by Ugochukwu Nnamdi Ukamba
There is nothing as dangerous as a mob –of any sort!
We have, at some point in real life, witnessed the intensity of a mob action. One very distinguishing factor is, as Dan Simmons eloquently stated, that “mobs have passions, not brains”. It was a mob that was responsible for the death of Ugonna Obuzor, Toku Lloyd, Chiadika Biringa and Tekenah Elkanah (“ALUU 4”). It was a mob that was responsible for the death of Mrs. Bridget Patience Agbaheme. It was a mob that was responsible for the recent lynching and burning to death of a young boy/man somewhere in Lagos. There are several other unreported instances of mob passion ruling over proper reasoning –actually, the vast incidents of mob actions, particularly in Nigeria, virtually go unnoticed and unreported.
In each of the cases cited above, the “eye witnesses” –an euphemism for the people who stood by and watched while the heinous actions were perpetrated –had a compelling story to support the dastardly act. In the case of the ALUU 4 victims, the story was that the community had been constantly terrorized by cult boys from the nearby university and that they were caught when a resident, who had just been robbed, raised an alarm. In the case of Mrs. Bridget Patience Agbaheme, it was an allegation of blasphemy –an allegation which the mob believed carried an instant death penalty. There are conflicting reasons for the recent lynching of the young boy/man in Lagos –some say he was a 7-year-old boy caught stealing garri, others say he was part of a notorious gang responsible for several robberies at the area where he was killed. Either way, he was killed sha!
To the persons engaging in the lynching, there is always a “good” reason. The real outrage is usually from those who get to watch the actions when a video surfaces online –perhaps because they don’t get to feel the palpable emotion that fueled the mob action. Unfortunately, no matter the reason, I find it difficult to fathom any plausible excuse for the dastardly act. It is a human life for God’s sake. As a lawyer, I struggle to even comprehend how the death penalty –passed down after an impartial judicial panel has reviewed the evidence and found the accused guilty –is sufficient deterrent for the continued commission of that crime. In private conversations with colleagues I have continued to ask “are there other approaches that can be utilized, other than killing people, to deter people from committing crimes?”
I am talking about mob mentality, let me not digress.
Why does a mob act the way it does? One factor is that being part of a mob creates some sort of anonymity. You remember when you participated in that S.U.G protest? Pause, rewind to that event. You remember that you were bolstered by the solidarity chant of the student leader? You remember you felt emboldened by the fact that there were other students who were equally, if not more, miffed at whatever the grievance was? Standing alone, you probably would not have mustered as much courage as you exhibited holed in between the crowd. That, right there, is what fuels the mob mentality. It is equally true for a murderous mob.
There is an Igbo adage that says “Igwe bu ike” –loosely interpreted as “there is strength in number”. Nobody knows you when you are part of a crowd and if nobody knows you, it is easier to assume that there would be fewer consequences for your action. This would resonate if your flashback and notice that, at least in Nigeria, convictions of persons involved in mob actions are far in between. In fact, in the case of Mrs. Bridget Patience Agbaheme, the accused persons were recently discharged by a court.
Anonymity bolsters courage –Dutch courage –and that explains the actions of the virtual mob. The group of us who sit behind keypads and spew violence and hate against perceived opponents. Critically appraised, you will see that there is really no difference between the physical mob that lynches, stones or burns a person to death at the slightest opportunity and the cyber mob. Their modus are basically the same –hiding under the cover anonymity to perpetuate what they would never have had the courage to do standing by themselves.
The virtual mob is a more dangerous mob because, unlike their physical counterpart, they do not know when to stop. It is the virtual mob that would continue to pummel a Bobrisky –regardless of how the unrestrained hate impacts him –because he dared to be different from acceptable norms. It is the virtual mob that would jump on an issue and continue a relentless attack without getting their facts straight and with an air of “I-am-entitled-to-my-opinion-regardless-of-how-it-makes-you-feel”. It is the virtual mob that would continue to smash a Chidinma Okeke’s head against the tarred roads of the cyber world despite the fact that the “crime” she has been accused of committing is the daily life style of some of her chiefest traducers.
In a way, the physical mob may not be as dangerous as the virtual mob. The physical mob can be restrained by law enforcement or other stronger physical power but the virtual mob, owing largely to weak laws, would continue to “kill” its target long after they are “dead”. When you break down a person’s spirit by your continuous internet harassment, you are worse than the man who picked a club and physically broke someone’s head. I shudder to think the number of persons, victims of the virtual mob, whose lives have taken a turn for bad following the insensitivity of the virtual mob. This would not make any sense to you if you have never been at the receiving end of a virtual mob.
It is very easy to become a virtual mob because, as with other mob actions, there are several other persons goading you on to hit the victim “where it would hurt” and additionally, for you, it may be just some banter, some idle talk, some irrelevant chatter. For some, what drives them on as part of the virtual mob is the insatiable hunger for more “likes”, more retweets, more shares. Don’t let your hunger for cheap and fickle popularity steal your humanity. If you have constantly wielded your keypad as a member of the virtual mob, you, unfortunately, do not have the locus to stand in judgment against the physical mob. You are the opposite side of the same coin.
While I am all for enforcing stricter standards against the physical mob- particularly the murderous sort, I believe that more work needs to be done in finding a way to restrain the virtual mob. The present laissez faire attitude of allowing people get away with unacceptable behaviours in the cyber world is one that needs to be done away with –and very quickly. If we don’t, the incalculable consequences it is capable of creating is one that we might struggle to deal with sometime in the very near future.
Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija
Ugochukwu Nnamdi Ukamba is a Legal Practitioner based in Lagos. Hetweets @NnamdiUkamba
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