From: Sean Roach <roach_s@alph.swosu.edu>
Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 11:43:12 +0800
To: cypherpunks@Algebra.COM
Subject: Re: Socio-Economic Cults (Re: Cypherpunk Cults)
Message-ID: <199708280337.XAA03584@www.video-collage.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



At 06:10 PM 8/27/97 PDT, John Smith wrote:
>
>William H. Geiger III:
>
>>In the Salem witch trial they were government trials (which were >based 
>on
>>a political power struggle in Salem at the time) not lynch mobs. 
>
>And how about our gun-crazy friend, who'd shoot anybody who messed
>with him, his family, or his property.  What do you think he's going
>to do when that witch down the street puts a hex on his cow and it
>dies?  Sounds to me like we've got another shooting coming.  Is that
>the kind of world you want to live in?
>
>"John

I like the little comment made in the first of MIB.  And I paraphrase.
Individuals are intelligent, people are stupid.

That is the defining element of mass hysteria.  The invidiual, if left alone
would probably settle down, maybe even realize that he or she was wrong.
The group with its anonymity in numbers, snowballs the emotions beyond the
control of one person.  I unfortunately chose bad examples.  Better ones
would be the LA Riots and the famous broadcast of War of the Worlds.