Liberté, égalité, Nutellaté

Soldato
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Having just read this article from events this week in France:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-42826028

Has got me thinking, what is it in the human psyche that somehow switches of when in a herd? All of a sudden generally decent people become slavering, ravenous imbeciles, uncontrollable and can't be reasoned with. We've seen it in this country with one of the first Black Friday events a few years ago, we see it with crowds at sporting events and concerts and we saw it with the riots that spread across the major cities of the country a few years ago. The "Poll Tax" riots also being another example.

I know a lad quite well who was in a very well paid managerial position with Royal Bank of Scotland, he'd never been in trouble with the Police who went off to Germany for the 2006 World Cup and came back via deportation for "hooliganism" handed over to the British Police had the book thrown at him and lost his job. When ever he describes it he just says he didn't know what came over him he was just sucked up and dragged along with the crowd, he stopped being an individual and was just a smaller part of a bigger whole. Now I don't fully hold with this belief that you lose your identity in these situations, surely if you are of a strong enough character at any point you can put the brakes on and reassert your individuality and walk away, I have been there to a point and was able to do just that (I was at the Poll Tax demonstrations in 1990 that descended into a riot), or am I being to harsh and the anonymity and comfort blanket of the "mass" is to beguiling?
 
Soldato
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is it a survival trait? going along the lines that the wisdom of the whole is more reliable than the wisdom of the individual so we're pre-programmed to follow a crowd's actions over our own, even when the crowds actions turn to violence.
 
Soldato
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That's an interesting thought, I fully understand and have read plenty on how crowds can be manipulated by the vocal/authoritative, that's a given. What does seem strange though, particularly in the case of the "Nutella Riots" and the Black Friday debacle is it's ad hoc, there is no real panic trigger or a guiding minority, things just seem to reach a critical mass and then boom, everything descends into mindlessness.
 
Caporegime
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4 Jul 2004
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The day I run into a store and get into a fight over a couple of quid is the day I have gone completely insane. You wouldn't even catch me jogging through a store to pick up a £500 discount on a TV, never mind anything else. :p
 
Soldato
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No longer riding an Italian
Small minded imbeciles likely hoover up these deals, as they suspect that they can get a bunch of cheap items - then flog them off on eBay/Gumtree etc, turning a quick profit. At least, that's the only reason I can fathom people would have full blown punch ups over a sodding TV!
 
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