A recent experience I observed got me thinking about mob mentality.

I won't go into complete details about that situation but it involves many people actively participating in cyber-bullying a person with little to no evidence of any wrong-doing on the person's part. Nothing but hearsay from their "group". This got me inspired to write a blog about mob mentality and morality.

The first thing I went to dig up was a performance art piece I had seen years ago by Marina Abramovic. The performance was called "Rhythm 0" and took place in 1974.

In this performance piece Abramovic put her life into the hands of her audience and could have very well ended up dead. She set herself up in front of a table with a variety of objects laid out on the table.

These were the items on/next to the table:

• gun
• bullet
• blue paint
• comb
• bell
• whip
• lipstick
• pocket knife
• fork
• perfume
• spoon
• cotton
• flowers
• matches
• rose
• candle
• mirror
• drinking glass
• polaroid camera
• feather
• chains
• nails
• needle
• safety pin
• hairpin
• brush
• bandage
• red paint
• white paint
• scissors
• pen
• book
• sheet of white paper
• kitchen knife
• hammer
• saw
• piece of wood
• ax
• stick
• bone of lamb
• newspaper
• bread
• wine
• honey
• salt
• sugar
• soap
• cake
• metal spear
• box of razor blades
• dish
• flute
• Band Aid
• alcohol
• medal
• coat
• shoes
• chair
• leather strings
• yarn
• wire
• sulfur
• grapes
• olive oil
• water
• hat
• metal pipe
• rosemary branch
• scarf
• handkerchief
• scalpel
• apple

What started out as a playful audience, kissing her on the cheek, and placing a flower in her hands, over the course of 6 hours ,ended up a terrifying scene that even the best psychological horror film couldn't replicate. She was naked, bloody, crying. A man had tried to rape her at one point. People had cut her skin. One man had a loaded gun pointed at her head and another person, thankfully, stopped him from pulling the trigger. In the mob it seems there was only a couple people, sort of, trying to keep things from going to crazy. For the most part, this crowd of every day people that had gone to see some art had turned into people capable of torturing another human being.

Here is an interesting study by a team of researchers from the MIT, University of California, Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon University

A group of scientists has used MRI scans to establish that human beings become less moral when part of a team.

The team of researchers from the MIT, University of California, Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon University studying the effect of "mob mentality" on the brain found that when subjects acted as part of a team the part of their brain associated with morality and self-awareness became less active.

The tests also showed that not all people were equally susceptible to "mob mentality".

"These results suggest that at least in some cases, explicitly reflecting on one's own personal moral standards may help to attenuate the influence of 'mob mentality'," said lead author Mina Cikara.

Cikara said she initiated the study after being cruelly heckled by rival Yankees baseball fans at a game for wearing a Red Sox hat.

"It was a really amazing experience because what I realised was I had gone from being an individual to being seen as a member of 'Red Sox Nation'," she said.

In the study, published in the journal NeuroImage, the test subjects were asked to play a game in which they had to react quickly as personalised messages appeared on a screen in a competition for money.

As the subjects played, the scientists monitored their medial prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain associated with reflection and moral judgement.

They found that when the subjects were told they were competing in the game as part of a team, there was less activity in >that part of the brain when moral messages appeared.

Those with lower prefrontal cortex activity were also more likely to choose cruel and unflattering pictures of rivals when >asked to select photographs after the test was competed.

However, while some were strongly affected by being told that they were part of a team, others were not, with scientists >speculating that those subjects probably engaged in more explicit moral reflection.

"This process alone does not account for intergroup conflict: groups also promote anonymity, diminish personal responsibility, and encourage reframing harmful actions as 'necessary for the greater good.'"

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mob-mentality-changes-human-brain-say-scientists-1452657

That last bit really speaks about the situation I mentioned in the beginning of my blog.

"This process alone does not account for intergroup conflict: groups also promote anonymity, diminish personal responsibility, and encourage reframing harmful actions as 'necessary for the greater good.'"

This is exactly what happened in the cyber-bullying case. They made out the person they were attacking to be racist, hateful, and an animal abuser. All of which there was 0 evidence to back up. The group displays themselves as liberal, loving, feminists so in order to justify their outwardly hateful actions they reframed what they were doing as "for the greater good".

It is important that we question the actions of the group and stick to our moral codes.

I have been faced with situations where I could stand up to bullies, or join in and -aside from one case when I was a very small child for which I forever feel extreme guilt- I stand up.

What do you think about the topic of mob mentality? About the performance piece? About an individual's moral code?

Since some of these bullies have shown themselves in the comments using their cob-webby accounts, it is me who is being bullied. The tablet one of them is claiming the group bought me people bought me through a fund I started and was bought in almost full by people I am still close friends with and the "using" people was me selling books to them, not many may I add.

And yes, I blocked people before they could "talk" to me because there is a group of girls aggressively stalking and witch hunting me. No, I am not going to reason with a violent mob. I did not mean to invite this high school mean girl drama onto steemit but they stalk my artist page and saw the blog and decided to comment. I apologize.

Blocking people who are threatening my mental well being and bullying me is a sign of nothing but trying to protect my privacy and well-being.

I can't believe these lunatics are still commenting to ask why I don't talk to people who are spreading rumors that I physically hurt my cat and giving out my address.

It is not actually uncommon for mob internet bullying to result in destroyed reputation: http://www.newsweek.com/internet-and-golden-age-bully-271800

as tempting as it is to defend oneself against baseless accusations I must remember that these people are dangerous as they have proven.

Unfortunately as there are hundreds of these women I will probably not be using steemit again, let alone any social media.