The Copycat Effect Is Real, Notes The FBI

"The copycat phenomenon is real," said Andre Simons of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit in 2014. "As more and more notable and tragic events occur, we think we're seeing more compromised, marginalized individuals who are seeking inspiration from those past attacks." ~ "FBI report: Dramatic increase in U.S. mass shootings in recent years," Haaretz, 25 September 2014.

When I wrote, and then Faber and Faber published my book, Suicide Clusters, in the late 1980s, few acknowledged that "suicide clusters" even existed. I brought to bear historical evidence that they did occur. I pointed to pages of data, beginning with the fact that the first documented suicide cluster, a wave of self-hangings by young maidens, occurred during the fourth century B.C., in the ancient Greek city of Miletus. I took scientific papers detailing studies from the 1970s that showed the Werther Effect (a term coined by American sociologist Dave Phillips in 1974) resulted in future events. But few read my book. It was not time for those interested in doing something about these incidents to be heard.

Suicide Clusters. Boston: Faber and Faber, 1987. (Psychotherapy and Social Science Book of the Month Club, Alternative Selection, August 1987.)

So, I tried again. On a sporting front, I gave a paper at a suicidology conference (22nd Annual Conference of the American Association of Suicidology, San Diego, California, April 14, 1989). I wrote to MLB Commissioner Peter Ueberroth, warning of a coming series of baseball suicides. 

When it happened, I was not surprised. Sports reporters at newspapers (like Ira Berkow at the New York Times) called me after Donnie Moore's suicide. 

I was interviewed by producers of television documentaries about baseball player suicides, in terms of clustering and copycats.  ESPN SportsCenter (1989) and ESPN Classics (The Donnie Moore Story, 2001) had me discuss the Donnie Moore attempted murder-suicide, after I forecast the baseball player suicides, which did occur during the time period I predicted.

I summarized my research for a professor who asked me to include a discussion of the matter in his sociology of American baseball.

Baseball and American Culture: Across the Diamond. “Boys of Summer, Suicides of Winter: An Introduction to Baseball Suicides.” NY: Haworth Press, 2003. Edward J. Reilly, ed.

But little changed globally, in terms of copycat awareness or prevention. (I was glad to learn, nevertheless, that the MLB players' Baseball Assistance Team, actively instituted more suicide prevention counseling in 1989. Sometimes prevention victories are little ones.)

A pattern underlies many of the events we hear about in the news every day. ... The pattern is called the "copycat effect." It is also known as "imitation" or the "contagion effect." And what it deals with is the power of the mass communication and culture to create an epidemic of similar behaviors. ~ Loren Coleman, The Copycat Effect, 2004.

In 1987, when Simon and Schuster published my Suicide Clusters, few considered that the clustering occurred. In 2004, I challenged myself and the media when The Copycat Effect was released. But only one newspaper in North America reviewed it. The Boston Globe ran a biting, skeptical critique. The media wanted my book to be ignored or even worse, just go away.

Dr. Steven Stack, a sociologist at the Center for Suicide Research, agreed in 2003, to write a cover blurb. He summarized what was happening, perfectly: "The media are still largely in a state of denial on how their coverage of death contributes to the violence and destructiveness in our society -- but Coleman's book should wake them up!"

Perhaps it did, a little, but the journey to the recognition of the reality of the "copycat effect" has been a long time coming. And more work needs to occur.

The Copycat Effect: How the Media and Popular Culture Trigger the Mayhem in Tomorrow's Headline. New York: Paraview Pocket-Simon and Schuster, 2004.

Still, I see inroads in the thinking beginning to change. The statement from the FBI's Andre Simons was encouraging to read. Yes, indeed, "The copycat phenomenon is real," Agent Simons. Past events are predictive of future acts of violence, in the current media climate.

The validity of the copycat effect is undeniable. ... The media’s graphic coverage of rampage shootings, celebrity suicides, bridge jumpers, school shootings, and the like is triggering vulnerable and angry people to take their own lives and that of others. ~ Loren Coleman, The Copycat Effect, 2004.

New Copycats: Pressure Cookers and Sporting Events

What will be the result of the Boston bombings? 

Has one outcome been a cookbook for future disasters?

The following images were spread all over the papers, Internet, and cable television news - wall to wall. I am purposefully making the images so small so that the instructions for "how to make a bomb" will not be readable, as they have been since April 15th.

In 1989, when Simon and Schuster published my Suicide Clusters, no one believed that phenomenon existed. In 2004, when my book The Copycat Effect was released, only one newspaper in North America reviewed it. The Boston Globe ran a skeptical critique. The media wanted my book to be ignored.

Today, it is rather firmly established that the "copycat effect" is part of the way that future events are being programmed.

What do you think will be the legacy of the Boston bombings? At sporting events? And large gatherings? Using what instrument of mass destruction?

Changes Coming In Sporting Events

Certainly the loss of life and the massive injuries to the individuals during the Boston Marathon bombings have to be addressed as now copycats will sadly probably occur.

Moves in the direction of future prevention are in the works.

The Kentucky Derby will ban backpacks during the running races held in conjunction with the horse race:

Officials with the Kentucky Derby announced that backpacks would be banned at the Marathon and miniMarathon held in conjunction with the Derby itself, in an effort to tighten security.
The Louisville Courier-Journal is reporting that festival president Mike Berry and vice president Matt Gibson made the announcement during a press conference held on Tuesday. Other banned items include duffel bags, purses taller or wider than 12 inches, luggage, tents, coolers and weapons.
Instead of backpacks, runners will have to bring any necessities in transparent bags.

* * *

According to Churchill Downs, backpacks had been previously banned from the Kentucky Derby and Oaks themselves in 2012. Coolers, noisemakers, pepper spray, fireworks and purses larger than 12 inches were recently added to this year’s list of prohibited items. Also banned are cameras with detachable lenses, cameras equipped with lenses more than six inches in length, and tripods of any kind. Source.

Major League Baseball is thinking about making similar refinements.

Stadium operations officials from the 30 big league baseball teams will meet this week and are expected to discuss whether to make any security changes in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings…Among the security topics that could be discussed are backpacks that fans bring into ballparks.

Horror Clown: The Face of Tomorrow?

WARNING: 

NOT FOR CHILDREN or

SUFFERERS OF COULROPHOBIA

You just knew it was going to happen. An ad would reflect the ghastly and shocking future we see right in front of us. Indeed, something wicked this way comes.

This is not your grandparents' kind of commercial. 

 

(Thanks to Doug Stone for bringing this disgusting video to my attention. 

I shall be boycotting Herbaria Tea.)

Destiny's Child Reappearance Predicts Future? [Darkness Update]

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Darkness Update:

Breaking News

"Officials: Superdome outage occurred when sensing equipment detected an 'abnormality'," according to the Associated Press.

This is what it looked like:

Below was what was written before the event. Did Enki's written insights and my imagery choices sense what was to occur??

Live blogging updates at the end too.

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Rumors are developing early on February 3, 2013, that Beyoncé's Destiny's Child may reappear to perform at the NFL's Super Bowl XLVII's Halftime Show. What does it mean? What if it is only Beyoncé?

Enki sent in the following earlier, and I reproduce it below as a guest blog at 8:30 AM on February 3, 2013:

The day before the Phoenix shootings, another high-profile shooting took place. In Alabama, Jimmy Lee Dykes shot a school bus driver and took a boy hostage. The name Dykes originally referenced Hadrian's Wall (also known as Hadrian's Dyke), the most heavily fortified border in Roman Britain. This resonates with what RDR mentioned about Hummels's concern about border security.

The ongoing Alabama standoff is near Destiny Church. Destiny's Child has been in the news recently, as there has been speculation that the three woman singing group [which syncs with Anon's Singer (sing), Hummels (hum), Harmon (harmony) observation] will make their first (phoenix-like) public reappearance during the Super Bowl halftime show.

Destiny's Child's Beyoncé Knowles was in the news recently when she performed at Obama's inauguration. Public attention on this event increased when it turned out that she had sung along to a recording of the national anthem. Obama and football are also linked by a statement he made in a recent interview in which he criticized football as being dangerous.

The trailer for Scientologist Tom Cruise's new movie Oblivion shows a bombed-out football stadium. The "Birthplace of Scientology" is Phoenix, Arizona. The Dark Knight Rises also had a scene where a football field is destroyed. As mentioned in this post, the Phoenix Police Media Relations Officer is named James Holmes.

Obviously, my attention has been drawn to the upcoming Super Bowl game. In some of my writings on this blog, I have used the metaphor of an alchemical current connecting Red Dawn events, and alchemical symbolism is to be found in this year's Super Bowl match-up between the Ravens and the 49ers.

Alchemists used the raven to symbolize the nigredo, or blackening, stage of the alchemical process. The alchemist experiences a dark night (Dark Knight) of the soul during this phase as he begins the journey of creating the Philosopher's Stone, a substance which can turn base metal into gold. Gold resonates with the Ravens' opposing team, as the 49ers were named after the prospectors who arrived in California around 1949 during the Gold Rush.

In the Downard/Hoffman reality tunnel, one of the primary goals of alchemy was the creation and destruction of primordial matter, a feat which was accomplished with the detonation of an atomic bomb at the Trinity Site. Destiny's Child recently released their first song since 2005: "Nuclear."
The alchemical current seems to be winding its way to New Orleans.

Let's hope it does not spark yet another tragedy.

Footnote:

Jim Brandon, author of Weird America, emailed me a message after this was published: "Referring to the fourth paragraph [above]: Hummel is bumble-bee in German. I wonder if that adds anything."

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Sunday Night Blackout Update

At 8:37 pm Eastern/7:37 pm Central, the Superdome experienced a blackout of half of the dome's lights during the Super Bowl game. This seemed to be an interesting event, in light of Enki's predictive notion that an "alchemical" dark k/night might be in play on this February 3th. Various people shared the following reactions and insights.

Brizdaz wrote in "Black Sunday: Loren Was Right, Sort Of," about the Black Sunday image I'd posted (before the game) above: "I remember seeing this poster that he used and thought, 'What's he saying that half the stadium lights would be knocked out on the night?' Well it turns out that they were, more or less."

A tweet from tobadzistsini noted this from Bane, in The Dark Knight Rises: "I was born in the darkness, molded by it, I didn't see the light until I was already a man."

Cory Panshin wrote, "Power outage? Well, I guess it's a more benign form of 'dark night' than many....It seems that only half the lights went out in an exact semi-circle. How yin-yang -- or Manichaean -- or something."

One of the more popular ads was one that goes into a blackout midway through it: "Wheat Thins - Night Vision Googles."

How about the links to the movie trailers appearing during the Super Bowl? Or the others mentioned or not mentioned?

Various movie trailers shown during this Super Bowl seemingly picked up on the "dark theme," included Iron Man 3 (May 3, 2013), Star Trek into Darkness (May 17, 2013), The Lone Ranger (July 3, 2013), and with this one mentioned, Thor: The Dark World (November 8, 2013). 

Intriguingly absent from the Super Bowl was a trailer for Man of Steel, producer Christopher Nolan's and others' dark film opening June 14, 2013.

Then there were these attempts at fast marketing, post-blackout:

Jetsons: 50 Years of the Video Phone

Today is the 50th anniversary of the first broadcast of The Jetsons.

The show first aired, beginning on Sunday night, September 23, 1962, on ABC.

As I recently mentioned here when talking about predictions, one of the notable forecasting successes viewed on The Jetsons was of the video chat. For more of the other "futuristic technologies that exist today," as Matt Houghton writes regarding the show, see his "6 Current Technologies The Jetsons Predicted."

The Jetsons was quite early in their predictions, as well as rather persistent. Video chat is used frequently in every episode I watched. Clearly, with webcams and Skype, as well as the iPhone 4′s new FaceTime, this has quite clearly come true.

As to the "morning mask," well, there are a few Jokers out there who would say it does prevail, after all.

2042: LOOM

 by Loren Coleman ©2012

People wear raincoats even when its not raining. It's dreary. Disease is everywhere. Fashion hasn't changed. There are no rayguns; there's just old-fashioned metal handguns. People still use midcentury modern Navy chairs in lab cafes. Transport units are dirty. It's another "Ridley Scott Presents" view of our future.

Luke Scott's melodrama set in the year 2042 is a 20 minute film that will have you thinking long after it is finished. Loom is being disseminated for free throughout the electronic world.

There is an interesting feeling in the word, "disseminating," and that's why I used it. Just as the engineers in Prometheus seed the Earth with genetic material, you get the sense, as you are watching this film, that some of these images are being seeded.

Loom's director Luke Scott is the the son of Blade Runner director Ridley Scott and the nephew of Tony Scott. This short, which stars Giovanni Ribisi as a lonely, bright, quiet lab gen tech in a future society characterized by human misery, openly owes a stylistic nod to Blade Runner.

The film is being used as a way to showcase a new technology. Luke Scott in cooperation with RED Camera presents Loom, "a film shot completely in 4K format. The film was originally intended to help showcase the prototype REDray 3D laser player. The film was constructed for 3D, the film needed to push the limits of the cameras exposure sensitivity and color range and 4K projection. Visually the film is unmatched to date in it's use of RED's new technology."

It's 4K glory can be seen via this incredibly large web version. Also here's a Higher Res version

The film is shown completely in the HD version posted above. (People at work and youngsters: It has a couple gross scenes of engineered raw meat, which I found more disturbing that the incidental flashes of nudity because the young woman was not completely dressed.)

(Thanks for the tip from P.H.)

P.S. It appears, by random and by coincidence, the first time I played Loom, immediately after the credits, I was shown a trailer for Branded (written and directed by Jamie Bradshaw and Aleksandr Dulerayn). Opening September 7th, Branded is about "unlocking the conspiracy" and seeing what is unseen. It is a remarkable trailer foretelling what might be a synchromystic hit.

Below are two different Branded trailers, 

the first in Russian and the following one in English.