The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-06-23
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information, Bureau
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN, Director.
washington, d, G.
ARE YOU MoB-MINpEp7

| ton 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 its progress toward
| blocked by this, perhaps more than
/ by any one other thing. The only
thing that can save us, according to
the scientists, is an increase in the
| number of individuals who refuse to
4 follow the crowd.
| Recent outbreaks of mob violence
have attracted widespread attention,
| and have resulted in much discussion.
| Bills have been introduced into con-
gress and into state legislatures to
| essential popularity of the mob-mind
its inferiority. 1t is well known
/ that in a lynching mob, acts of vio-
lence and cruelty are committed by
| template them alone. The mob brings
| to the surface the lowest instincts
which are shared by all its members
1t is a reversion Of savagery.
| But the mob OF physical violence
is only the most obvious mob. We are
mob minded as a people, the psycholo-
| gfsts say, in ways less evident and
even more dangerous. We all read
| the same things, eat the same things,
wear the same things, hold the same
/ y
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 it. The
| man who does not follow the crowd Is
| often called queer and is ostracfzed.
In no other country, we are told, is
| there so little tolerance for the man
who is different. And when we os-
| tracize or shun a man who is differ
| emit CfY MI haHaIJSa diffnFPnf
we are doing in a less obvious way ex-
actly what the mob did which tarred
| and feathered a reformer because 1t
did not like the way he managed his
, own affairs.
We suppress individuality in its
more obvious, distastefu1 manifesto
| tions 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
| civilization. Civilization was built by
men who dared to be different from
the mob. Its constructive work is al
ways carried on by them.
A Waste of Human Material
By penalizing individuality. say the
psychologists, We are impeding our
progress at its source. That is why
| England produces four or five great
writer's for every one that we produce,
with twice as great population. II
is why most important scientific dis
coyery is made in Europe, while we
merely make inventions. 1t is one
reason why We rank about tenth
among civilized nationszin education,
and why our universities are SO far
below those of Europe,
Our salvation lies in the develop
ment of persons who will refrain from
following crowds-and not only the
lynching crowds, and crowds that run
to fires, and crowds that tar and
feather reformers; but the less organ
lied, less palpable crowd which runs
after the same books, the same ideas.
the same prejudices. If you would
really raise yourself above the mob,
4 we are told, you must form your own
} opinion of everything 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 superstitions.
arouses your aversion, instead of
rushing off to have him tarred and
feathered, whether literally or figura-
lively. you must first examine the
grounds Of your aversion. to see
whether it 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 word, you must always be
! logical, just and tolerant-three things
that the mob never Is. You will often
find yourself playing lone game. but
you will also find yourself growing
stronger for every struggle.
Mobs Menace.
Everett Dean Martin, in his book on
crowds, says:
suffers from crowd-behavior. I know
of nothing which today SO nenaces
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 habit of behaving
as crowds.
, "Our society is becoming veritable
babble of gibbering crowds. Not only
are mob outbreaks and riots increas-
ing in number, but every interest, pa
triotic, religious, ethical, political.
economic, easily degenerates into a
confusion Of propaganda tongues,
into extravagant partisanshfp and in
7 temperance.
None of the social scientists who
have studied the masses believe that
the crowd can be eliminated as a fea-
ture of human existence. But they
believe that dangerous tendency
could be somewhat offset If the aver
that he is an individual with certain
: amount of native independence.
: Our Difference toward convention
leads US to the extreme of distressing
! anything out of the ordinary. A man
t who has opinions not closely conform
! ing to the opinions of every one else in
his office, club or home is regarded as
a freak of nature. Sometimes. it is
l true, he is-when his opinions are not
I backed by intelligent thought. The
two factors = thoughtfulness and
strong individuality-go together.
One presupposes the other.
! Martin sums it up by saying:
! What the social situation demands
: most is different kind of thinking, a
: new education. an increasing number
r of people who understand themselves
and are intellectually and morally in
dependent of the tyranny of crowd
IDEAS"