From Rallies to Riots

As the Presidential primary elections near, people join in advocating for their preferred candidate showing their support by going to rallies, posting on social media and attempting to persuade people who disagree with them. Politics has a way of uniting citizens in support, but also brings out the animosity that overcomes people when they engage in groupthink. Groupthink is when a group of people value to cohesion and harmony of a group over critical evaluation and thorough analysis, and when this occurs individuals are unable to make independent rational decisions.

Acts of protest can become threatened and spiral out of control before people even realize what is going on. The most recent example of this was the Donald Trump rally in Chicago that got shut down before it even started due to violent behaviors. 5 people were arrested and 3 were injured at this rally. While this rally didn’t turn into a full blown riot there have been several times in recent history where peaceful protests have gone seriously wrong.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/12/us/trump-rally-in-chicago-canceled-after-violent-scuffles.html?_r=0

How do peaceful public demonstrations (which I’m sure takes planning and preparation) get out of control so quickly?

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Just over a year ago one in Ferguson MO, days after Darren Wilson, a police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, was NOT indicted by a grand jury. Chaos erupted and reporters and observers were faced with gunshots, rioting, looting, tear gas and pepper spray. The video below is from info wars, 12 minutes long but got great footage of the outrage exhibited by the citizens.

As energy builds within a group, frustrations can boil over. When rage erupts, outsiders see this as a heinous act especially if the injustice that agitated the riot does not apply to them. For those who do participate in brawls that break out are usually normal people who make rational decisions in everyday situations. Not to justify the actions or subsequent damage a riot could cause, as humans we recognize how easy it is to get caught up in the moment and say or do things unintentionally. It offers a kind of intense belonging, not dissimilar to what spectators feel at a sports event or fans at a rock concert. But because it isn’t focused on a game or performance, it easily gets out of hand.

A political campaign and a social movement are very different things, however in both cases it is clear that emotion can take over organized demonstrations.

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