Amongst the Savages

“personality goes a long way.” (Jules, Pulp Fiction)

So, I’m sitting here, trying to blog for my faithful-yet-non-existent readers when I should be doing something more productive. But it’s not going well. (Both being more productive and blogging.) It’s not going well because the sounds coming from out my window make me think I’m in downtown Baghdad. But don’t worry, I’m not in any danger. They’re just fireworks. Nevertheless, it’s distracting. And stupid. And I don’t get it.

What’s wrong with people? I mean, come on. People are dumb. People are irrational. Here I mean “people” as groups of individuals. From People we get mob mentality, which gives us riots and looting. People are strange when they come together and form large groups, and I’m not sure why it happens. People abandon almost all sense of personal responsibility when they become part of an ad hoc large group. If the group has one or some leaders, the individuals submit to the will of the leader(s). While the root causes for why it happens escape me, I guess the behaviour is understandable: individuals loving submitting to the authority of others; the Milgram experiments show that. But even without any real leadership, individuals submit… just generally, to the will of the group. I suppose this is harder to understand since there isn't a clear authority. And it's more dangerous since it's probably less predictable; these mobs can act more like a stampede of cows. Getting at why people act the way they do when part of a mob is problematic. I’m sure some academics from some field have worked on this, but I’m unfamiliar with it (if you know of any articles, share ‘em as I’d be keen to check ‘em out... I'd even be interested in any thoughts of your own that you might have).

But even if a large crowd doesn’t get out of control, crowds are still bad; or at least unpleasant (not nearly as awful as buses or eating, though). It's never fun being surrounded by so many people such that it’s hard to move or get to where I wanna go. Doubly so if those people are people you don't like, like communists, or smell bad. Nevertheless, though, there is an amazing palpable feeling that comes with being part of something where you share a experience with a group; at a concert, for instance. It can leave you with a feeling of being part of something more; which a lot of people, understandably, like. So large groups have the potential to be beneficial, but also the potential to go wrong... like after so many Canadian NHL games.

But what about individuals? Surely, if you take one person aside she’s likely able to act rationally. But even though most individuals are reasonable and responsible, some individuals like fireworks; and fireworks are stupid to the point of being irrational. Individually we like ridiculous things (fireworks being one of them (and if you were gonna comment that fireworks are “cool”, save it. They’re not. They’re just cutesy explosives detonated in the sky. Whoop-ti-do. Just another example of why you’re a savage amused by the simple things in life.)). But that’s okay. While I don’t really care for fireworks, I like other silly things. Most people have interests like that. And that’s good. Why? Because it means you’ve got personality. And personality goes a long way. Having unique interests make you interesting. Those plastic girls and douchey guys who only like the trendy things are empty on the inside. Which means they’re necessarily ugly on the inside too. If all the things you like coincide with the things most people like there’s something wrong with you. And this takes me back to people. If you don’t have any interests that make you unique, you’re just another boring face in the crowd. Just a part of the mob.

So what am I saying here? Well, for one, fireworks are stupid. And crowds are stupid, and unpleasant. Individuals aren't much better, unless they have interests. Even if those interests are stupid, like fireworks. This is just my spur-of-the-moment thoughts on the subject. I could be wrong. After all, what do I know.