The weird thing about mobs is that they tend to be made up of individuals with little or no self-awareness. Participation in a mob mentality strikes me as a way of compensating for that loss. People tend to lose themselves — and get a false sense of purpose — from taking part in mob action. For example, consider the persona of “social justice warrior.” Those who adopt the SJW persona pretend to be aware of inequality. Why? My guess is that’s because they are so unaware of what true inequality is — that it stems from ignorance and a lack of experience in dealing with real people on a real level. They resist honest interaction, honest relationships. And nothing could be more self-destructive than that. It’s a zombie-like attitude that actually perpetuates inequality.
Take the case of “Barrett Wilson” — a pseudonym. He recently wrote a piece for Quillette, entitled “I was the Mob Until the Mob Came for Me.” He provides a chilling picture of mob behavior. Having been a part of the “social justice industry” Wilson participated in ganging up on others and smearing them as “racists” and “sexists.” Why? Because it felt good. He explained that he got an emotional rush from behaving that way: “For years, I was blind to my own gleeful savagery.” Of course, at a certain point the savage mob turned on him. That’s the nature of the beast. He lost his well paying job because of the accusations and total lack of due process in the social justice industry. Now he delivers food for a living. He’ll lose that job too if the mob finds out who he is.
The silver lining is that Wilson realized that getting off the mob train — and doing honest work — has allowed him to recover some sanity in life, and best of all, appreciation for others: “It’s led me to rediscover how to interact with people in the real world. I’m a kinder and more respectful person now. . . ”
I wrote up a piece about this in the Federalist last week. You can read it here: What to Learn from the Social Justice Warrior Who was Eaten by His Own Mob.” The more aware we become of mob psychology, the more able we are to think on our own and relate to others
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