be startled

"That came from the days when Errol Flynn was my idol. I'd come out of a theatre and be startled when I looked in a mirror because I didn't look like Flynn. I felt like him."

While advocating for tougher social media regulation on a panel about disinformation, Janja Lula da Silva appeared to be startled by a loud noise, joking, "I think it's Elon Musk."

A person without the disorder who listens to a series of sounds such as a beeping car horn wouldn't be startled after the first honk because that person's brain can link the second and subsequent sounds to the first one.

A person with Tourette disorder might be startled by each separate sound, especially if it increases in volume.

Yet in my role as publisher of The New York Times, I continue to be startled by the growing resistance to independent journalism.