How is 'mob mentality' different from 'peer pressure' or what the newspapers term 'the overwhelming force of public opinion'? All three refer to the same things, the difference is that each term comes loaded with a certain amount of respect and a positive or negative spin on it.


Because I don't know if I agree with you here - using the negative term 'mob mentality' just seems to reduce the issue to a simple black and white: People who Follow The Herd are Always Wrong. If it's a mob - all it's members are st00pid and crazy - no one is actually making up their own minds but are being led by the nose! It just seems like a way of dismissing the other side: just like pushdragon above - People who make a lot of their human interaction on the internet are more likely to be the passive-aggressive, timid type, who in RL wouldn't dare express a confrontational opinion to someone's face or jaelle_n_gilla - The younger people are, the more the worls seems to be made of black and white.. Both of these statements are simply not true, furthermore they're just ways of not dealing with the issue at hand. Same goes for 'mob mentality'. And well, if you're talking about the wank du jour it seems like there are two mobs - right now, both sides have members exhibiting shameful behaviour.