By Albert Thyrniang
Benjamin Franklin said, “If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking.” Everyone thinking alike is a mob mentality. Mob mentality is also called ‘herd mentality’ or more degradingly, ‘gang mentality’. It is a term to describe how people are influenced by peers to act based largely on emotion rather than on reason. Often used in a negative sense, it refers to a ‘thinking’ that leads to a behaviour which emerges from a crowd that is aggressive, chaotic and even hysteric. Therefore, mob mentality and subsequently mob behaviour is influenced by peer pressure, the need to conform, the need for acceptance and the desire for a sense of belonging.
Obviously the term ‘herd mentality’ is derived from the study of groups of animals or herds which is applied to humans. Group behaviour of flocks, herds, pods and other assortments is a common sight but scientific studies have applied herd behaviour to humans. Like animals people too tend to do what others around them do.
Sociologists and psychologists say that herd mentality and herd behavior have been prevalent ever since people began to ‘form tribes, migrate in groups, and perform cooperative marketing and agricultural functions’. Put forward by the 19th-century French social psychologists Gabriel Tarde, the idea of a “group mind” or “mob behavior” has been studied by Sigmund Freud, Wilfred Trotter, Thorstein Veblen, Malcolm Gladwell, James Suroweicki and others. Though studies vary the common element is that humans seem to lose their rationality when in a crowd or a mob.
Herd mentality and more aptly mob mentality was in full display in Shillong in the last three days or so. To the shock of many, the state capital turned lawless suddenly. The genesis of the violence was a rumour. A skirmish took place in Punjabi lane on 31st May afternoon. The cause of the altercation is unclear. The bus driver of an SPTS bus said his two sons and nephew were beaten up by a group of ladies and later by a group of boys in Punjabi Lane as the ladies were on the path of buses while the headman of Punjabi Lane or Harijan colony said the ladies were eve teased by the bus driver and conductors. Both sides are right and wrong at the same time. The truth has to lie somewhere in the middle.
Whatever happened on that crowed lane on the last day of May, the incident can be described as minor till the rumour that the minor boy who was injured in the clash succumbed to his injuries spread thick and fast through the social media. The result was that in the evening of the same day the situation flared up when a crowd gathered in Motphran with the intention to attack Punjabi Lane and started pelting stones at the security forces deployed in the area. The unfortunate incident had turned communal. Obviously, the reality of the matter was not verified. The injured boy in hospital did not die. Confirmation could have been easily obtained. Clearly the social media has gone crazy. It has enabled us to stop thinking.
Since that fateful day/night the city plunged into lawlessness. Stone pelting, clashes with the police, tear gas, arsons, torching of show rooms, shops and vehicles in vulnerable localities of the city were the order of the day. People had to flee their homes. Curfew had to be imposed. On standby, the army had to conduct flag march. Internet connection had to be suspended. Literally wild fire spread quickly. Crack down on and arrests of miscreants followed. The hill city was gripped with tension.
The culprit of the sorry state of affairs is the social media. Photographs of ‘victims of police excesses’, live video clips of police lathi-charge, young men clashing with security forces, were posted on Facebook and WhatsApp and other social platforms. Plans for violence, invitations for a fight back, calls to protect ‘the Jaitbynriew’ were explicitly made in these media. And hundreds of youngsters responded to invitations to damage property and harm lives. Evidently the mob mentality has taken over their brains and the ability to think critically or normally is lost. Self thinking is surrendered to a mob. What works is emotion, no longer reason. The term ‘Jaitbynriew’ is often maligned to evoke passion and emotion, sentiments and sensationalism.
Neuro-biologists say that when people break off into groups, their brain produces chemicals that diminishes their normal thought pattern to a more primitive state which literally means people tend to stop thinking when they are amalgamated into groups. A writer controversially argued that what happened in Nazi Germany could largely be blamed on ordinary people conforming to “mass opinion without a critical evaluation of the consequences of their actions.” The turns of events in the state capital should remind us that we can fall prey to mob mentality.
However, each of us has the ability to think independently for ourselves even in a group or even while belonging to a group. We need not conform to norms of a group. We need not subscribe to the beliefs and views of a group. We need not be stereotyped. We need not act like the rest in a crowd. We need not feel compelled to follow the crowd. We can think differently. We can decide for ourselves. We can fight peer pressure. Mob mentality has to be avoided. Mob mentality, most often than not, leads to violence and undesirable consequences. Mob mentality kills critical thinking and creativity and can be a curse and a bane. Modern technology has also enabled fake news to spread with every blink of an eye. Fake news of large scale violence against a community and non-tribals shuttered the good name of ‘Scotland of the East,’regionally and nationally. Sadly even the mainstream news houses, electronic and print, fell prey to fake news and sourced their news from social media posts and shares. A Punjabi minister from the Centre who visited ground zero testified that Punjabis are safe in the Meghalaya capital. The police and the security forces did a great job to prevent potential large scale violence.
Now, who are those involved in breaking the law? Do they represent ‘the Jaidbynriew’? On whose behalf are they acting? Do they have a face? Do they act on their own? Do they represent NGOs and pressure groups? Do we just dismiss them as miscreants? Do we brand them as ‘people from West Khasi Hills’? What is the objective is labelling them so? Was there no Shillongite involved? Is a message sought to be conveyed that Shillong citizens are noble and don’t get themselves involved in such mean behaviour? Is it just a divisive tactic? By the way, who are Shillong people? Are/were they not migrants from villages at some point of time in history? Do pressure groups exploit and make use of them for their self interests? The Chief Minister said protesters have been bought? Who bought them? Inferences are too obvious to state.
Now politics over Punjabi Lane/Harijan Colony/Sweeper Colony have already started. Groups and politicians have demanded the eviction of the occupants of this slum dwelling. The residents who consist of employees of the District Council and Municipality, insist the locality is their own home. Will we see a forceful eviction? Or will we see the matter in court?
Returning to the point we began, perhaps mob mentality is what we have inherited. As kids we are told to keep our mouths shut. We are told never to ask questions. We are told to conform to the norms of a family or community. Even in school we learn through choral recitation. We answer as a class as loudly as possible, ‘yes’ when a teacher asks, “Do you understand”. Questions papers up to degree level test only memory. They do not assess students’ language, thinking, analysing, synthesising, problem solving, life and social skills. From reliable sources marks in MBOSE examinations are rewarded on the students’ ability to write verbatim. If the answer scripts of toppers are open to scrutiny, you might find accurate answers as in the text books or notes. That’s how you have a rank holder who is still confused with English. I am yet to reconcile to how the one subject, Mathematics, that forces a student to think, analyse and solve problems is made optional at the SSLC level.
Our social upbringing and formal education promotes mob mentality. No wonder, the monster raises its ugly head regularly.