In 1852 Charles MacKay published Volume I of his Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. In the work he writes, “We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object, and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first.”*
Is he wrong? Look at our own time. Make a list of political, social, aesthetic, and religious foci. Which of those appears to be all consuming at the moment? How does each focus compare with past similar foci? Which focus on the list is a pendulum swing to an earlier focus with slight modification? Which foci lead to hysteria? And which are injurious to the innocent few while satisfying the emotions of the manipulated many? Finally, which foci are blatantly built on 1) rumor or falsehood, on 2) non sequiturs and cross categorizing, and on 3) vengeance and self-aggrandizement? The political world seems especially driven by those three foci.
In MacKay’s time both delusions and madness were spread by word of mouth, pamphlets, newspapers, and even official proclamations by political and religious leaders. In the twenty-first century almost anyone can incite “madness in a crowd.” We can spread madness and delusion at the speed of electromagnetic radiation.
I won’t give you specifics; if you examine our times, you will have your list. I will ask, however, “Have you ever been caught up in the ‘madness of crowds’ or ‘popular delusions’?” MacKay hints at our susceptibilities: Greed, power, and longevity. Money, authority, and prophets guide us. Don’t we desire, for example, security ensured by knowing the future? That’s why MacKay includes alchemy and prophecy among the drivers of crowd madness. As for money, MacKay tells what happened in Holland in the seventeenth century.
When tulips became the rage in Holland, collectors and growers assigned them great value. The Dutch became obsessed with tulips. In the 1600s Holland had a stock market devoted to them, and people became both wealthy and impoverished on tulip speculations. “Nobles, citizens, farmers, mechanics, sea-men, footmen, maid-servants, even chimney-sweeps and old clothes-women, dabbled in tulips.” Tulip madness had captured the minds of the crowd. Tulip varieties had names and established values. MacKay writes:
…an amateur botanist [an English traveler] happened to see a tulip-root lying in the conservatory of a wealthy Dutchman. Being ignorant of its quality, he took out his penknife, and peeled off its coats, with the view of making experiments upon it. When it was by this means reduced to half its size, he cut it into two equal sections, making all the time many learned remarks on the singular appearances of the unknown bulb. Suddenly, the owner pounced upon him, and, with fury in his eyes, asked him if he knew what he had been doing? “Peeling a most extraordinary onion,” replied the philosopher. “Hundert tausend duyvel!” said the Duchman; “it’s an Admiral Van der Eyck.” “Thank you,” replied the traveller, taking out his note-book to make a memorandum of the same; “are these admirals common in your country?” “Death and the devil!” said the Dutchman, seizing the astonished man of science by the collar; “come before the syndic, and you shall see.” In spite of his remonstrances, the traveller was led through the streets followed by a mob of persons. When brought into the presence of the magistrate, he learned, to his consternation, that the root upon which he had been experimentalising was worth four thousand florins; and, notwithstanding all he could urge in extenuation, he was lodged in prison until he found securities for the payment of this sum.
Of course, one could argue that the owner had lost a valuable Admiral Van der Eyck bulb, and that his response was just a matter of economics. But what about the “mob”? One might also argue that since the seventeenth century tulips have become a mainstay of the Dutch economy. They certainly make for pretty pictures against the backdrop of a windmill by a canal. But MacKay’s point is the mob mentality, the being-swept-up-in-the-hysteria-of-the-moment. Causes and fads pass. Hysteria is temporary. As MacKay writes, “Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one” [italics mine].
Remember you are “one.” You don’t have to go “mad in herds.” But, should you find yourself caught up in a cause of the moment (political, social, religious), think of the mob railroading a curious English tourist to the magistrate and jail because he didn’t understand that a tulip bulb was not an onion.
So, stay focused on this point: What a mob thinks of as a valuable “bulb,” someone that doesn’t belong to the “crowd” might think of as an edible onion.
*London: Office of the National Illustrated Library. Gutenberg Project, online at
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24518/24518-h/24518-h.htm
Is he wrong? Look at our own time. Make a list of political, social, aesthetic, and religious foci. Which of those appears to be all consuming at the moment? How does each focus compare with past similar foci? Which focus on the list is a pendulum swing to an earlier focus with slight modification? Which foci lead to hysteria? And which are injurious to the innocent few while satisfying the emotions of the manipulated many? Finally, which foci are blatantly built on 1) rumor or falsehood, on 2) non sequiturs and cross categorizing, and on 3) vengeance and self-aggrandizement? The political world seems especially driven by those three foci.
In MacKay’s time both delusions and madness were spread by word of mouth, pamphlets, newspapers, and even official proclamations by political and religious leaders. In the twenty-first century almost anyone can incite “madness in a crowd.” We can spread madness and delusion at the speed of electromagnetic radiation.
I won’t give you specifics; if you examine our times, you will have your list. I will ask, however, “Have you ever been caught up in the ‘madness of crowds’ or ‘popular delusions’?” MacKay hints at our susceptibilities: Greed, power, and longevity. Money, authority, and prophets guide us. Don’t we desire, for example, security ensured by knowing the future? That’s why MacKay includes alchemy and prophecy among the drivers of crowd madness. As for money, MacKay tells what happened in Holland in the seventeenth century.
When tulips became the rage in Holland, collectors and growers assigned them great value. The Dutch became obsessed with tulips. In the 1600s Holland had a stock market devoted to them, and people became both wealthy and impoverished on tulip speculations. “Nobles, citizens, farmers, mechanics, sea-men, footmen, maid-servants, even chimney-sweeps and old clothes-women, dabbled in tulips.” Tulip madness had captured the minds of the crowd. Tulip varieties had names and established values. MacKay writes:
…an amateur botanist [an English traveler] happened to see a tulip-root lying in the conservatory of a wealthy Dutchman. Being ignorant of its quality, he took out his penknife, and peeled off its coats, with the view of making experiments upon it. When it was by this means reduced to half its size, he cut it into two equal sections, making all the time many learned remarks on the singular appearances of the unknown bulb. Suddenly, the owner pounced upon him, and, with fury in his eyes, asked him if he knew what he had been doing? “Peeling a most extraordinary onion,” replied the philosopher. “Hundert tausend duyvel!” said the Duchman; “it’s an Admiral Van der Eyck.” “Thank you,” replied the traveller, taking out his note-book to make a memorandum of the same; “are these admirals common in your country?” “Death and the devil!” said the Dutchman, seizing the astonished man of science by the collar; “come before the syndic, and you shall see.” In spite of his remonstrances, the traveller was led through the streets followed by a mob of persons. When brought into the presence of the magistrate, he learned, to his consternation, that the root upon which he had been experimentalising was worth four thousand florins; and, notwithstanding all he could urge in extenuation, he was lodged in prison until he found securities for the payment of this sum.
Of course, one could argue that the owner had lost a valuable Admiral Van der Eyck bulb, and that his response was just a matter of economics. But what about the “mob”? One might also argue that since the seventeenth century tulips have become a mainstay of the Dutch economy. They certainly make for pretty pictures against the backdrop of a windmill by a canal. But MacKay’s point is the mob mentality, the being-swept-up-in-the-hysteria-of-the-moment. Causes and fads pass. Hysteria is temporary. As MacKay writes, “Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one” [italics mine].
Remember you are “one.” You don’t have to go “mad in herds.” But, should you find yourself caught up in a cause of the moment (political, social, religious), think of the mob railroading a curious English tourist to the magistrate and jail because he didn’t understand that a tulip bulb was not an onion.
So, stay focused on this point: What a mob thinks of as a valuable “bulb,” someone that doesn’t belong to the “crowd” might think of as an edible onion.
*London: Office of the National Illustrated Library. Gutenberg Project, online at
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24518/24518-h/24518-h.htm
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