Points of Light: Cultures and History

Cultures and history can be forgotten, or they can be part of our mental Points of Light.

Here are two examples:

1.  We bring back our own culture and the cultures of others:

Edward Curtis: Was this the most ambitious photo project ever?
Edward S Curtis spent years living with Native American tribes to chronicle their lives, in what became a definitive work of vast proportions.

After taking more than 40,000 pictures over 30 years, he published the last of 20 volumes in 1930.

https://www.bbc.com/news/video_and_audio/headlines/45843072/edward-curtis-was-this-the-most-ambitious-photo-project-ever

2. African Women: remembering them in history, 10 short BBC video vignettes:

Warrior Queens:

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-45877404/nehanda-the-shona-spirit-medium-that-inspired-mugabe

Ambushed then Hijacked: 75 words to expand thinking

G: thanks for your dialogue and links to Mental Hijacking: society, social media, advertising and more.
(https://neurohacker.com/how-social-media-and-ai-hijack-your-brain)

There's lots to this. I also thought of the mythic role of the Mermaids in the Homer stories: mesmerizing and enchanting, as well as those mythic types that directly suck the soul from you as in Harry Potter movies:


Stolen are mind, body, heart, or soul......however you see a human "self".



Sucked out and Stolen Life, Harry Potter

The thing you could say about these Hijackers is that there are many: many types, and many methods. In fact, it's all very prevalent.

Your article mentions:
social media
advertising

How about also the metaphors in movies, like Invasion of the Body Snatchers?

Apart from the great need to know and stop mind snatching, there is the process of regaining our mental self.




Here are 5 Word lists to expand your thinking on the topic of Hijack

Ambushed then Hijacked: 75 words to expand thinking

carjack
commandeer
kidnap
steal
shanghai
skyjack
take hostage
annex
borrow
clap
confiscate
cop
embezzle
filch
get fingers on
get hands on
glom on to
grab
grab hold of
lift
misappropriate
moonlight requisition
pilfer
pocket
secure
swipe
take over
usurp
requisition
sequester
sequestrate



ambush
appropriate
arrest
block
catch
check
curb
cut in
cut off
deflect
head off at pass
hinder
interlope
interpose
make off with
obstruct
prevent
seize
shortstop
stop
take
take away

body snatch
bundle off
capture
carry away
carry off
coax
decoy
entice
grab
lay hands on
lure
make off with
pirate
remove
run away with
seduce
seize
shanghai
skyjack
snatch
spirit away
steal
waylay

abscond
appropriate
bereave
break into
burglarize
burgle
cheat
con
cop
defalcate
defraud
despoil
disinherit
dispossess
divest
do out of
embezzle
filch
heist
hold up
hustle
lift
loot
lose
mug
oust
peculate
pilfer
pillage
pinch
plunder
promote
purloin
raid
ransack
relieve
requisition
rifle
rip off
roll
sack
scrounge
snitch
stick up
strip
strong-arm
swindle
swipe
take
thieve
withhold




ambush
annex
apprehend
appropriate
arrest
arrogate
bag
bust
capture
carry off
catch
claw
clutch
commandeer
confiscate
conquer
exact
force
gain
get
grab
grasp
hijack
hook
impound
incorporate
kidnap
lift
nab
nail
occupy
overcome
overpower
overrun
overwhelm
pick up
pounce
secure
snag
snare
spirit away
subdue
take
take by storm
take captive
take over
take possession of
throttle
trap
usurp
wrench

Points of Light: Preserving Cultures Counts

In some movies from the 30's and 40's a lovely vacation is portrayed. While the scene may be from a former time, movies from this era emulated certain vacation types and spots, just like other things of the wealthy were emulated in movies, albeit a Sherlock Holmes movie, vampire, love, or mystery:
the dinner jacket
the martini
nice leather travel luggage
Harrods
big gems on necklaces and rings
flowing designer dresses for designer parties

This was the era forgetting the glamour of the 1912 cruise ship disaster of the Titanic, devastating World War 1, and growing financial and political tensions.  I think this was also a time when somewhat realistic movies, like Gaslight were brought to us by the British. I think there is a reason for many mysteries and dark dramas being influenced by England: it was the land of Jack the Ripper, Scotland Yard, tales of Sherlock Holmes, and the dark sides of London.

In the movie Gaslight, our heroine has met a man while on her glamour vacation. Was it like so many movies at that time, portraying a long rest at Lake Como, in Italy?

Remember, as the note above, there are two versions of the movie, with different details. But, there is the
vacation
the return home
the gaslighting

Then, this is not fully a happy ending. There is no return to Lake Como. The gaslighter's damage has redirected the story. It doesn't return to a naive Lake story or rest. But, also, it doesn't return to that theme at all.....there is no Prince taking our heroine off to the Lake.

The story has then changed. It's not innocent, and not naive anymore. There is damage. Just like the knights going off naively to find the Holy Grail, they all end up battered, scared, and war torn from the experience. Nothing is the same.

Something is lost then.

These stories serve as warnings and tragedies. There is loss. They tell us

don't go there
don't do that
don't have dinner in the vampires castle

When the thief, the gaslighter, takes one's innocence, it's replaced with a more mature view of the world. Being jaded can show up. But, the risk is to let the pendulum swing so far that one is only jaded. One must find now a balance:

how can you be careful, jaded, and "return to or regain your innocence"?

Lost is the culture of Lake Como and the restive vacation, but also potentially lost for good is the culture of the lake vacation AND a part of our souls, often called our inner innocent child self.

About Lake Como

https://www.mirror.co.uk/travel/europe/5-reasons-italys-lake-como-12436663