The rioters' use of repeated sharp noise on federal agents is a stressor biological weapon to fatigue the amygdala and locus coeruleus. This sidelines the prefrontal cortex which governs focus, planning and reasoning.
— J Michael Waller (@JMichaelWaller) January 27, 2026
The armed agents become jumpy and in fight or flight mode,… https://t.co/y4a3GhmiZ1
J. Michael Waller explains,
The rioters' use of repeated sharp noise on federal agents is a stressor biological weapon to fatigue the amygdala and locus coeruleus. This sidelines the prefrontal cortex which governs focus, planning and reasoning.
The armed agents become jumpy and in fight or flight mode, increasing the risk of unintended lethal force - just the kind of "armed propaganda" that the insurgent leaders seek.
from @Recon1_ZA,
Chaps, there's a reason these demonstrators are using whistles, horns, and making so much noise in all the video clips you are watching.
They don't do these when protesting climate change or LGBTQ rights.
Those sudden, impulsive noises trigger the acoustic startle response. It's a rapid, involuntary reaction mediated by the brainstem, involving muscle tension, elevated heart rate, and adrenaline release.
That repetitive exposure from them fatigues neural pathways but sustains heightened arousal, diverting cognitive resources from higher-order tasks to basic threat monitoring.
It is an acute stressor, activating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and sympathetic nervous system, which releases cortisol and adrenaline.
Long exposure to this stuff impairs prefrontal cortex function critical for decision making.
Pair this with the sheer annoyance, these tactics are a low-tech escalation of protest disruption, rooted in documented physiological responses to noise.
In layman's terms, they're putting these officers on edge and triggering them to act. Pretti and Good was exactly what they wanted. It's usually someone else who ends up dying and not the instigator.
This is a great example.
Watch the guy at the rear strike an officer against the head with an object. These officers, already on edge, are very likely to react to something like that. When someone ends up getting hurt, they're all innocent.
These events aren't random.
These are organised tactics. 80% of the people protesting aren't aware that they're being used by their own team as cannon fodder to generate outrage.
