Herd Mentality and Hero Worship
And what we can do about it
Like many of you, I have been following the January 6th hearings rather closely. One of the things that stands out to me consistently as they have questioned people who were there is the attitude of many of the participants. Few have been proud of what happened, and even those who have been interviewed who were part of the Trump administration at the time it was happening, all seem to be looking back and expressing similar sentiments.
They were just going along with the crowd or they were hanging on every word former President Trump was saying or they thought they were doing what he asked because they adore(d) him.
Many seem to be looking back with an often unsaid attitude of, “If I could go back and do it all again, I would not.”
A couple of years ago, a police officer killed George Floyd by holding him on the ground with his knee while multiple other officers stood by and watched. This sparked nationwide, massive street protests. Some of these protests turned into mobs of looters, breaking into stores and stealing things.
The people who have been picked up on these counts express the same ideas when confronted with why they did it. Essentially, they were just following the crowd.
This tendency for people’s actions (and I would add beliefs even though that is not part of the official definition), to conform to the group they are a part of is known as herd mentality. The energy grows and more and more people begin to participate and things get, for lack of a better way to say it, out of control.
This can be relatively benign, such as a religious service where the whole crowd begins speaking in tongues and even those who do not feel moved to or would normally not act that way also do so. Or, it can be damaging, as when crowds of people invaded the United States Capitol, threatening the lives of our elected representatives.
Someone stirs the energy, and the crowd follows suit.
A closely related idea is that of hero worship. We are all familiar with this phenomenon. A charismatic leader comes along and builds a following. A chunk of these people begins to elevate the leader to a status that places them above the ability to be seen as doing anything wrong. There is a justification for everything they say and do. And when they fall, it is perceived as an attack on God themself.
This kind of idolatry hits rather close to home. A former youth pastor of mine took advantage of a number of girls in other, and even my own, youth groups growing up. He was being considered as a pastoral candidate by a rather large church in the denomination. A couple of my friends who had been victims came forward and also brought the allegations to the church he was interviewing with. The first response was to act as though it was an assault on the work of God. In fact, it led to his leaving the church he was pastoring and, ironically, starting his own church, taking members of that church with him.
He could do no wrong because of who he was and the positive impact he was having.
Or consider the story of Dan Price. He espoused strongly liberal views regarding CEO pay and worker compensation. Then it came out that he is a serial abuser, using his status as a way to lure women into compromising situations. He keeps coming back and people keep jumping on the bandwagon as though he has done no wrong.
Herd mentality and hero worship go hand in hand. The charismatic person makes the case for themselves. A few people follow and they bring others along. As the crowd grows, so does the sense that this individual is above reproach. The crowd grows larger and, when word comes out of their misdeeds, the crowd fights back. They follow the man. They do his bidding. As this progresses, people get roped in who are otherwise well-meaning and reasonable.
To combat this, we need to keep a few things in mind.
First, no one is above screwing up. Looking at the facts of the 2020 election, Donald Trump lost and subsequently messed up in how he reacted. He and his supporters made up stories to force his win. They encouraged people to send fake lists of electors to undermine the will of the American people. They literally encouraged people to commit election fraud. He stole documents from the White House that should have stayed. These are simply the actual events that happened.
But listening to his supporters, you would think that what actually happened did not happen. That the former president can do no wrong, even when he is doing wrong right in front of them. One thing he is not wrong about: he literally could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it.
Leaders can screw up. Even our most beloved ones can make mistakes. We absolutely must acknowledge this.
When they happen, and this is my second point, we absolutely must call them on it. We absolutely must hold them accountable for their actions.
Something I was taught repeatedly in church as a kid is that a leader is supposed to be above reproach. Not that they automatically are above reproach by nature of their role, but that they needed to live lives free from scandal and set a good example for those who follow them.
And anyone who did not was not worthy of the role of leader.
Lastly, this must all be grounded in the truth. We must stand for the truth. We must accept the truth, even when we do not like it or it does not align with what we think that the truth should be.
We are living in the midst of a global pandemic. Just because you do not like that idea, and do not personally think it is as bad as all that, does not mean that it is simply not happening. You are not changing reality by simply choosing to ignore it.
When we call our leaders out or hold others accountable, our accountability needs to be grounded in the reality of what is actually happening. It needs to be grounded in facts. It needs to be grounded in truth. Facts transcend beliefs.
In all actuality, this last point is the most important. If we are not grounded in and seeking truth, it becomes infinitely easier to get pulled in by the charismatic leader and, as a result, allow the herd to guide our actions.
