Mass Hysteria & Mob Mentality: Why are people so f*%&in weird!?

Image: Iconic modern history pictured above, (6th January, 2021) when Trump Supporters stormed the Capitol. Source: Getty Images.

Have you heard of an angry mob?

And what perhaps do you envision?

My mind jumps to torches and pitchforks, angry village people on the hunt, chasing someone, harming someone. Amidst a thickly charged energetic fear that is overwhelming. I imagine walking, screeching. Lynching even. A modern day mass hyteria would see a mob looting businesses, breaking glass, fighting in the streets.

Some other famous examples of mass hysteria are;

The Siege of Marra (1095) where the "Holy" crusaders ate the remains of Muslim soldiers. In 1099 the massacre of Jerusalem happened. A religious war that has stretched through the centuries between Islam and Christianity. Despite both faiths sharing roots in the prophet Abraham. War is unlike any other human condition. Partaking in the flesh of other humans, is a desperate and strange occurance. Of course we can not remove starvation from the equation. It seems to me, there are multiple factors that can drive people to madness.

Dr Bobby Azarian (2018) said that "fundamentalist ideologies act like mental parasites... does not usually kill the host it inhabits, as it is critically dependent on it for survival. Instead, it feeds off it and changes its behavior in ways that benefit its own existence". Significantly we have seen through the course of history, that religion is like an override button for people's common sense and sensibility. Religious extremism is somewhat like psychosis. Producing illusions of grandeur and grandiose self centred importance. Placing 1 idea above all others and discarding other points of view. Therefore, even if idealistic, it creates an imbalanced perception of the world. Where often hate arises for those who do not share the same beliefs.

This image depicts Jesus on a horse "leading the Crusaders into battle". Credit: Dr Susan a Throop. Source: The British Library.

There is also the reaction to War Of The World's (1938), where a radio play about an Alien invasion induced the public into panic. They really thought the world was ending. The placebo effect means that even if an event is not a real emergency it is alikened to the real event because of human behavior, the reactions are real.

Killearn & Andriopoulos (2012) say that "The human brain as an

"extension" of our technical media. The Cold War experimentalization of the self in

all its aspects - memory, cognition, perception - radically instrumentalized the idea

of the human. At the same time, in a strange twist, the notion of brainwashing

preserved a charismatic conception of selfhood via the figure of the brainwasher,

who was often represented as the possessor". This statement infers that we often willingly commit ourselves to the susceptibility of absorbing information and beliefs. Importantly this is what gives media, churches, political groups and authorities the ability to take advantage of people's mindsets.

The dancing plague of 1518 where a community of people danced for days in a trance like state. This eventually lead to the Salem Witch trials where 52 women and children were burnt at the stake. Schoeneman (1977) claimed that:

Historians of psychiatry have propagated the view that the witch hunts of sixteenth and seventeenth-century Europe were primarily a persecution of the mentally ill and that demonological concepts of possession and witchcraft impeded psychiatric progress for centuries". This means that a community of people who share the same belief about witches for example, will inadvertently grow stronger in their shared beliefs. Much like religious fervour. And paradoxically, we observe that even thoughts or ideas that are not based in truth or reality can have an equal hold on a group of people. Particularly in instances where the beliefs are communal. The echo chamber of thoughts where we only hear and speak what we want to know. A dangerous cult denominator, that births extremism through denying all conflicting or polarised conversation.

Image: An etched sketch of the Salem Witch Trials. Credit: Bettmann Archive.

Today, it seems all too common to come upon instances of mass hysteria in our feeds. Social Psychologists and Sociologists especially, dedicate themselves to analysing why and how humans can behave completely out of character when in a group of people.

Astro world is one example of when group hysteria exacerbated by alcohol and drugs made people crazed to a point of stampeding and killing members of the crowd. Travis Scott's music festival in November 2021. 25 put in hospital and 10 who died. These examples show us that humans in groups are highly susceptible and influenced by the people around them. And will even act out of character to the point of harming others.

Image: Entrance to Astro World Festival. Source: Rick Ken, 2021.

The most recent acts of mass hysteria that have effected humankind as a whole, is the current invasion of Gaza. Mass Psychogenic Hysteria. My thoughts are that labelling something "an act of war" will never be an acceptable answer in the obliteration of over 10,000 children in less than 3 weeks.

Image: Bodies lined up outside Gaza Hospital October 18th. Source: Al jazeera English.

What monstrous, inhumane and vile thing we are witnessing?! And yet, these soldiers and ammunitions professionals are anhialating innocent civilians by the day. What other explanation other than absolute insanity and mental incapacitation could there be?

Michael Bader (2006) said that "national

liberation depend on patriotic fervor to

oppose colonial rule; unfortunately, eth

nic cleansing draws on this same fervor.

Appeals to the transcendent value of the

nation-state can be progressive or regressive." In saying this, the mentality needed to colonise a land and people is almost the same mentality needed to defend a land and people. With the purpose of feeling safe and connected. That is never to take for granted the oppressive and evil nature of colonisation. As it has never occurred without the genocide of Indigenous people and erasure of culture, diminishing security and belonging.

Image: Father mourning his Son after missile attack in Gaza. Source: The Palestinian Information Centre

The indoctrination that would be needed to fuel this war astounds me. And to see, Orthodox Priests of Israel attempting to speak out against the genocide

and be beaten in the streets by police. Mothers in Israel arrested for liking social media posts in support of a Free Palestine. If they would hurt and torment and punish their own for speaking against this war. Their are no bounds known for this government. Because at the bare minimum, how are incubated babies in Al Shifa hospital not a boundary for these soldiers? Yet the numbers continue to grow each day. There is much more to this history but that will be extended in another essay.

Balaratnasingam & Janca (2006, pp. 171-174) noticed that with war and terror the trajectory for mass psychogenic hysteria would continue to rise. They said that the aftermath of the global pandemic would exacerbate our potential to behave in extreme ways. They also said government decisions, media and medical community would be the ultimate triggers for these socially catastrophic events.

Collective behavior happens in an isolated event usually and can include anyone. Where as group behaviour is continuous and exclusive. (KhanAcademyMedicine, 2014). We are seeing both of these conditions come to life.

Autonomy and sovereignty are things we need to instill in ourselves and our children. The "influencer" generations are at the mercy of uneducated, brainwashed, fearful humans in position of power. Malcom X said "the medias most powerful entity on earth, they have the power to make the innocent guilty and the guilty innocent, and that's power because they control the minds of the masses".

To cut the mental ties we have with social media and political, religious biases would be the start of becoming a human family. Starting to trust ourselves and our intuition again instead of running to Google for every question. Centering our hearts again as Indigenous elders have always told us is the ultimate wisdom. We know that love is the highest form of intelligence. We know that unplugging from the machine will help us. Help each other, to become human again.

Zemara Waru-Keelan

PhD Student, MA, BA, BSocSci.