The Copycat Effect
How the Media and Popular Culture Trigger the Mayhem in Tomorrow's Headlines
Preface: Window to the World
You may vaguely remember the incident. It came over the television and radio as a "news bulletin." The dateline was Washington, D.C. The details, viewed in retrospect, are shocking.
Frank Eugene Corder, who was immediately dubbed a "lone nut" by the media, had stolen a single-engine Cessna 150L plane from an airport north of Baltimore. He then headed south to the District of Columbia, flew over the National Zoological Park and down to the Mall, and apparently used the Washington Monument as a beacon. As he closed in on that Masonic obelisk just off the Beltway, Corder banked his plane into a U-turn over the Ellipse and flew low over the White House South Lawn, clipped a hedge, knocked some branches off the magnolia tree planted by President Andrew Jackson, and crashed the plane into the White House -- two stories below the presidential bedroom. This all began at 2300 hours military time, according to the White House.
There was an attack on the residence of the President and First Lady. ... read full excerpt from: The Copycat Effect: How the Media and Popular Culture Trigger the Mayhem in Tomorrow's Headlines ebook
