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...why the Make Poverty History campaigners freak me out so much.. Essentially, I think, it's the adoption of a 'uniform' of white that perturbed me. Whether by intent or not, what MPH have done is created an army.
Human beings started out as a tribal creature, and we still take very much to the tribal mindset. Anybody who's been to a football game will understand how the wearing of a single colour can affect behaviour. There is a huge psychological pressure to cooperate with those wearing the same colour, and there is a natural distrust of those wearing other colours. Whether a football crowd or a group of demonstrators, tribe identifiers will lead to a them-and-us mentality.
I have never felt comfortable about this aspect of humanity. In part, it is because of my own succeptibility to tribal feelings; I know what it feels like and hence I know the power that it can wield over otherwise rational and intelligent beings. In part, it may spring from (admittedly small levels of) bullying at school. In any case, I make a conscious decision to avoid "tribal" situations; I am loath to attend sporting events, I cultivate a cynical attitude towards politics, I refuse to align myself too greatly with any culture or sub-culture. This stance is both a weakness and a strength, but I derive a fair bit of pride from it; it's part of what makes me me.
So, anyway, there is currently a 225,000-strong army in Edinburgh. Sure, they don't have weapons (well, most of them don't), but what they do have is sheer weight of numbers. And they're wearing white, and I'm not. This is why I worry.
Update: I should add that though I agree with several of their aims, the idea of wearing white and joining them is even less appealing to me than refusing to wear white and facing possible assailment.
Human beings started out as a tribal creature, and we still take very much to the tribal mindset. Anybody who's been to a football game will understand how the wearing of a single colour can affect behaviour. There is a huge psychological pressure to cooperate with those wearing the same colour, and there is a natural distrust of those wearing other colours. Whether a football crowd or a group of demonstrators, tribe identifiers will lead to a them-and-us mentality.
I have never felt comfortable about this aspect of humanity. In part, it is because of my own succeptibility to tribal feelings; I know what it feels like and hence I know the power that it can wield over otherwise rational and intelligent beings. In part, it may spring from (admittedly small levels of) bullying at school. In any case, I make a conscious decision to avoid "tribal" situations; I am loath to attend sporting events, I cultivate a cynical attitude towards politics, I refuse to align myself too greatly with any culture or sub-culture. This stance is both a weakness and a strength, but I derive a fair bit of pride from it; it's part of what makes me me.
So, anyway, there is currently a 225,000-strong army in Edinburgh. Sure, they don't have weapons (well, most of them don't), but what they do have is sheer weight of numbers. And they're wearing white, and I'm not. This is why I worry.
Update: I should add that though I agree with several of their aims, the idea of wearing white and joining them is even less appealing to me than refusing to wear white and facing possible assailment.
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While the situation is admittedly unlikely to escalate into violence, I just think they've already taken too many steps towards that sort of outcome. And with mob behaviour, well, anything could happen.