Man is an animal, albeit a social one. We all follow only the “mob psychology.” Best part, most of the time we don’t know that we are following the mob.
Probably we do it to avoid the constant clash of identity, not in all cases but definitely most.
When at home, each of us is an individual, then venturing outside the house, but within the block we identify ourselves with the family or the house. Doesn’t mean that we don’t pay heed the normal identity but to back our self as to ‘who I am?’, we tend to add a secondary identity.
Then once we are in the other part of the town, we tend to identify from out block/colony etc.
The moment one steps out of the city the identity gets bigger too, because while introducing we tend to give the name of the city.
Well just go outside your state or another part of the country and your identity gets promoted. Didn’t get it, the ‘bhaiya’ problem in Mumbai, does that sound familiar?
Take it a step further comes the country, People of Indian Origin (PIO), Ajit Jain may become the next leader of Berkshire, and we (Indians) have been talking about it. Before that we have celebrated every NRI’s achievement from Amartya Sen to Vikram Pandit
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Well above was more of an example based on geographical location and the general association we make. There are many others also, from race, religion, language etc.
We (One of my friend and me) define this phenomenon as – “we all are sort of thugs, hence we will always show our strength, be it by numbers of head count, technology, money or by any other means. With that we will also try to get a position that according to that individual is more ‘beneficial.’ And hence, most of ‘us’ (the common people) tend to come together and act as a mob. Not that ‘we’ gain anything out of it; the gainers are the one’s who manipulate and create these mobs (to be more precise, the leaders fuelling the mob psychology).”
Just to give a better instance, Bush’s rhetoric of –“us” and “them” – since 9/11 was an example of building the mob psyche. This worked well enough to get him in the White House the second time. It’s easiest to build on anger and fear. Closer at home we can see, 2002 Gujrat affair (minority bashing; “us & them”), the continuous chaos for years in J&K (again us & them) etc. Though there are times when the manipulators are not able to create any euphoria like the slogan India Shining was a disaster.
And with the coming of election and deteriorating economic conditions, it will not be surprising that the mob psychology will see more light than it should.
Probably we do it to avoid the constant clash of identity, not in all cases but definitely most.
When at home, each of us is an individual, then venturing outside the house, but within the block we identify ourselves with the family or the house. Doesn’t mean that we don’t pay heed the normal identity but to back our self as to ‘who I am?’, we tend to add a secondary identity.
Then once we are in the other part of the town, we tend to identify from out block/colony etc.
The moment one steps out of the city the identity gets bigger too, because while introducing we tend to give the name of the city.
Well just go outside your state or another part of the country and your identity gets promoted. Didn’t get it, the ‘bhaiya’ problem in Mumbai, does that sound familiar?
Take it a step further comes the country, People of Indian Origin (PIO), Ajit Jain may become the next leader of Berkshire, and we (Indians) have been talking about it. Before that we have celebrated every NRI’s achievement from Amartya Sen to Vikram Pandit
.......
Well above was more of an example based on geographical location and the general association we make. There are many others also, from race, religion, language etc.
We (One of my friend and me) define this phenomenon as – “we all are sort of thugs, hence we will always show our strength, be it by numbers of head count, technology, money or by any other means. With that we will also try to get a position that according to that individual is more ‘beneficial.’ And hence, most of ‘us’ (the common people) tend to come together and act as a mob. Not that ‘we’ gain anything out of it; the gainers are the one’s who manipulate and create these mobs (to be more precise, the leaders fuelling the mob psychology).”
Just to give a better instance, Bush’s rhetoric of –“us” and “them” – since 9/11 was an example of building the mob psyche. This worked well enough to get him in the White House the second time. It’s easiest to build on anger and fear. Closer at home we can see, 2002 Gujrat affair (minority bashing; “us & them”), the continuous chaos for years in J&K (again us & them) etc. Though there are times when the manipulators are not able to create any euphoria like the slogan India Shining was a disaster.
And with the coming of election and deteriorating economic conditions, it will not be surprising that the mob psychology will see more light than it should.
i agree, the world works on the mob pyschology. And it is the leaders who try to imbibe this within followers meticulously. The us and them is all created by the top ppl and they give fuel to the fire which burns thousands live.
ReplyDeleteWhat i prominently think is that ur are absolutely correct when you say we dont realize we are following the mob mentality. Yes, we are following it and also in every facet of life.
very few ppl use their own brain...elections will surely see more of this pyschology.
mob psychology nice term..well knowingly or unknowingly we play different roles through out the day..we tend to pretend and act something we are not..Only few people know our real self.to be on safer side ,it is an easy way out to be with masses than stand alone and make new enemies.
ReplyDeletei totally agree with u ,come election,our great politicians will come to us to bote on the basis of caste,religion,language,state..and we like fools will vote on this basis.
It is very difficult to kepe one out of this ..we are driven into new group,society,we cant help it .At the end of the day we are part of this society but to support blindly is real stupidity.