Ideas spread like virus. They are contagious, that is what Malcolm Gladwell’s famous best-seller, The Tipping Point says. Since the stabbing case last December, there have been 13 cases as of now, seven in the capital alone. One wonders if this is more than just a crime trend that has risen out of youth frustration and substance abuse, or if it is a “virus-idea” that has spread.
For instance, there was this very strange epidemic of teenage suicide in the South Pacific islands of Micronesia. In the 1970s and 1980s, Micronesia had teen suicide rates ten times higher than anywhere else in the world. The same could be said of teen smoking in the USA.
This bizarre phenomenon of a thought getting contagious and affecting groups or masses of people or a certain category seems to be enacted in our country, too with regard to stabbing cases.
Strict police patrolling and enforcement of security rules in the vicinity should have instilled fear in the perpetuators of the crime. Instead, the opposite has happened. Stabbing cases are on the rise.The psychology of the criminal if studied would reveal interesting facts. Maybe, he is plain fascinated by what is going on and wants to partake of the event. Maybe he is even lured into it by the fact that he will become part of the phenomenon. Or maybe he simply is a sadist or curious.
Such cases though disturbing make for interesting case studies and the relevant authorities would do well to examine the thought process and psychology behind such irrational and anti-social behavior.