An item that really caught my eye in this reading was the exploration of the concept of the public as "the greatest sophists (Smith-Hyde 446)" and the often negative view we see in writing about the public in general. Many terms are assigned to the group conscious, from "the public" to "the herd" to simply "they(Smith-Hyde 446)." We often assign to this group consciousness an almost zombie-like type of conformism, but usually with some pretty words to spruce things up. It is in conformism that they so called evil of the mass consciousness lies. As people pool together in larger numbers and subsume themselves to the group, there is often an observed tendency to simply follow the crowd, cease critical thinking and obey the common opinions held by the mass. This is argued in the reading to not be entirely true or a bad thing, and I would agree with that. The problem that sprung to mind most to me when reading this was not some concept of how groups are bad and we should all attempt to be our own unique snowflakes obeying only ourselves, but the eagerness of people to condemn the other, as lacking their own conscious thoughts and instead being simply content to obey the group will.
Edit: Oh hey I read and blogged the wrong reading. WELP
I was really struck by the cultural relativism of this. In collectivist cultures, conformity is not viewed as a bad thing at all. Putting the group (whether it be the family, team, or nation) ahead of the individual is considered honorable. However, in an individualistic culture like the United States, the same behavior and perception is considered weak or mindless. It's interesting how the same thing can be interpreted so differently depending on where you are.
ReplyDeleteOh, also: I love that comic! Thanks for spicing up the post with some art. It really made it fun to read.
ReplyDeleteI always think of that strip when I read about the public. That or the evil guy in the hat.
ReplyDeleteYou're taking the fact that most people don't personally feel like sheep to suggest that the mob isn't actually a mob at all, but a body of intelligent persons. It's true that most people think of themselves as independent and others as sheep, and that this view is probably wrong. But why does it suggest that everyone is an individual? Couldn't it suggest just as easily that everyone really is a sheep, even the people who think they're individuals? We normally take the fact that we THINK of ourselves as individuals to imply that we are. I always read the strip above to imply that thinking of oneself as a totally unique individual is pretty sheeplike. I guess what it comes down to is, instead of turning the us vs. them into all us and no them, it might be all them and no us. (That made no sense.)
People who talk about sheeple like to bring up those social experiments where one person faces the wrong way in an elevator and every single person gets on facing the wrong way, not even thinking about it. Those people are in their own heads too, thinking about their grocery shopping or secret lives as CIA snipers. But they ACT as the crowd. Maybe it's possible that while individuality is going on in one part of the brain, mob mentality is going on somewhere else, keep your day on track and getting you going through the motions, even if you're not aware of it.
Wrong reading or not, that cartoon is hysterical.
ReplyDeleteI work retail and one of the oddest and most interesting things I have noticed how people(sheeple) will all rush to the checkout counter at the same time. It is almost as if one person heads towards the counter and his/her affect effects the rest of the store into following his/her lead. Also I agree with Su, that cartoon is awesome.
ReplyDeleteThe group mind isn't always a bad thing, but when there is a rhetor with ill intentions it can be. One example that truly highlights the sheep qualities of people in a group is that of church people. Every year there's a big scandal about some prosperity preacher who convinces their congregation to give lump sums of cash in the offering week after week. People do it. Sometimes they give more than they can afford.
ReplyDeleteMe being a rhetoric major, I do like to pride myself on being aware of maintaining my individual mind in most situations. Following the same example, when I go to church, I only participate in the things that I can find a scripture for in the bible. When the minister asks the congregation to stand up and repeat something in unison, I don't. Little things like that keep me aware.
I'm not saying that people should walk around with their nose in the air, but if you are a person who is aware of when you are falling victim to the group mind, it may take you saying something in certain situations to break the control the group mind has on others.