Mob mentality & Social media.
The madness of the crowd
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First let’s understand the term mob mentality:
Herd mentality describes how people can be influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors on a largely emotional, rather than rational, basis. When individuals are affected by mob mentality, they may make different decisions than they would have individually.
“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups,” George Carlin.
Let’s see, if the herd bias can affect us in real life. While you’re out shopping, you will look at two stores in the mall selling clothes.
Which store do we normally choose? The one that’s crowded, full of people or the less popular/empty one? we are intrigued to know what is attracting their attention and walk into the crowded store, hoping to find something good or else why would the place be crowded, right?
Not only me, most people would choose the busy store over an empty one and of course it’s a rational decision to make. However, many are just making their decision based on the decision of others.
HERD MENTALITY is a strong force which overrides logic, questioning, debate, reasoning, common sense. It may result in bad decisions which could lead to injury, death, injustice, wars, genocide and we can’t help because of our fear.
It is a know fact that people don’t want to miss out. Everyone wants to be everywhere, know everyone, have everything. The fear of being left out, fear of being ostracized, it’s uncomfortable to be the outsider.
Let’s talk about examples of herd mentality:
The Holocaust:
It is unfathomable to believe that the Holocaust even happened in the first place and that so many people found “reasons” to ignore what was going on.
A basic summary of the holocaust was that Adolf Hitler grew to power in Germany and started the Nazi race and an army.
