Me and the Mob

Mobs of people intrigue me because I don’t think they’re comprised of angry people, by-and-large. Mobs of people are comprised of ordinary folks with one common proclivity, thirst for power.

It takes a lot of gumption to resist joining any mob. The mob has everything you want – built in approval sources, seemingly indomitable momentum and the ability to supress dissenting viewpoints through intimidation. Haven’t you ever tried to appeal to a mob? I did on Sunday as I tried to converse with the opposing team in my Fraternity basketball game to stop with the insults and the instigating. I addressed my team in the first half of the game when I noticed them losing control. Then I turned my attention, near game’s end, to our opponents. To my knowledge, these were guys about the same age as me (34) or older. Some may have been slightly younger. But they were certainly all African-American as was my team and mob mentality appeared to prevail. There was profuse profanity, threatening language and ostentatious displays of pseudo-superiority that would make male peacocks envious. I reiterate that my team was guilty of it as well but there were more of “them”. Besides, I’m biased and it makes for a good story when you make your adversary the clear villain.

At any rate, I fought the mob with logic, an appeal to conscience. I was rewarded with a swarm of mob members semi-circling me as I talked in a low tone, urging the men to see our commonality and not treat their fraternity like a gang membership. I’m objective about the low tone part too. After all, who willingly incites the mob to swing the clubs they have in tow? I like walking away from a gym with all my teeth. I also like not being embarrassed in front of my wife. I tried to stay out of the realm of inciting and disrespect understanding fully that in the land of “MANDOM” respect is a currency that spends well. I tried not to denigrate and condescend but for all my trying, the mob won out. It was a game that didn’t even count toward our record in league play but we lost, first because the mob mentality defeated both teams and second because we just played bad basketball.

At day’s end though, mobs run the planet. You fight ’em because the members of a mob deserve your effort. The human being was never meant to be a mob member but rather a uniquely gifted contributor to this world. You fight the mob to disintegrate it and you disintegrate it by finding the one mob member who isn’t sure why he joined. You show him respect, find the common ground between he and yourself and you hope the sensibility spreads. The mob is only dangerous as long as delusion reigns supreme so whether it’s basketball or the people with torches outside your window, know that IT won’t hear you because no one ever had a conversation with a mob.