In this episode of the Mayor’s Corner, Mayor Sean Reardon begins with a recap of last weekend’s Chamber events. Witches Night Out and Octoberfest were both wildly successful. There’s a huge match-up in high school football on Friday night when The Newburyport Clippers meet the North Reading Hornets. Mayor Reardon, along with Drew Moholland, will be the commentators on Joppa Radio WJOP 96.3.  The kick-off is at 6:30 p.m. at James T. Stehlin Field. Recycling and Energy Director, Molly Ettenborough, hosted National Grid at the Newburyport Senior Community Center yesterday, regarding the November 1st electricity increase. National Grid was there to explain the increase and discuss ways in which to save. If you missed the event, you can watch it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BsuGeybvMM. Tonight, a new School Committee member will be chosen during a special joint meeting between the School Committee and the City Council. The meeting will take place in the City Hall Auditorium at 6:00 p.m. The Plum Island dredging project is well underway. The Mayor’s Office receives daily updates from the Army Corps of Engineers. Please follow this link for more information on the dredge: https://www.cityofnewburyport.com/planning-development/harbor-dredging-project. There will be a statewide mattress and textile ban effective on November 1st. Please see more information here: https://www.cityofnewburyport.com/recycling-energy-sustainability/news/mattress-textile-ban-effective-11012022 . There will be a paper-shredding event on Saturday, October 22nd at The Elks form 9 – 11:30 a.m. Next Thursday night, City Hall will host Trick or Treat from 5 – 6 p.m. All are welcome to join! Finally, stay tuned for another spooky Halloween episode next week from Mayor Reardon’s festive neighborhood!

Link to video version: https://youtu.be/TMUtlskvSoQ

GENERAL DISCLAIMER: All opinions expressed by the Program Participants are solely their current opinions and do not reflect the opinions of NCM Hub, PortMedia, and WJOP 96.3 FM​

Produced in Cooperation with the Public Access Facilities of PortMedia,
a division of the Newburyport Community Media Hub.
© NCM Hub 2022v

Mayor's Corner 2022-10-20

Mary Jacobsen talks with Kurt Braddock, Assistant Professor of Public Communications at American University. Braddock is the author of “Weaponized Words: the Strategic Role of Persuasion in Violent Radicalization and Counter-radicalization,” published by Cambridge University Press in 2020.
          Braddock explains “stochastic terror,” a term that is showing up with growing frequency in news and commentary in reference to political, antisemitic, or racially motivated acts of violence such as the assault on Paul Pelosi.
          Stochastic is a term related to statistics, referring to events that are likely to occur, but do so at random. As Braddock says, “think of sitting on your front porch watching dark storm clouds roll into your neighborhood. You can be pretty sure lightning is going to strike soon, but you can’t know exactly when or where.”
Stochastic terror refers to violent acts that are not directly ordered, but are almost certain to happen in response to a volume of dehumanizing and inflammatory, mass mediated rhetoric about a person or group that implicitly advocates for or justifies violence.
“When you’re reaching millions of people” with such messages, Braddock says, “you approach near certainty” that someone will respond to incendiary rhetoric with violence.
Although such indirect incitement is protected free speech, Braddock believes that public education about the strategy and hazards of stochastic terror can give us a means of “attitudinal inoculation” against calls to political violence. By discerning when inflammatory rhetoric from leaders is being used as a “political communication tool,” we can “demand greater responsibility from our elected leaders.”

Link to audio version: https://youtu.be/CQKxNzUKD4A

GENERAL DISCLAIMER: All opinions expressed by the Program Participants are solely their current opinions and do not reflect the opinions of NCM Hub, PortMedia, and WJOP 96.3 FM 

Produced in Cooperation with the Public Access Facilities of PortMedia & Joppa Radio WJOP 96.3FM, a division of the Newburyport Community Media Hub.
© Jacobsen 2023

Morning Show with Mary Jacobsen 2023-01-26 Kurt Braddock

On this week's episode, Mary Jacobsen talks with James Kimmel, Jr. about the psychology of grievance and revenge. Kimmel is lecturer in psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine and co-director of the Yale Collaborative for Motive Control Studies.
Kimmel talks about the role of grievances and retaliation in violent crime, including studies that reveal that “your brain on grievance looks a lot like your brain on drugs.” Harboring a grievance – a perceived wrong or injustice, either real or imagined, says Kimmel – “activates the same neural reward circuitry as narcotics.”
Just as people become addicted to drugs or gambling, people may become addicted to seeking retribution on perceived enemies, or as Kimmel calls it, “revenge addiction.” Kimmel also talks about how cultivation of grievances has become a contagious and dangerous political tool, notably in the wake of the Big Lie and the Jan. 6th insurrection.
“Revenge-seeking” also contributes to domestic violence, youth violence and bullying, police brutality, and terrorism.
According to Kimmel, it’s critical to “increase public education, from school age through adulthood, about healthy ways to process feelings of hurt and humiliation.”
Kimmel will explain “motive control” treatment strategies being piloted successfully at the Yale Collaborative as a means of disrupting grievance addiction and disarming the craving for retaliation.

Link to video version: https://youtu.be/ZWpckfL87bY

GENERAL DISCLAIMER: All opinions expressed by the Program Participants are solely their current opinions and do not reflect the opinions of NCM Hub, PortMedia, and WJOP 96.3 FM​

Training & Resources Provided by the Public Access Facilities of PortMedia, a division of the Newburyport Community Media Hub. © Jacobsen 2023

Morning Show with Mary Jacobsen 2023-01-26 Kurt Braddock

NCM Hub

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