Resist the mob mentality
As a person’s life evolves you’d think they’d become an independent person who can think for themselves. You know, an adult who can make their own decisions and form their own opinions. I don’t feel like society is headed in that direction.
Maybe it’s social media. Maybe it’s celebrity. Maybe it’s the passioned pleas from a friend. I’m not sure why people are so swayed by others.
You’ve seen it: Someone had a bad experience at a restaurant and quickly shares the story to destroy the eatery. Or someone had a dreadful customer service run-in with a company and instantly thrashes them publicly. What’s the hope? Not only to get a response from the offender but to warn others about doing business with them.
We’re in a time when if I don’t like something, you can’t either. And it’s not just a matter of me expressing that, it’s practically like I am insisting there is no other choice for you — you have to side with me.
It’s a mob mentality of sorts. We’ve seen it with controversial commentators or a TV personality embroiled in a scandal — as recently as yesterday with Roseanne Barr’s firing from ABC. The mob quickly calls for a person to get the axe and if that fails then a total boycott of the show’s advertisers. I can’t even begin to list the people who’ve been on the receiving end of such campaigns but they work. They can ruin careers. Mission: accomplished.
Most broadcasters have the argument that if a person doesn’t like the show or them personally then just tune out, don’t support the show. Lately, those who are offended are quick to launch into destruction mode and attempt to take down the perpetrator.
This goes back to the point that people aren’t free thinking anymore. We’re expected to jump on the bandwagon and be as enraged as the people around us. And when we’re not, we’re accused of supporting the bad guy.
Maybe we just don’t care enough to let it bother us. Maybe we just don’t feel it’s worth the energy to try bring down a person. Maybe we just want to make up our own mind and don’t give a crap like the mob who’s got nothing better to do with its time.
Think about what would exist in the world if everything stopped or was shut down the instant someone didn’t like it. We’d have nothing. What would you bitch about then?
