I was horrified to read of
this journalist's plight at the hands of some of the locals in Cairo last week, horrified and disgusted - but not surprised. I send my most positive of thoughts to her and damn her assailants to hell - but, I reiterate, I am not surprised.
9 comments:
I hate crowds because of stuff like this. There is some switch in the human brain which turns off intelligent thought when in a crowd situation. Perhaps some sort of remnant of "fight or flight".
i AM suprised. and i'm horrified and disgusted, too.
if i weren't surprised, then it'd be too much like losing my faith in humanity. things like that, i feel, MUST surprise me.
Blue: Crowd dynamics - one of life's most dangerous things, as you rightly say.
Lana: I do regret that I was not surprised, especially about this woman in the midst of a massive crowd of hyper-ventilated Arabs. I always look for the best in people, even after 30 years as a police officer, so at least my optimism hasn't been blunted, although it's constantly being tested
In any crowd, the level of intelligence of the whole crowd is that of the thickest person there, divided by the number in the crowd.
TonyF: Generous to a tee, as always :D
Pack mentality is as terrifying in humans as it is Rottweiler. But I prefer the dogs, in this case.
Here's to the women and soldiers who helped out. I fear we are going the same way. Our administrative arrogance levels are running high too. We might already have a class war on our streets, if Tony's intelligence theory were not true. Currently, the dullness causes a docile body-politic, but crushed enough we tend to 'go Arab'.
"... so at least my optimism hasn't been blunted, although it's constantly being tested."
That case, I don't know. Something not quite 'right' about it.
And the Egypt incident has shown that appalling behaviour isn't confined to the crowd - check out the journalists and pundits (left AND right) using it to advance their own personal hobby horses.
JuliaM: Yes, the media were/are beyond words on this - almost unbelievable.
As for `that case` (just re-read your comment) yes, it does smell `ratty` I must agree with you.
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