The Mob is A Demon

The Mob is a demon.

It sucks people in- great and small, fat and thin, weak and strong. People just going about their normal lives, heading to work, market or school- even church. It controls them like puppets, pulling them in whatever direction it wants to go. Mobsters don’t need a valid reason for lynching anyone- all it needs is a voice louder than the others to follow.

The same crowd that welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David” just 5 days later shouted “Crucify Him”. All they needed was a united voice to listen to- Anaias and Caiaphas provided that voice. And often, the mob does not consider the consequences of their action-  they only live in the moment. The mob in Jerusalem agreed for Barabbas, a convicted murderer to be released, in place of killing Jesus who had done no harm to anyone.

Everywhere I come across mob pictures or videos, I can’t help notice how variegated the crowd is. Young children watching as people are beaten and burned. Nursing mothers screaming “thief! Kill them!” at people young enough to be their sons. University students who assumedly should have acquired some decency throwing huge stones and flogging the “accused” with planks. And the whole crowd united in the thirst for blood.

No one is thinking of the nightmares the children will face. No one is thinking of what will happen if the police should arrive. All they can see in the “accused” is a chance to vent their anger and frustration at how insecure their lives are. That is why a 12 year old boy who steals noodles or bread because he is hungry will be beaten to death or burned alive, depending on how resilient his body is. The mob cannot reach the government in power and make them account for the trillions of naira being wasted every year on  useless trips, so they decide to pour out that anger on this little “thief”. They are sure it will deter others who have such useless plans.

No, they do not think they are overreacting. They do not think at all. And the consequences of taking someone’s life without giving them a fair chance to explain themselves…they damn. “His blood be upon us and upon our Children”, just like the crowd before Pilate. They do not reason that in a few years, that could be their children in the same position.

An incredible fury seizes the whole crowd, even those who are beginning to have doubts about what they are doing. In defending someone they don’t even know, they kill someone when they do not truly know what happened. And it is sad, because the “accused” beg for their lives, for a chance to prove their innocence, for a chance to even rest, for a last request…with their last breaths. Often times, the pictures and videos I see retain the frozen look of horror and pain, painted permanently on the youngster’s face.

The mob in a matter of minutes plays god, determining that the end of the road has come for their victim, that the destinies of the “accused” are unworthy of fulfillment; that the earth has neither the need for them nor the means to support them. The mob does not stop until blood has been spilled. This bloodthirst must be quenched, if not by the blood of the “accused”, then by the blood of any perceived sympathizers.

When that thirst has been quenched, the mob receives a massive shot of dopamine, euphoric at accomplishing their mission of fighting crime. The most macabre celebrations follow- decapitating the corpse of a murder unplanned, removing their genitalia, gleefully dragging the mutilated corpses down the streets as carrion hover  expectantly, the dogs lapping happily at the trail of blood that has pooled where the bodies lay.

And then the realization of what they have done begins to set in- consciences revive from drugged sleep, reason returns to the academics, pity returns to the mothers, horror visits the children. And the sheer gruesomeness of the killing begins to turn stomachs. The mob releases its captives to get on with their lives. They are suddenly rueful, thinking how that could have turned ugly. They hurry from the scene, lest their faces end up in the police parade. Their sleep is taken away, for they fear revenge. So this crowd of do-gooders who wanted to rid the society of evil…have become evil in themselves, and the mob spirit just laughs on and on like a mad witch, moving on to find its next victims.

The mob is a demon
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Anywhere you find a mob gathering, just get out of there. Don't get caught in it. Don't try to break it up except you're sure you have enough force to do it.

And never attack an unarmed thief, whether he or she got caught red-handed, "let him who is without sin throw the first stone"- Jesus of Nazareth