There Is No Safety In Numbers

 
Individually people are pretty friendly, decent, and fun to hang around with; but taken in groups of any significant size, they can be nasty, mean, vicious, and generally to be avoided at all costs. - me  

We have been told all of our lives that there is safety in numbers, but I have come to realize that this is anything but the case. When you look at the course of history, the one thing that you will find is that most of the atrocities committed by any animal, including man, have been done in groups of some size. For Example: - A single piranha can't do much damage, but get a school of them together and they can tear up a carcass in nothing flat.  

A Killer whale by itself can certainly kills its prey, but hunting as a pod they can take out an entire school of fish in next to no time.  

Wolves and hyenas both increase their chance for a kill when they hunt in packs.

And then of course, there is that most dangerous of animals, man: 

It takes at least a knot of people to do a lynching.

It takes an group of some significant size to have a riot.

It takes a large assemblage of people to make up an army, and use it to fight a battle or a war.

It takes a majority of an assortment of people to perform that most dangerous of functions, elect a politician.  

From the antics that college students commit during spring break to full scale nuclear war, most things that are really bad, really evil, or just really stupid seem to require a group of people of some significant size. Let's face it folks, when you guys accumulate in any real numbers, you have been known to be downright crazy!

 I have had a certain level of protection from such coordinated misbehavior. (of course I have always had the ability to act self-destructively and crazy without the aid of company). The truth of the matter is that I have always been rather uncomfortable in crowds (in spite of what might be assumed about me). I like people well enough, but over the years, a combination low self-esteem, abject cowardice, and Olympic clumsiness contribute to me not functioning well in such situations. I usually get nervous, talk too much and too loud, and manage to commit social suicide before the evening ends when attending social gatherings of any significant size. (Which I am sure answers a number of question for those of you who have known me for any length of time.)  

This misguided survival trait and my keen powers of observation provide me over time a unique perspective on society (especially in recent years, as my consumption of alcohol has plummeted), and it causes me to wonder if we aren't beginning to see the start of a new trend.

A large part of the generation that follows mine seems to be following a different path. Their ability to communicate through the newest technologies means that for them gathering in groups happens neither as often nor in as great a numbers in person. Gatherings for them occur now through group text messaging, on-line chat rooms, and Internet telephone emulators. These gatherings occur in the privacy of their homes rather than on street corners or in bars. 

Now even when the groups are relatively large, this lack of physical proximity tends to prevent the types of behavior that have traditionally turned deadly to both themselves and society. Perhaps this technology is actually a logical evolutionary step to help protect society, and the rest of the planet for that matter, from the "hazards of the herd" that we have suffered in our past.