> A state of shock is what happens to us – individually or as a society – when we experience a sudden and unprecedented event for which we do not yet have an adequate explanation. At its essence, a shock is the gap that opens up between event and existing narratives to explain that event. Being creatures of narrative, humans tend to be very uncomfortable with meaning vacuums – which is why those opportunistic players, the people I have terms “disaster capitalists”, have been able to rush into the gap with their preexisting wish lists and simplistic stories of good and evil. (pg. 7-8)