Our way or the mob way

Are people different from one another?

I would say no. We are all just like animals; we are all the same except for very few differences. It is quite similar to the way in which humans look at animals and birds.

This can be explained by the use of mob mentality. It could be the reason why it is also called “Herd Behavior”. People define herd behavior as a pejorative behavior of an individual when in a group. According to studies, people in a group tend to follow what the group does. That is true. Every individual has the property of syncing with what is going on around him. Try revolving your right hand clockwise and your left hand anti-clockwise simultaneously. It will just take two revolutions for it to sync with each other. If this is the case when there are only two, imagine what would happen when there are a whole lot.

Mob mentality gained more popularity with mob violence in political rallies, football matches etc. It would be one person who started it, and another 100 would have joined in. But it should be noted that say of a 1000 when the 100 were rioting the other 900 were running away from the scene. If mob mentality can explain the behavior of the 100 fighting why not explain that of the other 900 running in all directions. The running could also be attributed to a group behavior. These are the only 2 scenarios that can take place in that situation. The mentality of rioting comes up with those who are violent inside, and those that are scared will definitely run away and won’t take the risk standing for their fight.

Why do they do that in a group and when not alone? This is the next question that may rise. An individual likes to be be praised and will do things to stand out from a crowd, but when doing a crime he has to do it in such a way that people don’t know it is him. So my conclusion is that even in mob mentality it is only the internal characteristics of the individual that comes out seeing others, and cannot be attributed to the person doing the things just following others.

By this I would conclude all people think alike and are alike. It is the society, culture, traditions, laws etc that is holding us back.

Another attribution is that of drunken violence. It is a normal assumption that alcohol makes you violent, and that’s the reason for all the violence caused by a man intoxicated. But I would deny that. It may have been the alcohol that may have caused it, but there is another reason that underlies beneath this. The violence is only caused if the man is violent himself. He is not in a position to express him in the normal part of the day. The alcohol helps him forget where he is and brings the real him out. Alcohol does not only bring out the violence. I had a friend who would become philanthropic when he is drunk. That is the best time to wait on him. All the waiters earn almost their 1 week salary in a night from his tips. The next day it would be us who will be scolded for letting him so philanthropic. I told him it is what he wants to do and we let him do it. It was nothing harmful. But he could not do this in his normal self when he is reminded of all his constraints. Thus drunken people behave the way they actually want to under the influence of alcohol.