# Self Defense and Mob Mentality Questions



## Bullsherdog (Oct 7, 2018)

This post explains the gist of it.

How hard is it to resist mob mentality & groupthink?In particular violence?Esp for us 1st worlders?

Is it a lot easier to be influenced by the majority that you'll enthusiastically get a bat and go around hitting immigrants than we assume? Why are humans quick to give up their principles and beliefs just because there are plenty of people nearby who want to be destructive?

To ask from a self defense perspective, how do you avoid getting engulfed in mob mentality so you end up committing crimes? I mean in many acts of gang violence, some of the guilty often state they weren't even aware they were raping the victim. Even among civilians, many people who were arrested after a riot admit they could not understand why in hindsight they developed the nerve to get a bat and attack a random person who has superficial physical traits similar to hated ethnic minorities. Some of the people who commit such crimes even cried after seeing footage of them assaulting the person and sincerely apologized to the victims after the fact (if they're not dead already).

So I am curious what steps one should take to avoid getting into mob mentality and committing violence.

In addition I am wondering what social cues can tell if mob mentality  is in the air and group violence will erupt soon? Most victims of group attacks especially riots often state they were just minding their own business buying stuff at the store or walking in the park when suddenly they were hit with a bat and stomped by a group of people or pinned down on the ground and had their clothes torn off. As they say the best self-defense is leaving the place before an incident happens so I am wondering if there are social cues that indicate mob violence will happen soon?


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## Buka (Oct 7, 2018)

Social cues indicating mob behavior and resisting any mob behavior should be separate subjects in my opinion. 

Resisting bad behavior is simple. Just conduct yourself as a good person, have honor. Sometimes it may not be easy. But who cares about easy?


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## drop bear (Oct 7, 2018)

An example of the sort of social cues that kick off a big drama. In dance form of course.


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## hoshin1600 (Oct 7, 2018)

drop bear said:


> An example of the sort of social cues that kick off a big drama. In dance form of course.


I'm more interested in why they look like they have shoe polish on their faces. I guess it's group think. One kid doesit,  next thing you know they all do it.


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## hoshin1600 (Oct 7, 2018)

Bullsherdog said:


> This post explains the gist of it.
> 
> How hard is it to resist mob mentality & groupthink?In particular violence?Esp for us 1st worlders?
> 
> ...


I read some of the linked blog and your post and I think your over simplifying and over exaggerating at the same time.
I am of the impression that this view is a distorted fictional account of real circumstances and psychological behavior.  You don't wake up one morning, get dressed, walk down the street. ..and if you see a group raping and killing, you abruptly join the crowd and become a serial killer. This really has nothing to do with self defense and is more of a psychological question.  I would suggest reading the book " The Gulag Archipelago" it's a good account of this topic when it happened in Russia.  You could also look into "the Stamford experiment".    This topic deserves an in depth conversation and a martial arts Web sight forum can't do it justice.


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## drop bear (Oct 7, 2018)

hoshin1600 said:


> I'm more interested in why they look like they have shoe polish on their faces. I guess it's group think. One kid doesit,  next thing you know they all do it.



Fake tan obviously.

It is a Jersey shore thing.


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## Gerry Seymour (Oct 7, 2018)

To the OP:

There’s some evidence that failing to make decisions about important things before they happen can lead to following social behavior cues (“crowd behavior”). Deciding in advance what you are and are not willing to do (much in line with @Buka’s comment) apparently goes a long way. It’s not a panacea, but it seems to matter.


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## Hanzou (Oct 7, 2018)

drop bear said:


> Fake tan obviously.
> 
> It is a Jersey shore thing.



Nah, that's just some good old fashioned American racism. They wouldn't hire any actual brown people for the roles, so they just hired some white people and darkened their skin and dyed their hair.


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## drop bear (Oct 7, 2018)

Hanzou said:


> Nah, that's just some good old fashioned American racism. They wouldn't hire any actual brown people for the roles, so they just hired some white people and darkened their skin and dyed their hair.



But.




Trump.


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## Buka (Oct 8, 2018)

hoshin1600 said:


> I'm more interested in why they look like they have shoe polish on their faces. I guess it's group think. One kid doesit,  next thing you know they all do it.



Good reason for the shoe polish on their faces.

They’re all wearing sneakers.


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