"The eye was placed where one ray should fall, that it might testify of that particular ray. We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thursday, December 2, 2010

How Does It Happen?

I am fascinated with, and occasionally disgusted by, group mentality. What is it that takes us from empathetic human beings to a callous mob? I've read stories about people being trampled to death in riots at sporting events. I wonder what he was thinking, the person who actually did it. The person who's foot-stomp actually crushed her neck. Did he look down? Try to stop? Did he even notice? It frightens me how, occasionally, we see this callousness to a lesser degree in other situations. I've seen it in class. Not so extreme, but it's something very similar. "Laughter is the best medicine." That's what they say. And it's true. But I think, too, that laughter can be deadly.

I know this post is kind of dark and I don't mean to condemn. I suppose we don't always know why people do the things that they do. But I am wondering, how does it happen?

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