Some people love them; others, don’t. Crowds. You belong, but you’re separate. You feel the energy, but you also fear it. There’s just a precariousness to being in something that can morph like some alien monster in a film, a crowd turning into a mob. And it’s not as though we haven’t had incidents.
So, as the Notting Hill Festival draws crowds, a look around the neighborhoods reveals that some residents and shop owners prepare for crowd-turned-mob by boarding up their properties, substituting plywood for glass, putting up a fence or gate. Shame, isn’t it. Humans can’t gather without somehow becoming a bit “nonhuman.” What is it about us that turns identity into anonymity? Is behavior, thinking, and attitude imposed from without or driven from within. Is it Id or Superego?
If it is the former, the Id, don’t we have a question? Is the Id a personal reality? Is there a personal drive that is instinctual? And why does something instinctual have to be destructive? Or, is the Id simply a mechanism that both ensures and uses anonymity?
Crowds and mobs. Festivals and riots. Why does a crowd in a church not turn into a mob? Why is a festival crowd somehow different from a church crowd? Is it the environment or some hidden drive? If either, the Ego dictates. I impose either order or disorder. I perceive and direct unless there truly is some anonymous source of chaos inside that is uncontrollable except through the dictates of the Superego and the desires of the Ego.
“Well, that’s all gobbledygook,” you say. “Don’t individuals determine how and when a crowd turns into a mob?”
“Yes, and in that case, we could all argue that some individuals have taken what they are deep down and imposed it either directly or subtly on a crowd. Opportunists, for example, might see a crowd as a great avenue into a liquor store or pharmacy for some looting or as an avenue to political power, à la Hitler. Some insidious motivation could drive any of us if we give up self-awareness. Maybe jumping up and down with a group celebrating a home team’s victory could be seen as an initial form of mob action, possibly leading to some exacerbation during which the mob destroys shop windows and overturns cars. And then there are the individuals who can use the media to incite for specific purposes.
“Or think of paparazzi all individually competing for that special photo to sell and, in doing so, chasing a Mercedes with a princess and her boyfriend through a tunnel until they crash. Or, again, think of a scandal, any scandal, and how it has been handled by the crowd in control of the press. If one isn’t a member of the favored group, then the crowd turns into a mob seeking ‘blood,’ destroying first and then publishing a sentence-long retraction in a corner of a back section. Don’t we all, at times, act like that? Don’t we all have some agenda that leads us to either incite or join a mob? Just as loose rumor has through the ages, so published and broadcast tales can turn crowds into mobs.
“That brings me to ask myself, ‘How do I know when I am being carried along by a mob mentality? How can I maintain personal control when I’m being pushed and pulled by so many groups?’ True, I’m not going to attend any Notting Hill Festival that attracts hundreds of thousands of people, so I won’t be around if a mob action occurs. I’m not agoraphobic, but I’m reticent to put myself in a circumstance where personal control can be overwhelmed by an uncontrollable crowd. I remember once being in line for supper when the college dining hall opened. As the crowd moved forward, it became a mass that began to crush me—and the crushing began to exceed my strength to resist. I was not in control. Fortunately for me, the doorway was large enough so that people began to flow into the room, but for a while, everyone near the door was like mashed potatoes passing through a funnel. We know what happened at the Who concert in 1979, when eleven people were crushed to death outside Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum, don’t we?
“So, I keep asking myself, is there an analog in the life of the mind? Are we through social media and news and opinion outlets just like the people carried along by the crowd turned mob? Are we to some degree like those Germans pre-World War II? Every time I see the national political conventions of the Democratic, Republican, Green, and whatever parties, I marvel at the seeming unbridled enthusiasm exhibited by throngs of people. Surely, some of them are individuals just swept up by something irresistible as I was physically on the day outside the dining hall.
“Really, all of us face that dilemma between belonging too much and isolating too far. All of us live in a crowd to some extent. It might not be a physical crowd, but it’s certainly an attitudinal and intellectual one. Let’s hope we can foresee the moment when the crowd starts to become mob. Recognizing that moment gives us time to escape before being crushed.”
So, as the Notting Hill Festival draws crowds, a look around the neighborhoods reveals that some residents and shop owners prepare for crowd-turned-mob by boarding up their properties, substituting plywood for glass, putting up a fence or gate. Shame, isn’t it. Humans can’t gather without somehow becoming a bit “nonhuman.” What is it about us that turns identity into anonymity? Is behavior, thinking, and attitude imposed from without or driven from within. Is it Id or Superego?
If it is the former, the Id, don’t we have a question? Is the Id a personal reality? Is there a personal drive that is instinctual? And why does something instinctual have to be destructive? Or, is the Id simply a mechanism that both ensures and uses anonymity?
Crowds and mobs. Festivals and riots. Why does a crowd in a church not turn into a mob? Why is a festival crowd somehow different from a church crowd? Is it the environment or some hidden drive? If either, the Ego dictates. I impose either order or disorder. I perceive and direct unless there truly is some anonymous source of chaos inside that is uncontrollable except through the dictates of the Superego and the desires of the Ego.
“Well, that’s all gobbledygook,” you say. “Don’t individuals determine how and when a crowd turns into a mob?”
“Yes, and in that case, we could all argue that some individuals have taken what they are deep down and imposed it either directly or subtly on a crowd. Opportunists, for example, might see a crowd as a great avenue into a liquor store or pharmacy for some looting or as an avenue to political power, à la Hitler. Some insidious motivation could drive any of us if we give up self-awareness. Maybe jumping up and down with a group celebrating a home team’s victory could be seen as an initial form of mob action, possibly leading to some exacerbation during which the mob destroys shop windows and overturns cars. And then there are the individuals who can use the media to incite for specific purposes.
“Or think of paparazzi all individually competing for that special photo to sell and, in doing so, chasing a Mercedes with a princess and her boyfriend through a tunnel until they crash. Or, again, think of a scandal, any scandal, and how it has been handled by the crowd in control of the press. If one isn’t a member of the favored group, then the crowd turns into a mob seeking ‘blood,’ destroying first and then publishing a sentence-long retraction in a corner of a back section. Don’t we all, at times, act like that? Don’t we all have some agenda that leads us to either incite or join a mob? Just as loose rumor has through the ages, so published and broadcast tales can turn crowds into mobs.
“That brings me to ask myself, ‘How do I know when I am being carried along by a mob mentality? How can I maintain personal control when I’m being pushed and pulled by so many groups?’ True, I’m not going to attend any Notting Hill Festival that attracts hundreds of thousands of people, so I won’t be around if a mob action occurs. I’m not agoraphobic, but I’m reticent to put myself in a circumstance where personal control can be overwhelmed by an uncontrollable crowd. I remember once being in line for supper when the college dining hall opened. As the crowd moved forward, it became a mass that began to crush me—and the crushing began to exceed my strength to resist. I was not in control. Fortunately for me, the doorway was large enough so that people began to flow into the room, but for a while, everyone near the door was like mashed potatoes passing through a funnel. We know what happened at the Who concert in 1979, when eleven people were crushed to death outside Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum, don’t we?
“So, I keep asking myself, is there an analog in the life of the mind? Are we through social media and news and opinion outlets just like the people carried along by the crowd turned mob? Are we to some degree like those Germans pre-World War II? Every time I see the national political conventions of the Democratic, Republican, Green, and whatever parties, I marvel at the seeming unbridled enthusiasm exhibited by throngs of people. Surely, some of them are individuals just swept up by something irresistible as I was physically on the day outside the dining hall.
“Really, all of us face that dilemma between belonging too much and isolating too far. All of us live in a crowd to some extent. It might not be a physical crowd, but it’s certainly an attitudinal and intellectual one. Let’s hope we can foresee the moment when the crowd starts to become mob. Recognizing that moment gives us time to escape before being crushed.”
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