Phillip asks if mob mentality from viral videos is an obviously bad idea. Micah and K Sera have their thoughts. Due to respect of those that are referenced, there will be no show notes that references any of the “flash in the pan” controversies discussed in this episode.
Show Notes:
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K Sera’s afterthoughts:
- Micah’s method of using public shame to pursue “justice” inspires so much rage in me, I want to shake him. You can’t control the mob once the bait is set. I won’t say that our current justice system is anywhere near perfect, but I would still prefer its intended purpose over a mob looking for retribution inspired by passionate outrage. I don’t trust a thousand and more angry and frightened people to pass rational and righteous judgment. While most of the many are content to use words as their weapons, it only take a few stupid fools to follow through on threats of violence, administering “sentences” completely disproportionate to the wrong being committed.
Believing that a few vigilante executions constitutes acceptable collateral damage to curb undesirable behavior or beliefs is antithetical to the idea of justice. Revenge isn’t justice. Making an example of someone only makes them a martyr to those who share those values. This is exactly why republicans are using the phrase “witch hunt” to describe the public persecution they are experiencing as the mob seeks to ruin their reputations in retaliation for the anti-social wrongs they may have committed. They perhaps deserve the public ridicule, but they certainly don’t deserve death threats, and unfortunately the former nearly always coincides with the latter.
- The belief that shame and a social majority will somehow out compete and slowly choke out undesirable view points seems absurd to me - much as I hope the opposite is true for the ideas I think are truly disturbing and anti-social. You can kill a person, hobble them, silence them, try to beat them or shame them into submission. You can lock people away or try to ‘re-educate’ them to believe what you believe is true and right and good - but you can’t kill an idea and you will never convince them all. Cripple them, they will crawl. Take their tongue, they will write.
I’m not convinced we will ever truly eliminate ideas rejected by the majority.
Phillip’s afterthoughts
-This was originally recorded in the summer of 2020. Thus, Trump was certainly in the news and the victor of who was going to win the house, senate, and the Whitehouse was still up for grabs. During this time, I reflected upon how viral videos played a role in our sense of justice, and thus the question was born.
-There is an unnerving feeling about how I want immediate justice served. With all the news about people committing fraud and obvious crimes so blatantly and publically (with no follow up or action by the authorities that are purported to serve us) or when people exhibit terrible behavior proudly without any consequence, a terrible feeling of this deep primal need for retribution exists within me. This is not good. Justice should not be a knee-jerk reaction, if we are guided solely on our emotions and instinct, it is a ripe tool to be abused by manipulators and propagandists.
-Mob mentality is dangerous, whether through pitchforks or through keyboards. Ethically and morally, we need to be tamping down on self-righteous actions in fear that it evolves into sadism and cruelty.