Are we so numb from the constant exposure to violence in our society and the media that we don’t act when others are being victimized and attacked? Emerson said it best, “There can be no high civility without a deep morality.”
Trump had been using the words "us “and "them" for a long time. It’s his part of his plan of destruction. It’s your worse middle school click, beating up the nerd...it’s the Hitler followers laughing as they committed atrocities on the "them."You can understand the danger in a heard by reading this short article.
Mr. Haywood pleaded and yelled at them to “Stop! Leave me
alone! I did nothing to you.” Mr. Haywood’s pleading to the group fell on deaf
ears and they continued to go after him and repeatedly beat him. One teen
retorted, “Nobody cares about you!” These teens were clearly swept up in a herd
mentality. Nietzsche and Kierkegaard described herd mentality
as people acting at the same time in the same way with no thought of
consequences or a sense of responsibility for their actions. The people in the
herd feel an obligation to each other because of their individual sense of
inadequacy and insecurity to stand on their own. The herd gives their lives
meaning. There is no room for individual thought or a sense of humanity towards
a victim that the group chooses to attack. This group didn’t feel empathy,
compassion or guilt about their behavior towards Mr. Haywood because in a herd
mentality the group gets invigorated by seeing others suffer who are
“different” from them and their own.
"Last Sunday at 7 PM, Allen Haywood was standing in front of a column reading a book at the
L’Enfant Plaza Metro station in Washington, DC waiting for his train like he
has done every week for 25 years when a group of ten to 12 teens came up behind
him and began beating on him. Some of the teens hit with their fists in rapid
succession while others of the group looked on and recorded it on their cell
phones. The incident lasted less than five minutes, according to Mr. Haywood.
Mr. Haywood was bruised and cut. There are a few significant and disturbing
observations to be made.
One such observation is that these teens were out on a
Sunday night, at a Metro station at 7 p.m., and clearly their parents or
guardians had no idea what they were doing or where they were. Teenagers who
are out on a Sunday night and have premeditated ill intentions and no external
or internal limits spell trouble. A detective from the Metro Transit Police
said, “We have the most trouble with this age group at our Metro stations and
you never really know who you’re dealing with.”
Mr. Haywood pleaded and yelled at them to “Stop! Leave me
alone! I did nothing to you.” Mr. Haywood’s pleading to the group fell on deaf
ears and they continued to go after him and repeatedly beat him. One teen
retorted, “Nobody cares about you!” These teens were clearly swept up in a herd
mentality. Nietzsche and Kierkegaard described herd
mentality as people acting at the same time in the same way with no thought of
consequences or a sense of responsibility for their actions. The people in the
herd feel an obligation to each other because of their individual sense of
inadequacy and insecurity to stand on their own. The herd gives their lives
meaning. There is no room for individual thought or a sense of humanity towards
a victim that the group chooses to attack. This group didn’t feel empathy,
compassion or guilt about their behavior towards Mr. Haywood because in a herd
mentality the group gets invigorated by seeing others suffer who are
“different” from them and their own personal norm or experience. No matter how
Mr. Haywood pleaded he was still thought of by the group as “bad and the
enemy.” Nothing was stolen; they just wanted to steal Mr. Haywood’s dignity and
to feel “something” by inflicting pain on him. Are these teenagers sociopaths
in the making? Sadly, for all of us, they did have remorseless pleasure seeking
through the pain and suffering of the victim. But this isn’t the only
disturbing part of Mr. Haywood’s story.
Mr. Haywood said, “The platform was full of people coming
and going and some even recording the attack. But not one person helped. Not
one person yelled anything to the attackers, called 911, walked to the Metro
kiosk less than 100 feet away to get the Metro staff and police to stop this
and no one went to the Call Box to call for help that was close by.” Mr.
Haywood was all alone, but in Public. Bystanders just walked away or watched
him get pummeled. To add salt to Mr. Haywood’s wounds, many people came up to
Mr. Haywood after the attack and told him they’d be glad to sell him their
recordings but when the Metro Transit police tried to find witnesses to
identify the attackers, no one came forward. Schadenfreude is the delight
derived by the misfortunes of others. Is this what our society has become? Are
we so numb from the constant exposure to violence in our society and the media
that we don’t act when others are being victimized and attacked? Emerson said it
best, “There can be no high civility without a deep morality.
