Random thoughts entered my head today, some bounced around before departing.
One came from the memory of an article from a newspaper of many, many months
ago. It was about an incident in Europe which, still depresses me to no
end. A summary of the details which I recollect:
It was late night and the city streets began to fill up with nightclubbers
who were getting ready to leave for home. It was densely crowded: there were
over a thousand people roughly in visible range of the subway...
and it began to rain.
Approximately one thousand people (most of whom were young fit adults) simultaneously
decided to head for the subway for cover.
What was an impatient shuffle became a hurried rush,
and what was a hurried rush became a frantic scramble towards the subway
entrances...
To avoid getting wet.
Several were crushed in the resulting stampede. Over one hundred and sixty
were injured. Over eighty died.
Trampled to death.
Most were young women impeded by footwear not meant to be run in. Many people
were caught off guard. Several would not have made it regardless.
The subway platforms could barely accommodate half of those seeking cover.
A majority were left outside, standing in streets strewn with corpses and the
injured. For over half an hour after it had started, people were being further
compacted by the momentum of the horde, which had yet to cease moving.
...
I keep trying to understand why it can happen. I keep trying to rationalise
it... "It's a simple chain of events," I would think. Each individual is responsible for little more than some shoving. Each individual is simply
following a narrow path of least resistance, step by effortless step,
powerless to stop.
This is where I lose focus of the individuals, they blur and become one,
a singular mob with the blood of several dozen on its hands. The qualities
I once took for granted (perhaps due to sheer naiveté) turn out to be nothing
more than a sugar coating of true human nature. And this is where I
give up on thinking about it.
The larger the mob, the lower its collective IQ.
time to find something harmless to bury my mind in. 03:25(GMT+10)20000826