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Mob mentality is out of control

I fear that, at times, we are descending into a morass from which it will be increasingly difficult to rise.

I fear that, at times, we are descending into a morass from which it will be increasingly difficult to rise. There are so many lines along which we are divided: politics, pipelines, economics, the environment, to name a few; each with its own ideologies from which to make our stand. Facts have become obfuscated by arguments based on opinions, where the Mighty Search Engine Google has become the trusted source for Truth. We seem to have lost the ability to debate intelligently and to admit when we may be wrong on a certain point, and so adjust our way of thinking; cognitive dissonance is a real thing.

Social media, with all the wonderful ways it allows us to connect to friends and family far and wide, has - in my opinion - also largely contributed to a new online mob mentality that is disheartening. Jung said that "Man in the crowd is unconsciously lowered to an inferior moral and intellectual level, to that level which is always there, below the threshold of consciousness, ready to break forth as soon as it is stimulated through the formation of a crowd." The vitriol that permeates our online discourse is the modern-day equivalent of the mob - "Hang the witch!"; it is the meeting of our unconscious shadows looking to wage war on anything that irks us or conflicts with our beliefs.

I followed with great interest the entire debacle around the Covington High School boys and Nathan Phillips, a Native American who went up to one of the boys, chanting and drumming in his face. It was fascinating to see how quickly viral a tiny slice of video spread, and the accusation, judgement, conviction, and sentencing that the boys were subject to. A few seconds of video, taken completely out of context, and these boys were Evil Incarnate - "To the guillotine!" Even when more of the story came out the next day, it was too late - the mob was firmly entrenched in their condemnation, even as reports came out that Phillips had lied about being a Vietnam vet. I was not concerned as much about who was right versus who was wrong (I wasn't there!); I was more interested in how people divided into two online mobs and sunk to name-calling, accusations, and generally disgusting behaviour.

I brought this up as an example on a particular Facebook group that is very popular here in Cochrane, where people go to deliver tirades about or heap praise upon their fellow citizens; I was pointing out – as mentioned above – that we should be careful about not descending into a mob mentality, that sometimes there are two sides to a story, and we ought to know better than to stand up high on our soapboxes and publicly denigrate and shame our neighbours. The thread that was spurred by my post was civil and interesting, as far as I'm concerned. However, as I checked later in the day to see how the conversation was going, I found that not only had the post been deleted, but I had been banned from posting or commenting on the group for a week. Just as well, as I had actually been debating leaving the group; I found it was tainting my view of our beautiful town. This made the decision easy: I left the group, and am happier for it.

I know we are better than this, and that the few do not define who we are. For example, just this afternoon (Monday, Feb 4th), as temperatures hovered around the -25C mark, a gentleman by the name of Aaron in Riversong was offering to boost people's batteries if their cars wouldn't start ("No charge," as he mentioned on his post; he's a comedian, too!). As exemplified by this gentleman, I believe the people of Cochrane are caring, friendly, kind, considerate, intelligent, and hard-working. We are fortunate to live in such a wonderful location, and I for one choose to be appreciative of the opportunity to live here.

Jacques Sauve

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