Herd of Mob Mentality?

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it."

Crowds test the individual. Oftentimes, the individual fails and joins in. Though that failure can be manipulated into a type of twisted victory in which one can justify the failure by saying that the event the crowd was a part of was fun. Examples include concerts. That's the only positive example I can think of. Other examples I think of are immediately negative with no redeeming or justifiable explanations like Black Friday. I still can't shake the 2008 trampled to death at Wal-Mart during Black Friday thing. It still makes me sick that people would blatantly disregard the life of a fellow human being for lower prices.

So, why are we compelled to seek people out (for the most part)? Why are we told from early on that we must belong? That we must make friends and connections and "get out there" and get out of our respective shells?

Well, not everyone understands that humans need moments of silence and self-reflection. Damned extroverts. The need for moments of self-reflection, however, is not synonymous with isolation and extreme bouts of introversion in which one finds themselves on an empty city street alone. Rather what we really should encourage current and future generations is to find that sweet common ground. That balance between being Hamlet and Feste (or Touchstone if you want to be extra foolish).

Why be part of the crowd? Why detach at all costs? To belong? To belong to nothing?

Other times, the individual wins and rather than run into the wall of death, they go outside for a smoke or to read a book. Not to smoke a book. That would be very strange and difficult to explain to anyone else. They stand out but still belong in some strange but effective way.

O to walk that tightrope way up high
stretching for miles
making you wonder
Why?