When I was in college, I remember studying something called �mob mentality� in one of my psych classes. The crux of the theory behind it is that people, when in large groups, will engage in activities that they otherwise would not. While part of a �mob�, individuals have a tendency to ignore or avoid their conscience or rational judgment. While in a group, these people will defer their goals and morals and take upon the identity of the group. Therefore, members of a group are likely to commit acts they would never commit alone. Being in a group allows individuals to defer blame, responsibility, accountability, and/or judgment upon the group. I keep thinking about this every time I read something new about the continuing, escalating riots because of the Mohammed cartoons. Three people were killed yesterday in Pakistan because a CARTOON. I have to believe that by themselves, the people committing all of this violence would never think it was rational to kill someone over a cartoon. But when you get hundreds of these people together, all feeding off each others anger, it just gets worse and worse and worse. The same thing happened in Paris with those youth riots a few months ago. After a threshold is crossed, the violence becomes its own driving force. These people aren�t burning down KFC�s because of the cartoon anymore. They�re burning down the KFC�s because they can. The perpetrators are now outside the realm of personal responsibility and with no consequence for their actions, they have abandoned any semblance of morally acceptable behavior. When I was in high school, a cafeteria wide food fight broke out my senior year. Virtually everyone got in on the action. Once it started and the students recognized that there was no way all of them could be punished, it turned into pandemonium. A couple of kids actually got hurt when furniture started being used in lieu of food. I overheard a couple of my coworkers talking about this yesterday afternoon saying things like, �those Muslims are fuckin� crazy!� �And they wonder why the rest of the world thinks they�re all terrorists.� �It was only a cartoon- those people need to get a grip!� etc etc etc. The thing is, that cartoon was just a catalyst that ignited a whole reservoir of western resentment. This isn�t because they�re crazy or Muslim. Look at the LA riots after the Rodney King verdict- or the race riots in Detroit back in the 40�s and 60�s.

You know, I had a point when I started writing about this, but I�ve totally lost track of what it was. Oh yeah! It just pisses me off when ignorant people start mouthing off about stuff they know nothing about. Before dismissing the actions of these people in Pakistan as a byproduct of their religion, walk a few miles in their shoes. Now I am in no way condoning what they are doing. But try having your country used as a pawn by someone else halfway around the word and see if it stirs up any resentment. The LA riot didn�t take place because a couple of white cops were acquitted of beating a black guy. The riots took place because there is a very deep seeded feeling of racial inequality in LA held by a lot of black people. The riot in Detroit back in 1967 really made this country take a hard look at how we treated blacks. But for some reason, no one seems to see these riots in Pakistan and think, �Gee, maybe we should second guess this country�s foreign policy.� Of course, we don�t really care because we don�t have to live with those people. The riots in Pakistan don�t affect us... until they decide to fly planes into our buildings.

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