Watching Us Watching Watertown

Friday morning was the start of a week’s writing “vacation” for me. I woke up intending to get an early start on my 5-hour drive from Chicago to Western Michigan and turned on the news to catch up on overnight events while I finished my packing. Mesmerized by the story unfolding about the pursuit of the alleged Boston Marathon bombers-Friday morning one was dead and the other at large—I couldn’t tear myself away from the television, with its repeating video bits of speeding police cars with blue lights flashing, photos of the brother suspects, swat teams and military Humvees.

Finally on the road two hours later, I listened to MSNBC’s live broadcast via satellite radio for 7 straight hours. Most of the time, nothing was happening, but I heard experts on hostage negotiation, bomb disposal, terrorist motivation and behavior, homicide investigation amid constantly updated news about the situation where Boston and vicinity were shut down while an army of law enforcement personnel pursued a 19 year old terror suspect.

As I watched and then listened I also watched myself, questioning my motivation. Why couldn’t I turn off the news and check in every hour or two? Why did I want to be part of the live unfolding of this painful drama? Was it voyeurism, ghoulishness? Or something benign, some need and interest I could accept in my fellow citizens and myself?

My colleagues and I have been thinking a lot about the bully bystander phenomenon lately in our attempts to understand the nation’s behavior in relation to gun violence. Psychoanalyst Stuart Twemlow has identified the bystander as a key player in the group dynamics of bullying. There is the bully, his or her victim, and then a third party, the bystander who stands by and does nothing. If you can intervene with the bystander and make him see himself as an active part of the situation with the potential to change it, you can change the dynamics.

So I was wondering, was my mesmerized following of the day's events, watching a fugitive terrorist pursued by massive law enforcement power, an example of the bystander phenomenon, some sort of numbness to violence, experiencing it as a spectator sport?

Ultimately, my answer was no. I concluded that my fascination with the events, my sense of relief and solidarity at the end of a long day as I watched (now on my cell phone) Watertown residents cheer the police and other personnel as they slowly rolled out of town, were not part of some wicked voyeuristic dehumanization but something else, something if not quite a force for good, at least not a force in support of evil.

Let me tell you what I understood and how I got there.

First, I relied on a tool that psychoanalysts always find invaluable—introspection and an examination of my own state of mind and feelings. Throughout the day I felt intensely interested but not creepy—I didn’t feel voyeuristic or numb or pleasure in the chase. What I wanted was to be part of the group—the group was my country, my fellow citizens, whose innocence had once again been shattered on Patriot’s day in Boston.

The wave of law enforcement personnel and equipment that swept into Watertown on Friday appeared throughout the day as incredibly powerful and competent. In fact there were unfortunate moments—the younger suspect got away Thursday night, and residents were told it was safe to go out Friday evening just minutes before the capture of the remaining suspect. But these didn’t change the story we were watching, the story of massive strength, skill and competence in the face of terror and chaos.

Terrorist acts are successful when they evoke a state of childish helplessness. The nightmare of not being safe, not being able to protect yourself, not knowing where and when danger and chaos will hit. Our group—our citizenry—was hit by that wave of psychological threat on Monday at the Boston marathon. But our group also showed itself –in the form of the might, coordination and proficiency of law enforcement displayed on Friday--as able to respond, protect, and restore order.

To put it in psychoanalytic terms the large group—the US citizenry and its agents—took on two roles in the week’s drama—the frightened traumatized child, and the omnipotent parent who restores safety.

The cheering in Watertown when the Humvees rolled away felt like relief, not ghoulish pleasure. The relief was that we, as a country, have the means to handle crises in safety and restore a sense of security for each of us. We can move from being traumatized (the terrified child) to safety, to being re-stabilized by forces we have put into play (the omnipotent parent). In a sense we have both states of mind inside us. The need to watch all day—I see that as a need to be part of the group, to hang together as a solution to this psychological drama was found.