Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-06-22
ARE YOU MOB-MINDED?
BY Frederick j. Haskin.

WASHINGTON. June Eff you would serve
your country and civilization in general, don't
follow crowds.
This is the advice of psychologists to the
modern man in general, and the American in
particular. They say that America is becoming
a mob-minded country, and that it's progress
toward a higher degree of civilization is blocked
by this, perhaps more than by any one other
thing. The only thing that can save us, ac-
cording to the scientists, is an increase in the
number of individuals who refuse to follow the
crowd.
Recent outbreaks of mob violence have at
tracted widespread attention, and have resulted
in much discussion. Bills have been introduced
into congress and into state legislatures to pre-
vent them. And they illustrate the essential
popularity of the mob-mind-its inferiority. 1t
is well known that in a ~lynching mob, acts of
violence and cruelty are committed by individ-
uals who would not even them
alone. The mob brings to the surface the lowest
instincts which are shared by all it's members.
IT is a reversion to savagery.
But the mob of physical violence is only the
most obvious mob. We are mob-minded as a
people, the psychologists say, in ways less evil
dent and even more dangerous. We all read the
same things, eat the same things, wear the same
things, hold the same opinions. Most of us are
following crowds even when we are alone. There
is no country in which people all act, talk, look
and think so much alike. individuality is rare
among us, and we are apt to penaliZe 1t. The
man who does not follow the crowd is often
called queer and is ostraclzed. In no other coun-
try, we are told, IS there so little tolerance for
the man who is different. And when we ostracize
Or shun a man who is different simply because he
is different, we are doing in a less obvious way
exactly w,at the NIB did which tarred and
feathered a reforrAr because 1t did not like the
way he managed his cwn affairs.
We suppress individuality in it's more obvious,
distasteful manifestations by physical violence
once in a while, and we constantly suppress in
dividuality in harmless and sometimes valuable
forms by mental and social violence.
But individuality is the life blood of civiliza-
ton. Civilization was built by men who dared
to be different from the mob. Its constructive
work is always carried on by them.
A Waste OF Human Material.
BY penalizing individuality, say the psycholo-
gists, we are impending our progress at It's
source. That IS why England produces four
or five great writer's for every one that we pro-
with twice as great q population. 1t le
why most important scientific discovery is made
in Europe. while we merely make Inventions
1t is one reason why we rank about tenth among
civilized nations in education, and why our uni
versities are SO far below those of Europe.
Our salvation lies in the development OF per-
sons who will refrain from following crowds
and not only the %lynching crowds and crowds
that run to fires, and crowds that tar and feather
but the less organized. less palpabie
crowd which runs after the same books, the
same ideas, the same prejudices. If you would
really raise yourself above the mob, we are
told, you must form your own opinion OF every
thing and it must be a logical opinion. When
you do not know enough to form an opinion, you
must admit it and hold your mind open to
further evidence. You must hold no unreasoned
opinions, for these are either prejudices or su-
perstitions. When a man does something that
arouses your aversion, instead of rushing off to
have him tarred and feathered, whether literally
or fguratively, you must first examine the
grounds of your aversion, to see whether 1t Is
justified, and second. you must consider the
matter from the other fellows point of view.
and see whether he may not be right after all
In a word, you must always be logical, just ana
tolerant-three things that the mob never is.
You will often find yourself playing a lone game,
but you will also find yourself growing stronger
for every struggle.
Mobs a Menace.
Everett Dean Martin, in his book on crowds,
says:
both the individual and society suffer from
crowd behavior. know of nothing which today
so menaces not only the values of civilization,
but also-it is the same thing in other words
perhaps-the achievement OF personality and
true knowledge of self, as the growing haplt OF
behaving as crowds. II
Our society is becoming a veritable babble of
gibbering crowds. Not only are moi outbreaks
and riots increasing in number, but every IN
terest, patriotic, religious, ethical. political. eco
nomic. easily degenerates into a confusion OF
propaganda tongues. into extravagant partisan
ship and intemperance." ,I
None of the social scientists who have studied
the masses believe that the crowd can be elm
mated as a feature of human existence. But tney
believe that a dangerous tendency could pc
somewhat offset if the average citizen would
awaken to the fact that he is an individual with
a certain amount of native independence
Our Difference toward convention leads us TO
the extreme Of distressing anything out OF the
ordinary. A man who has opinions not closely
conforming to the opinions of everyone else IN
his office, club, or home is regarded as a freak
Of nature. Sometimes, it is true. he ls-when
his opinions are not backed by intelligent
thought. The two and
strong individualty-go together. one presup-
poses the other.
Martin sums 1t up by saying:
What the social situation demands most Is a
different kind of thinking. a new education. an
increasing number of people who understand
themselves and are Intellectually and morally
independent of the tyranny of crowd-ideas' !