Feelings are contagious; they spread from person to person

A July 19, 2015 CBC article is entitled: “Jennifer Newman, psychologist, tell us how to deal with rude co-workers: 98% of workers report rudeness at work, 50 experience it weekly, says Newman.”

What can be done about it?

The conclusion of the article reads:

“First, we all have to recognize it affects everyone — it’s easily caught and easily passed from person to person.

“Anyone can be a carrier, and workers tend to retaliate if they are infected and have chosen to pass it along.

“If you’ve been treated rudely, take some time before interacting with anyone else — maybe go to the bathroom and wash your hands or use a quick break to think things through.

“Recognize that now you’ve caught something and you have a choice to make: Do I hand it on to the next unsuspecting person that crosses my path, or do I decide not to do that?

“And when a worker is rude, it creates a lasting negative impression. Colleagues will generalize from rude behaviour to all sorts of things. It can have serious repercussions on your career and how others see you, even if you weren’t the initial carrier.”

[End of excerpt]

Feelings are contagious as are thoughts; they spread from mind to mind

The wider topic concerns how religions work, as outlined in Buddhist Warfare (2010) among other academically rigorous, evidence-based studies.

The wider topic concerns how violence works, as outlined in Extremely Violent Societies (2010).

The wider context concerns how structural violence works, as outlined from the perspective of evolutionary biology in The Meaning of Human Existence (2014).

The wider context concerns how structural violence works, as demonstrated by antipathy toward civil rights and efforts to address extreme inequality, as outlined in Masters of the Universe (2012).

The wider context concerns how strongly held belief systems, truthiness, instrumental reason, and violence work together.

The Rebel Sell (2004)

The positive aspect of these connections is that they are there for all to see, and are capable of being addressed. In that context, the topic of the ‘rebel sell’ and how to address the underlying issues, including structural violence, comes to mind:

A Huffington Post article, downloaded July 19, 2015, is entitled: The Myth of the Ethical Shopper. We’re still trying to eliminate sweatshops and child labor by buying right. But that’s not how the world works in 2015.

Also of interest: The Rebel Sell: How the Counterculture Became Consumer Culture (2004).

A Nov. 1, 2002 This Magazine article is entitled: “The Rebel Sell: If we all hate consumerism, how come we can’t stop shopping?”

Updates

Also of interest, as it addresses themes related to the current post: A July 24, 2015 article by Pankaj Mishra is entitled: “How to think about Islamic State: Islamic State is often called ‘medieval’ but is in fact very modern – a horrific expression of a widespread frustration with a globalised western model that promises freedom and prosperity to all, but fails to deliver.”

“In an irony of modern history, which stalks revolutions and revolts to this day,” in Pankaj Mishra’s take on things, “the search for a new moral community has constantly assumed unpredicted and vicious forms. But then the dislocations and traumas caused by industralisation and urbanisation accelerated the growth of ideologies of race and blood in even enlightened western Europe.”

I would say, by way of comment, that a journalistic take on things provides one form of analysis; my own preference is for the kind of evidence-based historical analysis demonstrated in Masters of the Universe (2012) and Extremely Violent Societies (2010).

A Feb. 10, 2016 Guardian article is entitled: “Opinion vs facts: why do celebrities so often get it wrong? Celebrities often make wildly inaccurate claims and comments to millions of people. But the workings of our minds mean we’re all prone to such behaviour.”

A March 6, 2016 CBC article is entitled: “René Girard’s theories still explain the violence all around us: French-born scholar spent his career trying to understand what what makes violence a chronic problem.”

A recent study by Pankaj Mishra is entitled: Age of Anger: A History of the Present (2017).