Possibly showing an unexpected flash of reason, NBC News says that reporting of dreadful events does inspire copycats. And such perverse motivation isn’t trivial: As many as 20 to 30 percent of these events are inspired by reporting, according to a new study from Arizona State University and Northeastern Illinois University.
Got that? Very nearly a third. Worse, it shouldn’t be news: The Atlantic (2012), The Guardian (2006) and Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point (2002) support the same conclusions.
Assistant Professor Zeynep Tufekci of the University of North Carolina suggests: a) law enforcement should not release details about methods; b) social media presence of perpetrators should be removed; c) the names of the killer(s) should not immediately be released; and d) immediate interviews of survivors and the families of victims should be stopped.
The common thread is a simple one: Stop aggrandizing ghastly behavior, and we’re likely to get less—maybe far less—of it.
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