Millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it

Further on mass hysteria as we read of confederate graves being desecrated, further removals of statues by mobs or mayors, proposals to pull down statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ulysses Grant, etc., renaming of streets and buildings etc. Nobody seems to see the parallelism with Al-Qaeda, ISIS and the Taliban - all fanatical in their attempts to obliterate history in their pursuit of a more pure now.

Meanwhile, the media, having found the provision of accurate information to be too expensive a business model, first evolved into a purveyor of half-digested and little understood shibboleths of postmodernism, and appear now to have devolved further into an outrage generator; success being measured by the foolishness they can incite among a fringe of readers.

History is full of cycles of hysteria. In 1841 Charles Mackay published his classic study, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.

It is worth harvesting a number of pertinent quotes from Mackay from one hundred and seventy six years ago. They remain evergreen today. Perhaps even more so today given that universal connectedness provides a much more efficient vector for the transmission of hysteria. In 1841 and earlier, hysteria was primarily spread by word-of-mouth and the (relatively) expensive process of printing broadsheets. Today, it is a few key-clicks on the internet.

Mackay initially cites an even older observation from Daniel Defoe:

Some in clandestine companies combine;
Erect new stocks to trade beyond the line;
With air and empty names beguile the town,
And raise new credits first, then cry 'em down;
Divide the empty nothing into shares,
And set the crowd together by the ears.

Sound familiar to some of the reporting the past few days? There is a lot of setting the crowd together by the ears going on.

On to Mackay. He opens his book with this timely summary:

In reading the history of nations, we find that, like individuals, they have their whims and their peculiarities; their seasons of excitement and recklessness, when they care not what they do. We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object, and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first.

Such seems to be the media of today. From week to week. Russian intervention; Russian collusion; Treasonous meetings with Russians; Cultural destruction, etc. No evidence, no argument, just postmodernist emotionalism in response to the electorate's rejection of the tropes of critical theory.

But this is not idle entertainment. There are serious consequences to the cultivation of delusions and the madness of crowds.

We see one nation suddenly seized, from its highest to its lowest members, with a fierce desire of military glory; another as suddenly becoming crazed upon a religious scruple; and neither of them recovering its senses until it has shed rivers of blood and sowed a harvest of groans and tears, to be reaped by its posterity. At an early age in the annals of Europe its population lost their wits about the sepulchre of Jesus, and crowded in frenzied multitudes to the Holy Land; another age went mad for fear of the devil, and offered up hundreds of thousands of victims to the delusion of witchcraft. At another time, the many became crazed on the subject of the philosopher's stone, and committed follies till then unheard of in the pursuit. It was once thought a venial offence, in very many countries of Europe, to destroy an enemy by slow poison. Persons who would have revolted at the idea of stabbing a man to the heart, drugged his pottage without scruple. Ladies of gentle birth and manners caught the contagion of murder, until poisoning, under their auspices, became quite fashionable. Some delusions, though notorious to all the world, have subsisted for ages, flourishing as widely among civilised and polished nations as among the early barbarians with whom they originated,--that of duelling, for instance, and the belief in omens and divination of the future, which seem to defy the progress of knowledge to eradicate them entirely from the popular mind. Money, again, has often been a cause of the delusion of multitudes. Sober nations have all at once become desperate gamblers, and risked almost their existence upon the turn of a piece of paper. To trace the history of the most prominent of these delusions is the object of the present pages.

The madness has not alighted upon everyone, fortunately. Right now it burns fiercest in the academy, among the marxist fringes, in the media and among the old establishment (Democrats and Republican both). Let us pray that such madness does not spread but burns itself out in despair.

A fierce desire of military glory - Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya; it is a terrible trail perpetrated by the establishment parties.

Another age went mad for fear of the devil - Fear of illusory white supremacy, patriarchy, rape culture, cultural appropriation, micro-aggressions, etc.

The delusion of witchcraft - Fear that words spoken or written will destroy your peace of mind. Primitive fear that words are really violence and will cause actual physical harm.

Persons who would have revolted at the idea of stabbing a man to the heart, drugged his pottage without scruple - Focusing on gun control while ignoring the opioid crisis and mental health. Distinguishing state-approved euthanasia from murder.

Delusions . . . flourishing as widely . . . duelling - Now in the form of doxxing, unmasking, and internet mobbing.

Belief in omens and divination of the future - See the magical thinking of sociology research and Implicit Attitude Tests. Also see: Faith in macro-economic forecasting, forecasting which has failed to call any of the major economic turns of recent decades; Faith in global climate change forecasting models which are persistently wrong and the mechanics of which are not open to public examination.

Sober nations have all at once become desperate gamblers - See historically dramatic chronic persistent deficits, housing bubbles, education debt, stock market bubbles and housing bubbles again.

What is the antidote to all this hysteria. Certainly Age of Enlightenment rationalism is one treatment. A good stiff draught of Marcus Aurelius's Meditations would help as well.

Remember that all is opinion

A man should be upright, not kept upright

The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.

If mind is common to us, then also the reason, whereby we are reasoning beings, is common.

Death hangs over thee: whilst yet thou livest, whilst thou mayest, be good.

Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.

Remember this— that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life.

There is wise counsel in those old pages.

But in the meantime, we deal with the extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds. Mackay leaves us with this thought.

Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.

But what damage is done till they recover their senses.