I don’t think I’m the only person who does this: When something shocking happens in a movie I’m watching, I cover my eyes with my hands. And, simultaneously, there is the compulsive move to peek out from between my fingers, squinting in an effort to see but not-quite see. This week I am noticing how the national news has this quality of seductive shock, and how the mind is responding with its own gestures of both protection and compulsive squinting.