Disease and 3 Recent Social Engineering ChallengesHeather Callaghan While the media are dousing the public in the three Ds, which appear to be ritualistic in nature, Ill briefly touch on that last D the focus on disease and the challenges meant for you. Social engineering being, in short, guiding thought en masse. In this case, peer pressure on a really big scale. So just in that one D segment of the news, people were recently crushed with disease-awareness. Ebola, Lou Gehrigs, and depression/suicide. Those are all high-impact problems for sure, but I saw a startling pattern those things have in relation to this other vastly unknown epidemic (saved for a later article). Also, each covered issue not only contains challenges for the people suffering with them, but the media gave you a challenge to go with it. Sort of like an order. Are there underlying symbolic challenges too? 1. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. A brilliant, viral marketing campaign which was supposed to raise awareness and money for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrigs Disease research. The challenge: record yourself dumping a bucket of ice water on your head and nominate (challenge) three people to do the same, or they must pay $100 to ALS research. A lot of good-hearted people did it to truly raise awareness for a cure. A lot of people also didnt know it was about ALS. I didnt even know until I saw Dr. Scott Graves article, Why Im Not Participating in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. I thought it was like planking. Its odd in a baptismal sort of way that doesnt bear much connection with the disease. Thats why the symbolism in it stands out. Elites like Bill Gates, George W. Bush and celebrities participated the pressure was high to join in the fun. In a way, its unfortunate that something needs to be viral or like planking to bring attention to something. For a long time, there have been new methods of research in place precisely to predict how the average person will respond to such a thing. Also odd, the 27-year-old man who supposedly came up with the idea died unexpectedly in a diving accident. What was this viral sensation drowning out? The underlying challenge: You dont have to know anything about the disease. Either way, embrace public humiliation, face shame or pay up. Dont question it, just go with it. 2. Then there is the recent Ebola scare, inducing major panic across the States. Step outside, did you catch a whiff of Ebola? Okay. Whats really irksome about the media approach and that of the masses is apparently its okay if it happens for years to some other country like Africa but if it steps off a plane in the States, were all going to die and what a horrible tragedy. How does disproportional panic help the people going through that situation or us for that matter? Oh and lets not forget the resurgence of Smallpox and Anthrax scares just for good measure. The message seems to be, that terrorists can strike you with disease at any moment or oops! it could escape the labs housing the very biological threat. I guess were also supposed to get used to that possibility mistakes in high-security areas of authority can happen Yet, when that does, obey orders including mandated medicine and forced quarantines that defy reason. Underlying challenge to you: Be afraidbe very afraid(when it happens to you or someone in your town, you are no longer your own person.) 3. Around the same time, Facebook was crowded out like never before, with Robin Williams death. Have you ever seen a celebrity death plastered on social media like that before? Its normal to feel bummed when an entertainer dies, but there was pressure to share grief on social media like he was peoples best friend even though they hadnt given him any thought for 20 years. The immense tributizing was significant as well then, the digging into his private life to lay it out so everyone could make decisions about him. It was stomach-churning to see the promotion and profit regarding his name, or the issue of depression or suicide and tags (death tags). There was even a blog that unapologetically said they were all profiting off his death and then challenged the other media to donate that money to charity. One of the most disturbing aspects of this is, people dont really get a chance to feel bummed about something like that. It gets sorted, meted out and compartmentalized by various media and the open public discussion (or fights) about it. This was a real guy, yknow? The way it was responded to had the opposite effect of dehumanization. Then came all the depression/suicide talk. Got it sorted yet, Internet? There are many reasons a person becomes depressed and many approaches to healing it. But the only one allowed to be discussed was prescription drugs and/or psychotherapy a rabbit hole for another time. (You may enjoy Jon Rappoports stories.) Now everyones an authority, its wrapped up with a bow until the next celebrity goes. The very thing that could isolate a depressed person in real life was the very attitude towards his death. Clinical dissection. Underlying challenge: Muster grief and make it public. Depression is a disease which can cause suicide and must be treated with anti-depressants look deeper, report someone for intervention. Share your depression story. Dissect. Discuss. Tag. Tribute. Wrap it up. Move on. Oh, and charity fixes everything. Money please! Thats a lot of emotional turmoil for such a short period. Thats a lot awareness. I hope you were able to find reprieve from the constant ticker-tape. Maybe you, too, had to resist the urge of being pulled into the current to publicly discuss. I couldnt even walk into a diner without seeing Brian Williams on the big screen reporting on Ebola a nice thing for people to witness while trying sit down and eat. Make mine take-out, please. On a larger scale mass fear, whether you are battling a debilitating disease or not, is actually the real disease epidemic, spreading faster and wider than any bio-weapon. The biggest transmitter/carrier of it might be media TV, Internet Unfortunately, it all too often deflects from real help for real people who need it. People can only take so many personal and societal crises at a time. We seem to be caught in one of those overkill times. This is the most ironic part of it all panic, fear, and terror absolutely contribute to disease. If it isnt the inflammatory immune-suppressing results of being in constant flight-or-fight, then it could be the constant flushing of adrenaline from the kidneys, associated with fear in Chinese medicine. Or the digestion-stopping results of constant stress and worry. The liver-crushing effects of anger, which when turned inward, turns into depression. My call today (not challenge) is that people would take some time away from the battle fatigue and be careful not drown in Vitamin DDD. Recent Posts By Heather Callaghan: Heather Callaghan is a natural health blogger and food freedom activist. You can see her work atNaturalBlaze.com and selfnewsPost.com. Like at Facebook. 