Missing from ALL the comments I read is the horrifying lack of MORALS amoung all parties involved. One person, in passing, briefly mentioned “Freedom of Religion” and then only made mention of it to make point about something else… Not to cause any forays into other areas, I offer the following… Many years ago, the”slippery slope” of freedom FROM religion began with the ban on prayer in schools which led to, eventually, removal of God from all public and some private forums under the so called “separation of church and state” – NOT in our Constitution, (incidentally, it was in the old Soviet Union “Constitution”). Upon that came the beginning of a rapid decline in a personal acknowledgement of the difference in “right and wrong” in, not only our children and young people, among adults as well. Having NOTHING to base “right and wrong” on, with the removal of the Ten Commandments” from the walls of our schools and every public building possible, everything started on a downward spiral. Now, do not rail on me about the first commandment – “Have no other Gods before Me” (paraphrased). Though important to me, it is one tenth of the whole… the rest are laws and rules for living a decent, lawful life – ie. do not lie, do not steal, do not kill, do not envy or covetet, do not have sex outside of marriage, you know, common sense, basic, home grown MORALITY. Unless and until we, as a whole, forget our own selfishness and allow this kind of teaching – not only in the home – AND in school classrooms, colleges and universities, tech schools, trainings of all kinds – things will never change… NEVER. If you continue to allow our children to be taught the THEORY of evolution and that all human life evolved from “monkeys”, what more can we possibility expect our children and adults to act like than the animals they have been taught, in fact, and that they believe they are? Until that changers, life will continue to be considered worthless and, therefore not cherished. Taking someone’s life will continue to be “acceptable”. No right from wrong equals a misguided life where doing wrong, any wrong, is OK – the goal being to not get caught. This HAS to change before anything else can possibly change. Even so, if it were to change immediately we would, possibly, have to wait at least a generation or two to see the fruits of that change. A sad fact and most assuredly true. It took forty to fifty years to get where we are, it will take a long while to return…

Before you allow your Freedom FROM Religion to color your thoughts and increase your blood pressure, just think, for a moment, on what is written here. I have NOT called anyone’s personal belief ‘stupid’, nor have I railed on or mentioned any names. I have simply stated facts as I see them. I hope you have a blessed day…

furthermore, i’d expect influence methods to be like most other social phenomena: dynamic. assuming so, basing any legislation on sociological evidence seems short-sighted because that evidence, once widely publicized (e.g. by legislation), would be expected to have just enough longevity to ensure that different influence methods crop up. … although this hasn’t stopped legislation before.

it would be wonderful if news media all agreed on how to regulate the news?! like how to brainwash us just right?!! you have gone off the deep-end, sir! hahahaha i think it would wonderful if i was allowed to pay attention to what i wanted to!

i love paying attention to this stuff; thanks for the opportunity,
bean s

Thank you for your thoughtful response, to which I see two important distinctions.

First, you are certainly correct that other nations have done what you suggest, but these nations do not have the commitment to freedom of speech and of press that we do. Further, this right is so fundamental, that only the gravest extreme ought to justify infringing upon. For example, the right to vote, assemble, or freely exercise religion are much diminished if not extinguished by removal of the right of free speech. Now, obviously that is not what you are advocating, and I do not mean to overstate the point; I do intend to underscore the centrality of freedom of speech and press in our nation and how careful we ought to be when we speak of altering that right. This then goes to the second point.

Second, and somewhat based on the above analysis, it seems unfair and unwise to set up the media as the scapegoat. I agree that the media and the public have some role in these tragedies. However, it seems that the true failure which makes them possible occurs not in the moment of reporting, but in the years of these individual’s lives without meaningful role models, without people who love them enough to know that something is seriously wrong. I do not mean to twist the knife for those with family members or friends who do things like this, but homicidal thoughts and feelings don’t just show up over-night. The failure is in the homes and communities of these individuals, and obviously in the individuals themselves. We ought to be reaching out to help those around us, and when we need help, we ought to reach out for it. So, at least one suggestion is to make sure that people have the courage and skills to speak up and avoid tragedy (you have books filled with these types of failures, this is just another one, where the nurse sees the disaster coming, but doesn’t speak up). Now, that’s the triage version for imminent disaster. A broader suggestion is to revive the “community,” from an anonymous online collective to the people we live, work, and play side-by-side with. Now, that is clearly easier said than done, but in my opinion the break-down of community is the root of most of our social evils. If we can fix that root problem, we fix a host of other symptoms including other crime, poverty, lack of education, etc. So, I ask you and your colleagues, as the truly gifted problem solvers you have proven yourselves to be, how do we bring back true communities in this e-society? How do we influence a nation?

The question is – is this one of those times? Other countries have found a way to use public and peer pressure to gain media compliance with ethical standards of reporting of these kinds of crimes. The US has failed. I’m open to any ideas that employ other sources of influence to solve the problem. In the meantime, lives are being lost. Any suggestions?

Some have commented that this is an issue of media consumption not production – the viewers are creating the problem by lending their eyeballs to irresponsible reporting. I agree that changing consumer behavior would solve the problem. Does anyone have a suggestion for a robust approach to doing that?

The more philosophical question I am asking is: “When innocent lives are being lost to irresponsible behavior, does that not make the actor an accomplice in the crime?” And if so, why is it inappropriate to express that truth through legislation?

First, thank you for all the good you and your organization do. I’ve taken most of your trainings, and really appreciate your tools and insights, they are powerful.

Second, I worry about the sentiments you have expressed in that they reflect a growing and in my opinion dangerous attitude about the solution to problems. I agree that the news media and the public at large encourage copycats. I agree that attitudes and practices should change to alleviate this problem. I categorically reject the idea that the government should be the one to effect that change. Not only do we have the usual problems with government trying to regulate things in terms of over- and under-inclusiveness, inefficiency, etc., but here we are talking about First Amendment rights of speech and press. Any people who trades liberty for what they see as supposed security deserves neither and will soon lose both (a much smarter man than I first articulated this idea). No, Mr. Grenny, you should practice what you preach. If America wants to change the behavior of the press and the public, then we need to influence them, using the strategies your company rightfully touts as powerful tools for change. Relying on the government to fix our problems, and particularly problems rooted in fundamental rights is the “miracle diet pill,” not only will it fail to work like it should, but the side-effects are disastrous. Why aren’t you advocating your model instead?

@Joseph Grenny