natural resources and manufactured components for goods for the 166 World Trade Organization members. Recently, I’ve re-learned that global trade is anything but smooth and simple. In fact, the experts taught me how to properly perceive the reality of the current world trade situation and its inevitable trajectory towards increasing chaos and uncertainty. So, here’s a curious outsider’s insights into a complex and politicized arena: international trade.
The American business landscape is silently bleeding. For decades, a hidden, metastasizing cost has consumed profits, eroded competitive advantage, and driven employee anxiety: the national healthcare crisis. Often cited as the second-highest expense on a company’s balance sheet, healthcare spending today represents a systemic failure, offering diminishing returns for escalating premiums. It is a cost that CEOs have learned to dread, manage, but never truly solve.