Have you ever witnessed or participated in an act of mob mentality? Many people without realizing it take part in a form of mob mentality, whether it is at a sporting event, concert, or even a protest or riot; these are all forms of mob mentality. The term “mob mentality” is usually something negative, where large groups of people deindivduate themselves. People lose control and are pressured to fit in with what the rest of the crowd is doing. In the book, A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, mob mentality has a big impact on the plot. A Tale of Two Cities, shows how mob mentality ties in with history repeating itself, portraying manslaughter and homicide, and also depicting riots.
History always finds a way of repeating itself. A Tale of Two Cities, depicts the French Revolution and the citizens living through it. Many citizens go along with the leaders want, in order to avoid being executed, this is taking part in mob mentality because although they might not be doing what they want, they are doing what everybody else is doing, so they can fit in. Some people can participate in something so vulgar even when they do not mean to. In “Top 10 Instances of Mob Mentality”, author S.Grant says that, “Looking back on Nazi Germany, it’s difficult to comprehend how ordinary people acted so ruthless and inhumane. Even if you assume the average German citizen didn’t know what was happening in the concentration camps, there were still 24,000 members in the “Death’s Head Unit,” a special section of the Schutzstaffel (SS) that was in charge of the concentration camps. These Death’s Head
Members undoubtedly knew what was happening.” With that said, any average human being can take part in a violent or murderous act.
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...te police officers of charges stemming from the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King. As a result of this verdict, thousands of citizens rioted for six days. Mass amounts of looting, murder, arson and assault took place.” Riots are one of the most common forms of mob mentality and are shown in this book several times.
History repeating itself, manslaughter, homicide, and riots are all forms of mob mentality of which is shown in the book, A tale of Two Cities, by Charles Darnay. Taking the given words into consideration, ask yourself “Have I ever taken part in mob mentality?” The answer for most people will be “yes”. Mob mentality is something so negative and aggressive yet we still take a part in it. We are all too caught up in trying to fit in with everyone else, that we make it into something that isn’t such a big deal to us.
The atrocities of war can take an “ordinary man” and turn him into a ruthless killer under the right circumstances. This is exactly what Browning argues happened to the “ordinary Germans” of Reserve Police Battalion 101 during the mass murders and deportations during the Final Solution in Poland. Browning argues that a superiority complex was instilled in the German soldiers because of the mass publications of Nazi propaganda and the ideological education provided to German soldiers, both of which were rooted in hatred, racism, and anti-Semitism. Browning provides proof of Nazi propaganda and first-hand witness accounts of commanders disobeying orders and excusing reservists from duties to convince the reader that many of the men contributing to the mass
The beating of Rodney King from the Los Angeles Police Department on March 3, 1991 and the Los Angeles riots resulting from the verdict of the police officers on April 29 through May 5, 1992 are events that will never be forgotten. They both evolve around one incident, but there are two sides of ethical deviance: the LAPD and the citizens involved in the L.A. riots. The incident on March 3, 1991 is an event, which the public across the nation has never witnessed. If it weren’t for the random videotaping of the beating that night, society would never know what truly happened to Rodney King. What was even more disturbing is the mentality the LAPD displayed to the public and the details of how this mentality of policing led up to this particular incident. This type of ethical deviance is something the public has not seen since the civil rights era. Little did Chief Gates, the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, and the LAPD know what the consequences of their actions would lead to. Moving forward in time to the verdict of those police officers being acquitted of the charges, the public sentiment spiraled into an outrage. The disbelief and shock of the citizens of Los Angeles sparked a mammoth rioting that lasted for six days. The riots led to 53 deaths and the destruction of many building. This is a true but disturbing story uncovering the ethical deviance from the LAPD and the L.A. riots. The two perspectives are from the Rodney King incident are the LAPD and the L.A. riots.
Activities in the concentration camp struck fear within the hearts of the people who witnessed them, which led to one conclusion, people denied the Holocaust. Nazis showed no mercy to anybody, including helpless babies. “The Nazis were considered men of steel, which means they show no emotion” (Langer 9). S.S. threw babies and small children into a furnace (Wiesel 28). These activities show the heartless personality of the Nazis. The people had two options, either to do what the S.S. told them to do or to die with everyone related to them. A golden rule that the Nazis followed stated if an individual lagged, the people who surrounded him would get in trouble (Langer 5). “Are you crazy? We were told to stand. Do you want us all in trouble?”(Wiesel 38). S.S guards struck fear in their hostages, which means they will obey without questioning what the Nazis told them to do due to their fear of death. Sometimes, S.S. would punish the Jews for their own sin, but would not explain their sin to the other Jews. For example, Idek punished Wiesel f...
Murders inflicted upon the Jewish population during the Holocaust are often considered the largest mass murders of innocent people, that some have yet to accept as true. The mentality of the Jewish prisoners as well as the officers during the early 1940’s transformed from an ordinary way of thinking to an abnormal twisted headache. In the books Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi and Ordinary men by Christopher R. Browning we will examine the alterations that the Jewish prisoners as well as the police officers behaviors and qualities changed.
This sentiment becomes explicitly apparent in the context of mobs, specifically, Colonel Sherburn gives a tirade to the mob planning to hang him and he states that “‘Why don’t your juries hang murderers? Because they’re afraid the man 's friends will shoot them in the back, in the dark -- and it 's just what they would do. ‘So they always acquit; and then a man goes into the night, with a hundred masked cowards at his back, and lynches the rascal’” (134). According to this speech, Sherburn asserts that the entire mob prioritizes self-preservation over enforcing any form of justice. This is true in both the crowds prosecution of Colonel Sherburn after his broad daylight murder of Boggs and the Colonel’s statements on how the crowd allows for potential criminals and murderers to escape trial. Ironically, the release of dangerous individuals into society is more of a destructive behavior. This passage reveals that crowds will allow the endangerment a single person to ensure the preservation of the majority, or alternate group, in this case, the Jury sacrifices the prosecution by acquitting the alleged killer. Thus, the fashion in which mobs think actually hinders the enforcement of moral
Power can allow one to make decisions for others than will benefit them, but too much power can cause one to become corrupt. In the novel, A Tale of Two Cities, the author, Charles Dickens, views power as a way in which corruption arises. Throughout the novel, Dickens speaks about three characters who starts to abuse their power as time passes in the novel. Dickens portrays the characters of the Monseigneur, the Marquis of Evermonde, and the revolutionaries as characters who goes through a change as a result of power.
This incident would have produced nothing more than another report for resisting arrest had a bystander, George Holliday, not videotaped the altercation. Holliday then released the footage to the media. LAPD Officers Lawrence Powell, Stacey Koon, Timothy Wind and Theodore Brisino were indicted and charged with assaulting King. Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg ordered a change of venue to suburban Simi Valley, which is a predominantly white suburb of Los Angeles. All officers were subsequently acquitted by a jury comprised of 10 whites, one Hispanic and one Asian, and the African American community responded in a manner far worse than the Watts Riots of 1965. ?While the King beating was tragic, it was just the trigger that released the rage of a community in economic strife and a police department in serious dec...
The Social theory of deviance explains why people break social norms, and what their motivation may be for doing so. The brothers undoubtedly break one of the most prominent social norms, they kill people who can be considered “bad”. In crime-ridden South Boston, the brothers find a gap that they can fill, which is usually looked down upon by society. Despite this, the people living there soon recognize them as a blessing and call them Saints. The two brothers quickly become vigilantes for South Boston, killing mafia members and criminals who are making living conditions harder than they should be. Because of the positive effect on society no one speaks out against them. Their effect on the city is beneficial enough for the local police and even the FBI investigator who is trying to catch them to eventually help out the brothers in any way they can without being suspicious.
...ion people based on the orders of Adolf Hitler and his henchmen. In reference to the two situations, one participant of the study said that “anybody can be a guard, but not every one becomes sadistic.” This saying can be applied to real life situations, especially that of the New Jersey incident.
...test, it is hard not to draw some parallels. Milgram noticed that if people did not have direct contact with the people they were inflicting pain on, two-thirds of the subjects inflicted what was considered extreme pain. If they had visual and voice feedback, only forty percent obeyed orders. The number fell to thirty percent if they were in direct contact with the person they were shocking. Browning also points out that the social pressures of conformity were quite apparent. "Within virtually every social collective, the peer group exerts tremendous pressures on behavior and sets the moral norms. If the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 could become killers under such circumstances, what group of men cannot?" (Browning, 189) In closing, these men, who appeared to be quite ordinary, became extraordinary in their brutality and killing, no matter what the reason. Decidedly, their contribution to the genocide was quite significant. It is a shame that many received little, or no punishment for the slaughter they participated in.
...ed 6 million people based on the orders of Adolf Hitler and his henchmen. In reference to the two situations, one participant of the study said that “anybody can be a guard, but not every one becomes sadistic.” This saying can be applied to real life situations, especially that of the New Jersey incident.
...om large groups of people, feeling more comfortable with their actions, and because one person can change the whole outlook within the crowd. This is shown through all the big impact groups that have made a difference through violence and error. In the Salem witch trials many people were killed but there were no witches that were killed. The type of events that happened in The Crucible can be learned from and applied to crowd control today. If we cannot learn from history then it is bond to repeat itself.
Mob mentality is created from the establishment of authority and power over another being or thing. This then causes others to look up to that person then fall in line beside him. Mob mentality is dangerous and yet it is one of the more common things in the world starting as soon as one is born, slowly learning to be like their parents, learning their tongue and behaviors. It is cultivated through years of school how one should act and be and what is not acceptable and what one should do to achive success. Ray Bradbury takes mob mentality and shows amazing examples, yet depressing scenarios, of it in Fahrenheit 451, “All Summer in a Day”, as well as in “The Pedestrian” with his favored idea for explanation of others wishing for complete and utter equality for the whole, with hatred of those who step out of that bubble of normality.
The first instance of a mob like scene in A Tale of Two Cities is on pages 41-43 when the wine casket is broken on the ground showing the animalistic nature of the crowd. People stopped what they were doing and rushed to the wine to get as much as they could from the ground. Dickens notes that the wine “had stained many hands, too, and many faces, and many naked feet” (42). This shows the animalistic nature of the mob with the red smeared over their bodies like blood. Here Dickens also shows how dangerous mobs are by the fact that after all of the wine has been soaked up the “demonstrations ceased, as suddenly as they had broken out” (42). This shows how quickly the mass of people can...
History has not only been important in our lives today, but it has also impacted the classic literature that we read. Charles Dickens has used history as an element of success in many of his works. This has been one of the keys to achievement in his career. Even though it may seem like it, Phillip Allingham lets us know that A Tale of Two Cities is not a history of the French Revolution. This is because no actual people from the time appear in the book (Allingham). Dickens has many different reasons for using the component of history in his novel. John Forster, a historian, tells us that one of these reasons is to advance the plot and to strengthen our understanding of the novel (27). Charles Dickens understood these strategies and could use them to his advantage.