We say that groups are similar to savages - in fact we have made enough conservative concessions in theory, and realistically speaking, groups and savages Barbarians are inherently hard to find distinctly different--aside from their impulsiveness, fickleness, and impatience, and a more similar trait:
they don't recognize obstacles!
Whether it is primitive people or groups, their common feature is that they do not recognize obstacles.
They do not admit that there is a barrier between their desire and reality - or rather, they do not recognize that there is a barrier between their desire and the reality that achieves it, and they do not recognize or believe in this barrier at all. existence, and anyone who tries to make a point to them will suffer their cruelest punishment! In the days of the Inquisition that prevailed on the Continent, the clergy burned anyone they didn't like at the stake, put iron boots on the poor people, and then filled them with hot iron during the trial. Lead water, while ordering people to smash tin boots flat.
In our eyes today, this process is almost unbelievable, but such horrific things are not uncommon in the era of the Pope, and it even happened to the astronomer Bruno, because he openly followed the church. It is completely intolerable the heliocentric theory.
As one bishop once said, "Discussions about the nature and position of the earth can never help us to realize our hopes for the afterlife." Therefore, all claims that are not doctrinal are regarded as a hindrance to the Church. It is for this reason that Europe during that period was like a pool of sewage, diseases and famines emerged one after another, and countless lives were taken away. Yet it is still believed that sickness and death are punishments for ungodliness to God.
We can see that the group has no ability to understand the existence of such obstacles. For them, the group is the advantage, and the strength of the number makes them feel that they are unstoppable. It is impossible for any obstacle to appear in such a situation. In the group consciousness, even if there is, it is a hostile provocation to their group.
This is well illustrated by what happened to Hypatia, an ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher of extraordinary beauty and knowledge. However, living in Alexandria at the time was not a good thing for an educated woman. Because early Christians believed that philosophy and scientific research were pagan activities and should be banned. Hypatia fell victim to a bloody tumult between Christians and non-Christians. One night, on her way home, the carriage she was in was attacked by a Christian mob. She was dragged from the carriage, stripped naked, and beaten to death with stones. Before dying, her eyes were gouged out, her body was dismembered, and the mutilated body was thrown into the fire at the Library of Alexandria to be burned. Obviously, in the eyes of these thugs, Hypatia's erudition has constituted an obstacle to their beliefs, and breaking this obstacle has become the top priority of the group.
In addition, there is no concept of the impossible among members of the group, they think they can do anything - if not for this frenzy at work, their performance would not be so extreme and impossible Reasoning.
Common sense that is obvious to an independent individual is an unacceptable act of hostility to a group. Therefore, the performance of the group is often full of violent elements.
An independent individual would never have the courage to loot a store or set fire to a palace, knowing that it would be pointless. Therefore, even if he occasionally has such thoughts, he will easily resist this temptation. Therefore, even if a person has violent anti-social behavior, he clearly feels a sense of guilt when he does these things.
But groups are not.
The group has no sense of guilt, the group is naturally reasonable, and whatever they do is just, because their number determines this.
Number is truth - when any individual in a group is incorporated into it, he feels his natural rightness and legitimacy, and realizes the power that the sheer number of the group gives him, which is enough to give birth to The idea of killing and looting, and immediately putting it into practice--the quantity also gave him an illusion of justice, and he did not think he was evil when he murdered and looted, but a kind of pathos in his heart. Overwhelmed by emotions.
Any obstacle will be pushed down by the group!
They will push down psychological barriers, which means they will be freed from morality and, in fact, think they are morals.
They push down barriers in reality, which means they do all sorts of unimaginably horrible things. They will not accept a reality that is inconsistent with their will, and if it does not, they will challenge the order of reality with drastic measures.
Human passions may be more than you can imagine - in fact, the human organism can generate a lot of frenetic passion enough to destroy everything. The problem can also be expressed in more normative psychological terms—that is, the normal state of formation of groups with thwarted aspirations is an expression of this state of agitation.
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