Crowd-Delirium
By Steven William
web
posted October 1997
How terribly difficult, it seems for many, to tell individuals apart
from one another, except in those situations where only a small number
interact with one another in real time and in real talk. Certainly, myself
in the company of three or four is not much of a concern, since I can
still, to some degree, control the conversation and enjoy the presence
of those who may share some common interest. I can act, react, relate
to, or stand silent in such company, without worry, because there I am,
present and ready. But in the midst of three or four hundred, my individual
presence becomes taken for granted, my face mistaken for the crowd, even
to the point where my individual being and rational is not only discouraged,
but outrightly stifled; my individuality degenerates almost to the vanishing
point. Such is the nature of a crowd, a collective; individuality becomes
problematic. And if I toss in the argument that every crowd is automatically
self-exciting, and say if I were to increase the number to three or four
thousand, not only is there the absence of individuality, but of common
humanity.
Pay attention to a protest or demonstration sometime, on whatever issue,
and you will see what I mean. Usually a few speakers will utter slogans
and catch-words that are expressly intended to incite anger, outrage,
or a general feeling to riot. The mob will react, which is about all it
can do, with cheers and hoorahs, ready to do whatever they are told. And
this is the point, that wherever a multitude exists, there also happens
an intoxication that leaves the individual in a state of heightened suggestibility,
in a hypnotic trance, powerless to effect any action that isn't in keeping
with the mob, or more precisely, the mob rulers. For it goes without saying
that wherever people are gathered, there also exists a governing power;
whether it be in the Machiavellian sense, in the Christian sense, for
the good of the environment, for the good of collective bargaining, for
the celebration of a sports
franchise's latest victory. Notice also, that "good" is a term
wielded often in these circumstances. Too often.
"The crowd-delirium can be indulged in, not
merely without a bad conscience, but actually, in many cases, with a positive
glow of conscious virtue. For, so far from condemning the practice of
downward self-transcendence through herd-intoxication, the leaders of
church and state have actively encouraged the practice whenever it could
be used for the furtherance of their own ends."
-- Aldous Huxley
Here, Mr. Huxley could have well included the leaders of environmental
movements, or union movements, as in the case of strikes. The point is,
however, that what is happening to the individual, who at one time exhibited
signs of reason and free will guided by the light of ethical principles,
is a reduction to mere use, what I consider to be the greatest evil imaginable.
The mob rulers, those trained and skilled in manipulative techniques,
place a restriction on what was a free man who joked and cried and erred
and meandered off into tomfooleries, and limit him despite what he may
imagine or think, to the fulfilling of an aim outside of his own personal
destiny, while making it appear as if he desired it.
Individualism, along with the capacity for free thought, such as taste
or discrimination or judgement, becomes impaired where the collective
exists. No longer do you decide what is right or wrong, what is truth
or false, decisions which properly belong to the personal realm, for others
have already decided it for you. "Crowd-delirium" operates much
in the same way as other intoxicants, such as drugs or alcohol, the usage
of which anyone knows impairs judgement. The difference, however, is,
where drugs are still a matter of personal responsibility, crowd-delirium
offers no such characteristic. Once in the mob, crowd-delirium secretes
automatically, without warning, and if the mob is manipulated well enough,
often the secretion goes unnoticed and, regretfully, unchallenged. Crowd-delirium,
a nebulous, intoxicating sense of shared excitement, deteriorates the
individual to a state of antisocial and irresponsible behavior. It is,
to say the least, dehumanizing. 