Some years ago, a campaign was developed to deny serial - and, later, mass - killers one of the main things they craved: publicity - or, to use the current word, notoriety.
That desire was a significant reason that some people indulge in copycat crimes, but there are other ways that motivation works. If those murderers do not get what they crave, and are seen to not get that, it may be enough to discourage others from committing such crimes - in part, at least.
The approach taken by, for instance, police who are following that principle is, at press conferences, mention the (alleged, or suspected) killer’s name once, and then refer to then as “the alleged/suspected murderer”.
Press - in the sense of primary news sources - following that principle will also only mention the name once, and then use identification without referring to the name.
Secondary news sources, such as myself, can link to a primary source and avoid mentioning the name at all - unless it is truly necessary. (And knowing who to hate by name is NOT a necessity - especially if that leads to failing to address systemic problems [and one systemic problem is the fact that many problems are because nominal adults are still clinging childishly to the problems/lessons that they got from parents {such as the FALSE views that some people/groups/aspects of society -such as social security- are “lazy”/“threats”/“undeserving”/etc} - which is definitely the case with at least one such who is very prominent now] ... In fact, that hating of people can actually feed many such people [they’re not all rich or widely known, but they all do harm] the sort of nonBPM energy/units they use and therefore want [this is probably better known since the development of the Internet led to a wider knowledge of the importance of not feeding Internet trolls].)
This can dramatically reduce any satisfaction the criminal obtains from, for instance, doing an Internet search on their name, or being told by people they know how notorious they are.
There are similar psychic principles for avoiding naming things that are evil. In general, avoiding doing so will help to reduce (but not eliminate) the chances of that evil being drawn into your life or the lives of those you care about or love.
I try to follow the “no notoriety” approach, for both reaasons, as much as possible (and I have a few links about that here - and those links address other aspects, such as impacts on victims).
In terms of public figures, there is another aspect here, which is the use of humour to undermine despots.
This is something Srđa Popović helped use successfully and then (co)wrote about in “Blueprint for Revolution: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Nonviolent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply Change the World” (by Srđa Popović and Matthew Miller, pub. Scribe, 2015 ISBN (e-book) 9781925113587; Scribe, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, Amazon), and promoted through the Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS).
Quite a few despots are very sensitive to such matters, so, in addition to denying them publicity (which I am seeking to do in the way I write my reflections posts), mocking can also be effective - BUT it is important to:
- not use humour that mocks others in society;
- be aware that this can trigger a reaction that, in some circumstances, can be violent; and
- it must actually be funny.
I don't think any of the humour attempts I have seen of late have met those criteria, but someone may come up with something ... eventually.
Other needs, such as survival, are also valid, and often are more important - or more immediately urgent.
But not naming to avoiding giving notoriety is something we all can do, and I have seen some outlets using approaches that are similar to this.
Now ... management of media ...
I first came across this as a problem as a teenager living in the notoriously corrupt and abusive Bjelke-Petersen’s Queensland, with that person often using the phrase “feeding the chooks” for his media manipulation (and my adoptive father helped me see through that).
Since then, decades of community activism for human rights, including quite a bit of informal study, has improved my awareness of the problem of media manipulation/control - which I have written about elsewhere.
I won’t go into all those issues, but I want to briefly mention one, which is media overload (and note that I am deliberately NOT using the originator’s term - for the reasons explained above) and/or distraction.
They key here is to not buy into the desired priorities. As an example of that, a few decades ago an Australian government leaked some budget details to cover something that was unpopular. The newspaper concerned was of the view that the leaked material was newsworthy (which it was was), and that writing about that was more important than what the government was trying to cover up - which is wasn’t. The editors of that paper should have had the moral courage to say “no, we're not going to buy into that”.
So, my first point is: adopt and use priorities that matter in the long term or broadly, not what will gain the most attention (in those days, it was newspaper sales/attraction of advertisers, now it is clicks, but the principle is the same - then and now).
The second point is: don't compromise quality by allowing yourself to be rushed. If, say, 30 stories are released annd you only have enough capability to handle 22, cover those 22 and state something along the lines of “the government has deliberately tried to compromise our reporting [or our quality of reporting], but we refuse to let that be done. We will address those additional stories properly in due course, but for now, here is a summary”.
In my case (and this is easier for me as I am a secondary news source at best), I can replace trying to cover everything with a summary - and that is something I have had to do for years, as my news blogging (which has mostly been on my no-longer-actively-added-to political blog) has been limited by the fact that I am a single individual doing this in my spare or available time, and as my health and energy permits.
The third point is: balance whatever the media strategy is seeking to accomplish - with contrary viewpoints, or good stories, etc. In my case, I try to find good news stories, and highlight those, but that isn't always possible. However, PROMINENT commentary on the likely motivation of media strategies IS always possible.
And for those who think that is unnecessary or wrong, reporting the news is never neutral, as the patriarchal and white supremacist biases in many article headlines and the choices around what is covered shows ...
I’m not sure whether that is of any interest or value to any of my Readers, but so be it: I’ve written it, and my BPM Guides are happier 😁
If you appreciated this post, please consider promoting it - there are some links below, and there’s also other options.
Note that I am cutting back on aspects of my posts - see here.
(Gnwmythr is pronounced new-MYTH-ear)
Remember: we generally need to be more human being rather than human doing, to mind our Mӕgan, and to acknowledge that all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering” (just as binary gendered [men’s and women’s] sporting teams are either both given the gender descriptor, or neither).#PsychicABetterWorld and may all that I do be of value and actively BPM used for and by the nonphysical BPM
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