Monday, January 3, 2011

Crowd Control

Dear Children:

Many times on these pages I have asked you to watch out for certain people. Mostly we have talked about the avatars, those with special knowledge, the simplifiers, the slick promoters, the bowdlerizers and those whose only plea is to trust them. This is an important topic and, if you’re tired of hearing about it – tough. The world is ripe.

History is rich with guidance in this matter. Too many times we have looked back at those we followed so blindly and asked: “Why did we do it?” One supposes that to be a legitimate-enough question. A question more likely to get at the truth is, “Why did we love him so much?” Do you get the distinction? Categorical obedience comes from love, unenthusiastic obedience issues from cynicism or gutlessness. Put that way, it’s easy to pick oneself out. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a churchman and great conscience of the mid-twentieth century, put it this way from his Nazi prison cell:

"If we look more closely, we see that any violent display of power, whether political or religious, produces an outburst of folly in a large part of mankind; indeed, this seems actually to be a psychological and sociological law: the power of some needs the folly of others. It is not that certain human capacities, intellectual capacities for instance, become stunted or destroyed, but rather that the upsurge of power makes such an overwhelming impression that men are deprived of their independent judgment, and ... give up trying to assess the new state of affairs for themselves."
Even as his assassination drew near, Dr. Bonhoeffer put the case mildly. H. L. Mencken, a journalist and anti-cleric, never suffered from such modesty:

"The individual man, cheek by jowl with the multitude, drops down an intellectual peg or two, and so tends to show the mental and emotional reactions of his inferiors. The crowd, as a crowd, performs acts that many of its members, as individuals, would never be guilty of. Its average intelligence is very low; it is inflammatory, vicious, idiotic; almost simian. Crowds, properly worked up by skillful demagogues, are ready to believe anything, and to do anything.
The numskull runs amuck in a crowd, not because he has been inoculated with new rascality by the mysterious crowd influence, but because his habitual rascality now has its only chance to function safely.
What happens when a crowd cuts loose? ... The few superior men in it are not straightway reduced to the level of the underlying stoneheads. On the contrary, they usually keep their heads, and make efforts to combat the crowd action. But the stoneheads are too many for them. ... And why? Because they are suddenly conscious of the power lying in their numbers. The third rate man, though he may wear the false whiskers of a first rate man, may always be detected by his inability to keep his head in the face of an appeal to his emotions. A whoop strips off his disguise."
Just this morning the Mencken quote flew overhead quite by chance as this topic again cried for attention … funny how that happens. And, accounting for the age in which the two quotes were crafted, young ladies may not think it applies to them. It does.

All this talk of the mob and herd-mentality begs the question of the alternative. The truth is that shouting “Heil Hitler” is easy as is drinking Kool Aid offered by some huckster or following a smooth talker to a commune. There are lots of lesser examples not the least of which is empty-calorie partisanship. It is difficult, on the other hand, to be in relationship with another individual person. It is hard to be responsible for a family. Friendship is often dodgy. Sharing can be risky. Faithfulness is not for the faint.

You gotta wonder when you see someone who prefers his dog to human interaction. Wringing one’s hands over the faceless poor is not the same as feeding and clothing real people. Carrying a placard one time in a billion got someone out of jail. These also are pale substitutes for individual responsibility.

Just in case you’re interested, there is much research that confirms the idea that, despite the proximate cause, riots and tumult are generally for fun and profit and have little to do with improvement.

Here again, Dr. Bonhoeffer is instructive:

“Being free means ‘being free for the other,’ because the other has bound me to him. Only in relationship with the other am I free"
Here’s hoping you can hold these words dear. When we free ourselves up to think for ourselves, our thoughts do not turn to the hubbub but to each other with real and addressable needs.

I’m Just Sayin’

Poppy
www.poppylbs.blogspot.com

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