Living in India, I have seen a crowd gather within moments around a person who has fallen off a bike or around our rickshaw after an accident. I have seen groups quickly fill the roads, gathering at street corners for demonstrations and motivational talks, while most of the population attempts to quickly get safely home. One of the scariest things in the world is a mob. A crowd of people who are caught up in strong emotions, feel invincible and anonymous, united around some common cause or goal - big or small, legitimate or illegitimate, it doesn't seem to matter. A rioting mob has power. Deindividuation is what happens when people lose themselves in the crowd. There is safety in anonymity and individuals cease to take responsibility for their own actions.
Deindividuation and the impact and power of a rioting crowd have always fascinated me, even more since coming to stay in a country where this effect seems to be even more potent. It doesn't surprise me that the following situation took place at a medical college in Calcutta.
Read this story of rioters taking justice into their own hands.
