The masses don’t think.  They react.  The individual questions, weighs, and deliberates before accepting an idea, but the mass absorbs without hesitation. A falsehood repeated often enough becomes truth in their minds.  Their thoughts are not their own—they are borrowed, dictated, and reinforced by the voices they trust without reason. They don’t arrive at conclusions, they repeat ready-made ones.

The mass is impatient. It has no tolerance for uncertainty or complexity. It demands instant answers, clear villains, and easy solutions, no matter how shallow or destructive they may be. Slogans replace substance. Emotional appeals overshadow reason. The herd follows only what excites or enrages it. It doesn’t reflect—it obeys. It’s governed not by wisdom but by impulse, always seeking the path of least resistance.

Those who claim to lead the mass do not guide it—they manipulate it. They know the mass is not moved by logic but by fear, resentment, and desire. They don’t persuade, they inflame. They don’t reason, they dictate. The mass, unable to see beyond its own agitation, believes it acts of its own will, when in reality, it is being driven by forces it doesn’t understand.

Civilization is fragile. It takes centuries of effort, discipline, and refinement to build, yet the mass can destroy it in a moment. Civilization depends on individuals who uphold order, virtue, and responsibility. The mass has no concern for these things. It follows only its immediate impulses, unable to see beyond the present moment. In its frenzy, it doesn’t construct—it consumes. In its arrogance, it doesn’t preserve—it eradicates.

The first thing the mass destroys is tradition. Customs, values, and institutions that have held societies together for generations are dismissed as outdated, oppressive, or arbitrary. The wisdom of the past is replaced with the arrogance of the present. The mass doesn’t ask why traditions exist, it simply tears them down, convinced that it’s marching toward progress when it is, in fact, merely erasing the foundations of civilization.

The second casualty is knowledge. The mass has no patience for deep thought or independent inquiry. It embraces whatever is most convenient, most popular, or most emotionally satisfying. Intellectuals who challenge the mass are ridiculed or silenced. Complex ideas are reduced to soundbites. Truth is no longer discovered—it’s dictated by those who control perception. A thinking society becomes an echo chamber, where dissent is punished and conformity is celebrated.

The third thing the mass obliterates is excellence. It doesn’t admire greatness, it resents it. It scorns the exceptional man, seeing him not as a model to strive toward but as an oppressor to tear down. In its demand for equality, it doesn’t seek to elevate itself—it seeks to drag everything else down to its level. The mass does not build towering monuments, it topples them. It doesn’t seek to refine character, it degrades it. The impulse toward mediocrity triumphs over the pursuit of greatness, and civilization withers.

The mass doesn’t stop at the destruction of society—it destroys itself. The mob, once unleashed, doesn’t restrain itself. It turns on its own. It devours its leaders when they are no longer useful. Revolutions that begin with righteous fury always end in chaos, as the mass, no longer satisfied, continues to demand more destruction. When there is nothing left to tear apart, it looks around in confusion, unable to comprehend why the world is in ruins.

The individual is the last line of defense against the tyranny of the mass. He resists where others submit. He thinks where others parrot. He stands when others kneel. The mass will call him an enemy, a traitor, a fool, but only the individual sees clearly. Only he remains free.

Reference

Gustav Le Bon; The Crowd