We attended a concert tonight, the Commodores from the late '70s and '80s. ("Once, Twice, Three Times a Lady"...., etc.). 2 of the 7 members are originals, having been together 49 years! Their enticement to the audience, which consisted mainly of old farts like me, was amazingly effective, from the point of view of satisfaction to the band. The folks acted out reactions demanded by the lead singer, got very rowdy for elderly adults, and I saw that as a large group, they might have done almost anything asked of them, beyond just participating. I pictured Jim Morrison of the Doors disrobing a 12 year old girl on stage (actually happened), and being arrested for it. Then it became clearer to me, that such activity was akin to the mesmerization of large crowds of people gathered to listen to the rantings of the likes of Adolph Hitler. Have you observed mob activity like this? Frank
YES ! Only from what I observe on TV - never understood it, never wanted to be a part of it Its alien to me
Yes, in online groups and on websites. There are a lot of followers out there who will do just about anything to be recognized, get the attention they crave, and feel as if they belong to something. It can be very frightening. If you look at incidents of group bullying, there's usually a leader or two, then the followers, who go along and often push the issue, in an attempt to please the leader(s). It sickens me. I'd like the music at that concert, but it definitely doesn't sound like my sort of crowd, but then again, I'm not a fan of crowds.
Frank, can you clarify acting out reactions? Sample? I get mob mentality. Years ago, in the 90's, when they had that Woodstock concert that was put on or promoted and filmed by MTV, a co worker stated she would have loved to go to that. I said no way, it's not going to end well. Too many people, too many bands. I had a bad feeling about it and I was right. It ended with such mob mentality, violence and destruction. Diane Lane, I completely agree with your post. I've mentioned a very liberal forum I've gone to where I was attacked. That forum is being closed by the person who started it. A lot of the posters are flocking like roaches to a Reddit group they opened. Once it was announced the forum was closing (it's still up) someone started a thread to post links to threads where they had fun attacking people though of coarse they didn't word it that way. I posted that they were often very nasty and just followed one another. While of coarse being so open minded and liberal I said a couple of other things regarding how I was treated and I'm glad that forum is going down. Mob mentality on the internet is very real also
I am a bit confused Frank. You talk about two very different bands. I would have thought a nice concert to attend the Commodores one. Apologise I might have misunderstood your view. I find football matches in the UK do have an element of mob rule, such as ffighting, windows being smashed, property damaged.. I witnessed brand new cars an a showroom frontage all being damaged by visiting fans. It was incomprehensible.to me and very scary as I was just trying to make my way home. I am not a fan of bullies any way.