[Neurons] 2020 Neurons #30 WE WERE UNITED, THEN WE WEREN'T

Mon Jun 15 00:45:10 EDT 2020

From: L. Michael Hall 

2020 Neurons #30

June 15, 2020

Thinking for a Living series #16

WE WERE UNITED, THEN WE WEREN'T

For the days immediately following the gruesome death of George Floyd, the
nation was united.  With one voice everybody on the right and on the left
said, "Enough is enough, that is not right, no policeman should ever do
that."  The justice process went into gear- the men were immediately fired
and within a couple days, the chief perpetrator of the unjust violence
against an unarmed man was arrested and charged with murder.  So far, so
good.  Immediately also the president of the United issued an executive
order to expedite the pursuit of justice.  Even better!

Immediately there were protests and they were fine- they were respectful and
peaceful.  But after two days of protests something happened.  Riots.  Not
respectful and not peaceful people (hoodlums) hijacked the protests and when
darkness came- out came their darkness as they set fires, looted, threw
stones, started fights, attacked the police, destroyed 100-plus businesses,
and many other criminal acts, felonies and after two weeks, several people
were dead, including police who were there to provide security and
protection. 

What kind of thinking -or lack of thinking(!)- engenders that kind of
barbarity and chaos?  Obviously lots of cognitive distortions (childish and
primitive thinking) amplified by fear, anger, hatred, etc.  People
over-generalized that "all" police are the same.  False.  People judged,
blamed, and mind-read ulterior motives and drew false conclusions.  Wrong.
People personalized and awfulized one (or a few) outlier events.
Dysfunctional. [See Neurons #26, Cognitive Distortions Among Protesters.]

The kind of thinking that creates such chaos and hatred also included
multiple kinds of Cognitive Biases such as unjustified assumptions like
"systemic racism" which is nonsense when you consider that the Police
Department in almost all of the major cities with the riots are made up of a
majority of minorities. [Neurons #29]

Then there is the group-think bias.  This social bias occurs within nearly
every group and is an occupational hazard for a highly cohesive group. It
leads to ethnocentricity bias, the bandwagon bias and lies at the heart of
mob mentality.  Why is it, or how is it, that individuals will do things,
unethical things, immoral things, things they would never consider
doing-then they are caught up in a mob.  How is it that, in those moments,
they lose their individuality and the mentality of the group takes over?

It usually occurs at night.  When darkness comes and people's voices rage in
chants and calls for mindless, thoughtless ideas - people then get into
state, perhaps a state of anger and rage, perhaps a state self-righteous
revenge and destructiveness.  Curfews are designed to limit things so people
don't get more and more stirred up until they are in an irrational and
out-of-control state.  So resisting the curfew is passive aggression and
soon becomes full-fledged aggression.  Then businesses burn, neighborhood
communities are destroyed, more violence and injustice is perpetuated and
the cycle continues.

We were united, then we weren't.  Some city counsels, mayors, and governors
took the route of trying to appease the rioters (not the protestors).
Others mayors and governors took a stand for law and order and established a
firm stance against looting, shootings, burnings, etc.  Now we became
divided all over again, this time about how to handle social unrest and
riots.

The irrationality of "defunding the police" foolishly assigns blame to those
trying to solve the problem.  99% of police are not like Derek Chauvin.  99%
disavow what Derek Chauvin did and would never do such.  One bad apple is
exactly that- a bad apple.  We have bad apples among therapists.  Every year
there are therapists who are exposed having physically or sexually violating
a client.  That doesn't mean every therapist is the same.  Every year the
same thing happens among doctors, lawyers, politicians, and every other
profession.  An exception does not create a rule.  One or even several
outliers does not create a pattern. They are exceptions.

In all of this we are failing to think- to truly think critically,
scientifically, and creatively- when we allow thinking distortions and
biases to contaminate our thinking.  Such prevents clear reasonable
thinking.  Blaming all police for what a corrupt policeman does is
inadequate reasoning.  A more reasoned approach is to identify how the
violent policeman got that way, how he wasn't confronted by his peers and
supervisors and disciplined to prevent the tragedy in the first place.  If
that means reform in law enforcement practices- then we need to do that.  If
it means more and better training- we need to do that.

It is time to think- to think more clearly and this is where overly intense
emotions, especially fear and anger, do not help.  It doesn't help at home
domestically, it doesn't help in the street.  It is also a time to get
training in how to think clearly ... which is the domain of Neuro-Semantic
NLP.

Neuro-Semantics - The Shop

              https://www.neurosemantics.com/shop/ 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D., Executive Director 

International Society of Neuro-Semantics 

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                             

               1 970-523-7877 

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