Last week, CBS News posted the following report, which can be filed firmly in the THAT’s The Harm box:

“Police running scared from drug gangs in one of Mexico’s deadliest cities are using bizarre rituals involving animal sacrifice and spirit tattoos to seek protection from raging violence on the U.S. border” – Source: CBS

As the story continues (and it’s worth reading the whole thing), an increasing litany of pseudoscience emerges as being relied-upon by police involved in one of the most dangerous drug wars on the planet, including:

• Tarot card symbols
• Magical protective tattoos
• Animal sacrifices – chicken
• Haitian Voodoo, Cuban Santeria, Mexican Witchcraft
• Priests
• Patron saints (including Jesus Malverde, patron saint of drug traffickers)
• Statues and skulls
• Ritualistic behaviour
• Spirits
• Full moons

What strikes me most about the story is the extremity of the situation – given the grip drug gangs have on the region, and the inevitable supply of funds this affords criminals in their war with the police, the local authorities are understandably up against the wall. Many are forced (often at gunpoint) to switch sides and work for the gangs. Clearly, the honest police are fighting a losing battle, and one with deadly consequences… and so they turn to whichever belief system might offer them a chink of hope.

Psychologists often talk about the habit of the human mind to delve into unscientific, ritualistic behaviour at times of great stress or anxiety. Rarely have I ever seen a case so illustrative of that simple fact. We truly are just pattern-seeking pigeons, it seems.