Mob Mentality

In the chaos after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, thousands of Japanese-Americans were put into “camps”. After the events of 9/11, thousands of Muslims or assumed-to-be Muslims were harassed, some killed, some deported, others sent off to that horrid thing called Guantanamo Bay. Why? Because of Mob Mentality.

Far too often something sparks a riot or a small mob that then does something stupid like beating someone to death or tossing rocks at police. People who normally don’t have a mean streak find themselves being swept up by the wave of emotion and physical energy.

It is this Mob Mentality that has created a huge mistake in California. Thousands of individuals are being denied the basic right of marriage to the person they love simply because that person is of the same gender. No other reason. And it is allowed to happen and is condoned by the California state Supreme Court.

There’s a reason why we have Senators and Representatives in the state and federal government. It’s to protect ourselves from ourselves. To prevent the Mob Mentality from doing something stupid that will have to be cleaned up later. The Senators and Representatives are supposed to help the people get what they want through legislation. In a nutshell, that’s how it’s supposed to work. But even they get caught up in the furor and emotion of events. Such as that poor lady in Florida who was allowed to slow starve to death. The federal and state government tried to stop it. Why? Mob mentality.

The thing is, we never know when the Mob is going to turn on us. When will we find ourselves on the wrong side of the street? When will it become not a good thing to, say, live in New Jersey? Remember all the people getting kicked out of school and homes because they had AIDS? Remember the Japanese-Americans? Remember the people locked up in hotels for weeks because of the swine flu? What about breed specific dog laws?

The courts cannot allow the Mob Mentality to rule. It cannot. It isn’t there to say “The People want this.” It is there to say “This is the Law, this is the Constitution, and this is the decision based on those two.”

Someday, “they” will come for you. “They” will come for your children. “They” will come for your dogs, your parents, your job, your lifestyle, your personal choice that is no one’s business but your own. They will hate you because you are different from whatever the norm of the moment is. They will come for you because you aren’t one of them.

Someday, I will be able to openly display affection for my partner of nearly 19 yrs. But that day isn’t today.

Because they’ve come for us.