Lost in the Crowd
Jul 7, 09:27 PM
I had a realization a while back: I don’t ACTUALLY hate people. * gasp * While my two life motto’s are:
1. People are Jerks
2. People are Idiots
I’ve come to reassess the context in which these two seemingly impenetrable rules apply.
What I have found is that there are people who, when you talk to them one on one, are in fact nice and/or intelligent. Seriously! I’ve seen one! They aren’t myths. Check out the photo I snapped. 
However put them in a big group and focus their attention on one thing and these nice, intelligent people will quite easily slip into the personas of the idiot, jerks I hate so much.
What is it about crowds, mobs, or any large mass of people that removes the logical reasoning of an individual’s thoughts? What makes people riot through Paris for weeks, or kill thousands of “witches” in a witch hunt? Is it that hidden desire to be accepted by your peers? Is it the waves of energy that ripple through the crowd that people become lost in? Is it that you don’t want to miss out on whatever the hell they are doing? Or does that combined attention focused on one detail somehow put “thought blinkers” on everyone nearby?
The power of the masses is an enormous thing, the church, politicians even certain companies and entertainers know this. They see that unquestioning, focused, moral-free power and use it to wage wars, swing votes, make millions of dollars or sell out a show.
The worst part about it is that few can resist it. It could happen to you at ANY MOMENT! If you see a large group of people approaching you (particularly if they are chanting or yelling) prepare yourself for a temporary loss in morals and self-restraint. And if you do find yourself throwing a Molotov cocktail at a police car, killing a woman because she worships the devil or sleeping out to buy Robbie Williams concert tickets, I recommend pausing for a moment and thinking to yourself “What would Gandalf do?”