Dark Pattern (The Naturalist, #4)

by Andrew Mayne

Generally, I find it a good idea to wait a day or so before forming an opinion about a crisis, because the first twenty-four

hours are usually filled with bullshit speculation by reporters paid by news channels to fill the air with baseless observations while the internet is taken over by people who prefer to speak first and think last.

don’t know—analogies can be misleading.”

When the news feels too normal, we stop paying attention. But bad news grabs us by the throat—which we willingly bare—especially when it’s the kind of news that feels proximal but somehow doesn’t quite touch us.

Maybe our lizard brain can’t tell the difference between our choices and our random circumstances well enough to know that bad stuff sometimes just happens and no matter what perverse pleasure you get in knowing it didn’t happen to you . . . it can.

“Protocols are ideals. They’re things we aspire to.” I throw in an analogy that Jillian gave me when I explained the situation. “They’re not enchanted proclamations from the Ministry of Magic that can’t be broken. We break them all the time. I’m sure there’s some protocol here that says I shouldn’t interrupt you, but here I am, interrupting you.”

make mistakes. You make mistakes. Don’t run from them. Seek them out. Correct them. Listen when someone is telling you something is suspicious. Don’t ignore it.”

If I taught physicians, I think my first test would be the one I use in my own lab: “Is it clean enough that you’d lick it?” Ask yourself that about your hands the next time you leave the bathroom.

“Saying things. Doing the right thing. Speaking up. Any system can be corrupted as long as people will pretend it’s not their problem.”

“Wanting to do something great isn’t being full of yourself.” She laughs.