In a recent post I used the phrase “mass hysteria” in reference to politics. I was serious.
Widespread outbursts starting election night 2016 (which continue today) appear to be mass hysteria. I’m not being flippant or using the term as an insult. Throughout history mass hysteria has periodically erupted. It’s probably hard to recognize mass hysteria when you’re in it.
Remember when your mom yelled at you for the stupid things you did with your friends? “If all the kids in town jumped in a lake would you do it to?” It feels like everyone suddenly jumped in a lake. There is tremendous peer pressure to jump in a lake with them. I’m treated like a fool because I’m not jumping in the damn lake like I should. Socially, at work, on social media, in every TV show and movie, and everywhere else I am told that my I should get with the program and jump in the lake like “normal” people. I stubbornly refuse to jump in that lake with all the other people. Doesn’t that by definition mean I’m the outlier? Doesn’t it mean I’m missing out on a “mass” movement?
First lets define mass hysteria. I’m no psychologist but here’s my best shot:
Hysteria: “Behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion, such as fear or panic.”
It’s entirely possible to be displeased with election results without being hysterical. Hysterical is emotion that’s excessive. Doesn’t this look excessive?
A peaceful democratic transition of power didn’t have the outcome I’d prefer.
Doesn’t this look uncontrolled?
My life in a wealthy, industrialized, first world nation is completely ruined!
We’ve all been hysterical occasionally (unless you’re stoic to the core). Once I hooked a nice pike and flipped out when the line broke. I was excessively pissed off. Perhaps you’ve met a sports fan the day their favorite team got pummeled? Often, hysterics is just a person who’s having a bad day until they lose perspective.
It’s only mass hysteria when it cascades through the population.
Mass Hysteria: “…(also known as collective hysteria, group hysteria, or collective obsessional behavior) is a phenomenon that transmits collective illusions of threats, whether real or imaginary, through a population in society as a result of rumors and fear…”
That’s exactly what we’re experiencing. The transmission of collective illusions of threats. Can you watch cable TV without hearing transmission of dire anti-Trump predictions and warnings? If you go to a mall, have dinner at a restaurant, or get a cup of coffee how often does that include a dose of anti-Trump rhetoric?
Every president has detractors but folks are excessively keyed up about the Orange Menace. They claim Trump causes a reaction of urgent, powerful, fear, revulsion, hatred, etc… If you read the definition for hysteric, it seems to fit. I don’t think they’re faking it. They say their emotions are deeply felt and I believe them.
It’s OK to dislike the President but if you’re acting like he’s going to personally rape your cat you’ve lost perspective. People who will never be in the same room (and only rarely in the same state) as Trump act like he’s riffling through their garbage cans at night. The reaction is not justified by real world conditions. Also, throwing a brick through a Starbucks in Washington DC when Trump has been in office 11 minutes is not reacting to anything he has done in office.
The current reaction is out of scale. Reasonable citizens expect to be disappointed by elections roughly 50% of the time. I’ve been disappointed by election results. Who hasn’t?
Non-hysteric people handle disappointment well. In 2012 Mitt Romney got 60,933,504 votes but lost to Barack Obama. That’s 60,933,504 people who didn’t get what they want. Did Mitt’s supporters burn cars? Did they call Obama a Nazi and riot in Salt Lake City? Did they scream helplessly at the sky (their words not mine)? Did they wear pussy hats? Did they shoot congressmen?
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana was shot while playing baseball. Some nations resolve political disputes in this manner, but it is not common for America.
Were there riots in Portland because Mitt Romney lost? Why not? After all, 60,933,504 voters were disappointed. Yet they quietly went about their business. Well balanced people rarely riot.
Even for Portland this is not normal behavior.
Also, there’s wildly divergent explanations for facts we all agree on. Trump garnered 62,979,636 votes. (It’s on Wikipedia ya’ll.) My explanation for this is that 62,979,636 citizens intentionally voted for Trump (or his hair).
An alternative point of view involves vaguely defining a situation were 62,979,636 votes are explained away. They’re portrayed as something other than an honest citizen’s choice. Anything from mis-counts to “collusion” with Russia.
Think about it. What exactly is this event of horrific ill-defined Russian collusion that they’ve been investigating for well over a year? Nobody argues that Putin sent paratroopers into 62,979,636 houses with 62,979,636 guns to force 62,979,636 voters to tearfully vote in a way they didn’t want to vote. So what’s the beef? What rationally experienced event could make 62,979,636 free citizens’ votes not count?
This rankles me. There was (possibly) an attempt to influence me and therefore I’m supposed to clutch my pearls and impeach a sitting democratically elected leader? Nope! I encounter attempts to influence my choices all the time. Every political speech by every politician is an attempt to influence me. Politicians claim they will “fight for me”. Really? In a cage? With clubs? Can I watch? Violent imagery is attempted influence.
Bernie said he’d eliminate my student loans. Isn’t that an attempt to influence me? Hillary said everyone who didn’t vote for her was deplorable. Isn’t that an attempt to influence me? Trump said if I voted for him I’d win so much I’d get tired of winning. That’s as unsubtle as humanly possible and unquestionably an attempt to influence me. JFK told us we’d go to the moon and he was a hero. Carter told us to put on a sweater and he was a one termer. Politics is nothing but influence.
Commercialism is influence too. Nike ads tell me flashy sneakers will help me dunk a basketball. Medical ads offer to make my dick hard and imply women will lust for my handsome physique. Women are told to buy hygiene products that allow them to ride horses and do yoga while menstruating. A hard dick and hot women? Can you get more blatant at trying for influence? Also, by what logic do tampons come with horses?
Sometimes the very act of influencing me to have an emotional response is the point: Facebook wants me to get sad about a sick polar bear. If I keep my head and reflect that bears are mortal and die every day (just like flowers and fireflies) Facebook doesn’t bulk up its hit count.
None of this is even remotely unusual. None of it means I should freak out and riot in the streets.
That’s why I’m calling it mass hysteria. What just happened was the 58th consecutive quadrennial American election. The results were not as expected but that’s why we actually have elections. Otherwise we’d just ask Nate Silver to hand over a crown. To me, the 2016 election was nothing to lose sleep over. Others saw a disaster and they had an excessive reaction which they continue to transmit to like minded people.
I have some sympathy. It must suck. People in the throes of it seem to be in an unpleasant mental state. They’re unhappy. They’re stressed. They’re suffering.
How to bridge the gap? Throw a line to the suffering. “It’s not so bad, the lights are still on and the beer’s cold. Have a brew and relax.” I don’t know. It’s hard to let go of a strong emotion once it has you in its grasp. It’s hard to spend a couple years screaming in rage and then one day say “meh”. Maybe it simply must run its course.
I call it like I see it. If mass hysteria has happened in the past, it can happen today, and it would look like what we’re seeing. Presumably, it’ll fade with time. The Salem witch hunts lasted about two years. Except for the 20 executions and 5 that died in prison everyone recovered. (I didn’t say mass hysteria never comes with a body count. Ask the French about their revolution! Watch your six!)
Good luck. Keep your head and avoid crowds. This too shall pass.