We all have that picture of an over dramatized mob running through the streets burning down buildings and causing destruction thanks to the movies and books that we have all have seen like in chapter 22 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. A mob started out after Sherburn shoots a rowdy drunk man in front of the drunk’s daughter. A crowd gathers and turns into a livid mob that encompasses the streets. The people keep gathering and in fury become one and knock down Sherburn’s front fence. They approach Sherburn to hear his speech about the mob mentality compared to the average person’s scared ways. After this speech the crowd separates. This scenario of a mob being overly controlling have been evident through history like the relatively recent Rodney King riots.
When I think about a mob mentality only massive groups of people developing in far off places come to mind. The power of being faceless in a large group gives the people in the group a prospect of not being judged by society’s norms, because they are all anonymous. They could never be blamed for it just being their fault, because behind others they all become one blameless entity. The other day when I was walking back from gym class there was a group of ten or so kids all yelling bad-mannered things at every single person walking by. I couldn’t help but think how many people would do that if they were by themselves. Zero. The power that they all felt could only be possible in a group of people hidden behind others. I thought giant mobs were the only kinds that developed and would only happen far away in a land of exaggeration brought on by movies and T.V shows. I discovered that this universal human sensation can start anywhere, like the halls of New Trier.
