Mob Mentality, the Wave, and Personal Responsibility Essay

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Mob Mentality, The Wave, And Personal Responsibility

Dennis Gansel's 2008 film The Wave is a dramatization of actual events that took place at Cubberley High School in Polo Alto, California, in the spring of 1967 (Johnston). The film explores the question of how the events surrounding the Holocaust, the mass extermination of 10 million Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and the mentally and physically infirm, was allowed to take place by the German people during the Second World War. The center of the inquiry is a high school history class where the teacher establishes a culture based on discipline, community and action. He calls the movement "the wave" and sets in motion a series of events highly reminiscent of Nazi Germany during the 1930s and early 1940s. While the film offers a reason for the Holocaust, an explanation of how this tragedy was allowed to happen, it is my belief this is not an excuse.

Mob mentality or herd mentality refers to the influence of an individual's peers to adopt certain behaviors they would not normally adapt because of prevailing conditions or beliefs. A 1995 article in the Harvard Law Review examines aspects of mob mentality defenses in light of the Reginald Denny verdict ("Feasiblity and Admissibility of Mob Mentality Defenses"). Denny was a truck driver who was pulled from his vehicle and savagely beaten by four black men during the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

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The incident was broadcast around the nation live, as it occurred. The defendants' attorneys argued a case for unpremeditated assault. In the subsequent trial the jury was hung on all charges except a felony mayhem count against one defendant (Clark).

Discussion

The article in the Harvard Law Review notes that traditionally criminal law has treated crimes committed by groups as more blameworthy than those committed by persons acting alone. In fact, the criminal who acts in concert with others has in many jurisdictions committed two crimes, the crime itself plus conspiracy to commit said crime. However, in the Denny trial the argument for the defense was that their participation in group criminal behavior should render their actions less blame worthy. The argument is that persons who act as part of a group get caught up in the excitement of the mob and so do not make real meaningful choices about how to behave. They therefore should not be held fully accountable, or accountable at all for their criminal actions. This argument raises the possibility of undesirable social norms if group criminality is viewed as a defense instead of an offense. A successful mob mentality defense would further weaken the principle of personal responsibility ("Feasiblity and Admissibility of Mob Mentality Defenses").

The problem of this defense lies in the concept of free will.….....

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