For several days after I signed onto Twitter I assiduously avoided searching for the #swineflu hashtag, this despite the ongoing pandemic scare and having a son whose school might possibly be canceled. For those who aren’t acquainted with the social conventions of the micro-blogging service Twitter, hashtags are search codes Twitterers embed in their 140-character “updates” so that people posting on the same topic can follow each other. Because of headlines like “Swine Flu Spreads Panic Over The Web,” suggesting that the flu outbreak was “going viral” on the Internet and inciting even more fear, I had been putting off searching for posts about #swineflu.
I felt slightly horrified by the notion of adding to the obsessing the media was already doing, both on and off the web. And I was, I have to admit, a bit scared of what I would find if I did look. What if people were saying terrifying things I hadn’t already heard? Then I would have to try and sort out what was true from what was false, and to control my own emotions. The whole situation made me want to take to my bed and pull the covers up over my head like when I was little. You know, read a good tearjerker like My Friend Flicka in the blanketed darkness by flashlight, just to get away from it all. At some point, though, being a cognizant adult, I began to realize, Oh, this is ridiculous! Why was I so frightened?
Upon reflection, I think we all have a basic, almost animal fear of this kind of crowd or group behavior. It’s probably a justified wariness, given the long history of vigilantism, especially in this country. And you could see that strain emerging in the anti-immigrant comments of radio host Jay Severin. Still, were the headlines justified in blaming the Internet for spreading panic? Certainly, the web and social media have made group coordination and communication easier. And as long ago as Freud, theorists have believed that people act differently in crowds than they do individually, with the “enthusiasm” of each person increasing in a group, so that individuals may become less aware of the morality of their conduct. Crowds have been said to foster anonymity and urge conformity, and crowd behavior has widely been blamed for the rise of fascism in 20th century Europe.
Article comments
1 - jon_e_7
Someone more politically corect than I might object to your bashing of MALE/Ivy League/frat members in one fell swoop but, having recently joined Twitter myself, I'll add another joke to the porcine mix: Texas, land of the longhorn, suffers first swine flu fatality in US.
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
Good thing you didn't search for panda AIDS.
3 - Mr. Dock Ellis
"given the long history of vigilantism, especially in this country"
Why is it when there's something bad in the world, the U.S. always has the worst of it?
Why is it when there's something good in the world, the U.S. is simply part of a group?
Another question: With twitter, are you using the technology or is it using you?
4 - jon_e_7
Good points, Mr.Doc, America is sooooo mis-understood by the rest of the wirld
5 - Kimberly Davis
On vigilantism: Back when I was in law school, I took a fascinating class on the unique US history with vigilantism, some of which has to do with the fact that historically we have been a large, rather sparsely populated country where we often had to enforce our own justice. This was completely understandable, but there were also some rather unfortunate consequences for our psyche and our justice system. There are some wonderful books and articles on this BTW. Kimberly Davis (author)
6 - Joanne Huspek
After trying to Tweet for weeks, I'm just not into it. So if it's corrupting the rest of society and causing pandemonium, I wouldn't even know.