Persecutory Texts and Conspiracy Theories

It is an honor that my paper has been accepted to participate in this conference which will be concluded by the great neuroscientist Vittorio Gallese. I'll try to answer the question: "What are Girardian Persecutory Texts if not what we today call Conspiracy Theories?"After all, nowadays, in war time, we read persecutory texts continuously on most media and social networks...

More info on the conference and registration here:

https://lnkd.in/gHTNu9-S

Coronavirus : Messages from your future.

A compilation of video messages from the future — “What I wish I could tell myself, 10 days ago” featuring Italian citizens now in quarantine for Corovirus pandemic.

Main Dangerous Bias in Social Perception During Terrorism and Pandemic

Torture during the plague epidemic at Milan, 1630 (Wikipedia Commons)

"Viruses can have more powerful consequences than any terrorist action," said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) from Geneva on 11 February. One month later, yestarday, he said "This is the first pandemic caused by coronavirus".

Indeed, during a pandemic as it occurs facing a terrorist attack (1), we put in place some mechanisms of social 'defence' rather dangerous (bias) because they erase the real perception of risk. The first one is distance. The one that allowed us to stand still (paralyzed by fear) looking at China, first, Korea and Iran, then; just as Europe was looking at Italy, and just as Eastern Europe is now looking at Western Europe, or as Southern Italy is looking at Northern Italy. Viral propagation follows a mathematical model that terrorism fortunately does not follow, but the defense mechanism that we all put in place is the same: I am far from danger, so I do not give a damn.

A second mechanism of social perception, similar to terrorism, is mechanism of the scapegoat, studied by René Girard. The victim is guilty, in this case his responsibility is declined, as during plague, in the figure of the anointer. It is too tiring to delve into the root causes of the pandemic: spillover, eating habits, climate change. We are not interested, but it is much easier to identify a stigma: the group of plague victims (the anointers) to stay away from. First the Chinese, now the Italians, ... and tomorrow, who knows?

There is a third level of perception similar to that found in victims of terrorism. It's the media that tells us or not the story of the individual infected, the victim of the virus, according to his social status. As long as they are  Chinese or Italian elders, we have no empathy: they are just numbers without stories, that is, dehumanized strangers. But if  a city mayor, a minister, a famous writer or football player are found positive for the coronavirus, then yes, it becomes legitimate to tell and spread their story. So the info sphere and media arena build empathic narrative toward celebrities and heros leaving the real victims dehumanize by number (3). And this causes a low risk perception threshold especially among young people and adolescents who tend to maintain their (dangerous) behavioral bias.

Awareness of the above 'errors in perception' is relevant for institutional communication to foster the resilience of communities reached by the pandemic. (4)

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(1) Luca Guglielminetti (2017) La percezione sociale delle vittime del terrorismo
(2) René Girard (1982). Le Bouc émissaire. Paris: Grasset. ISBN 2-246-26781-1. (English translation: The Scapegoat. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986)
(3) See also Dehumanize Victims By Numbers
(4) See also Coronavirus: The Social Perception Of Risk

Coronavirus: The Social Perception Of Risk

Public communication errors around the coronavirus because the social perception of risk

Governments, which in these days face the emergency from COVIID-19, lack the awareness that they need specialists in communication psychology. In other words, those who are able to prevent or report errors in istitutional communication, knowing how to evaluate the impact of the latter on the public opinion or on some particular targets, such as young people and adolescents.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic many communication errors have been reported, but others have never emerged. From the infographic of the virus diffusion maps to the public health councils for its containment, there is a lack of awareness of how distorted they are in their social reading. It's a problem of social perception of risk and bias that causes the spread of panic and disobedience to the application of public health regulations.

Let's take some examples: drawing red dots too big when the numbers were still small creates the wrong and overestimated perception of the victims. Communicating how to wash your hands should be done in the knowledge that receiving such basic advice causes may shame in some people. And shame wounds pride and we risk having people who maintain their previous habits of personal cleanliness.

The most striking case we saw yesterday in Italy with the many young people still crowding public places in Milan and other cities in the "red zones": that is, in circumstances far from the practice of health councils of social distance. The youth universe is often characterized by paths in border areas, where a thin, faint thread separates the conscious elaboration of risk from the almost magnetic attraction it exerts on young people and their conviction of immortality. This attraction to danger, typical of adolescence, causes dangerous behaviour that evidently cancels out the efforts of social distancing by government measures. Parents should be required to pay special attention to the awareness of their sons and daughters. A specific public communication addressed to them would be needed.

More generally, governments need to equip themselves with a task force to examine institutional communication around this emergency in order to increase and ensure its effectiveness.

The Social Perception of the Victims of Terrorism

The Social Perception of the Victims of #Terrorism : essay on past and present #victimblaming - on the last issue of the Italian Journal of #Criminology https://t.co/qRvrOjdKyy pic.twitter.com/pqHAuV7Mtf

— Luca Guglielminetti (@NCLetterario) 18 febbraio 2018

La percezione sociale delle vittime del terrorismo

Prossimamente sulla Rassegna Italiana di Criminologia.
Abstract
L'A., partendo dalla sua personale esperienza di collaborazione con la più grande associazione italiana di vittime del terrorismo, mette in evidenza varie forme di doppia vittimizzazione e biasimo delle vittime nella percezione sociale degli atti terroristici. Confrontando l'esperienza italiana dei cosiddetti 'anni di piombo' con l'attuale minaccia internazionale, l'A. argomenta come l'opinione pubblica sia soggetta al condizionamento dei media e alla strumentalizzazione politica che causano una percezione sociale limitata, partigiana e talvolta ostile delle vittime. Simpatie e antipatie, empatia e idiosincrasia spingono la comunità a degradare le vittime a simbolo, come fanno i terroristi. Il caso italiano mostra che le vittime deumanizzate riacquistano valore positivo di fronte alla società civile solo quando il conflitto si chiude con la volontà politica di riconoscere tutte le parti. 

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