There are some really nasty bugs going around these days.

Viruses, bacteria, parasites…  Some of them are even more powerful than you think. 

For example, take Toxoplasma gondii,  the microorganism that causes toxoplasmosis. It doesn’t just make its hosts ill—it can even change their behavior in ways that facilitate the microbe’s reproductive cycle.

1. gondii, you see, can only reproduce in the digestive tracts of cats. So, for instance, infected mice stop avoiding areas that smell like cats, which makes it easier for cats to gobble them up, and swallow the bugs in the process. 

There is even a theory that it affects people—by making them want to accumulate more cats, which increases the chances for the organism to reproduce and spread. (I can testify that this might well be true: Aunt Stella had gotten up to 12, I think, before there was finally an intervention.)

Other microbes make their caterpillar hosts climb to the tops of plants, or out into open fields, to be more accessible to birds. (For more examples, see the Wikipedia article on  “Behavior-altering parasite.” Fascinating stuff!)

So, keep that in mind, OK?

Now think back to the early days of email. Remember those emails you used to get all the time, warning you against opening any emails with, say, “pineapple cake recipe” in the subject line, because your computer would get a virus? And then they would instruct you to “FORWARD THIS EMAIL IMMEDIATELY TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK”? And you would then dutifully comply, wanting to be helpful.

Such messages, of course, were in fact “viruses” of a sort, in and of themselves—that is, bundles of information that include mechanisms for their own replication—and you served as their unwitting means of transmission.

Keep that in mind too.

Let me suggest that there are now “viruses” afoot that are not biological but psychological. They spread via word of mouth, social media and most of all mass media.  

We call them names like fear... rage... anger...  hatred.

These viruses, these parasites in our minds, don’t only make us feel horrible negative emotions, but they can also make us transmit these feelings to others. They can alter not just our behaviors but our perceptions and interpretations.

They can drive us crazy.

In fact, they can drive huge crowds crazy—and even entire nations. You don’t have to look far to see examples of what happens when a whole country gets infected and explodes in a fit of uncontrollable, psychotic rage.

And there are people around who have learned very well how to unleash these parasites at will.

This is only a metaphor, of course, but ít’s a useful one. Once we know what to look for, we can see where these contagions come from. (They aren’t very subtle, usually. They’re as blatant as the always-flashing ALERT icon at the bottom of the TV screen.) We can watch out for symptoms, for the growing irrationality, for the ever-more-strident voices calling for blood, for the rush of that addictive adrenaline.

Hopefully, we can find antidotes... before it’s too late.