People have a tendency to think that when someone always has conflict with other people, that is the individual, who is being outcaste that is the problem. However, that may not always be the case. Often times people are victims of group think. Group think is a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, where the members’ striving for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action. Basically, group-think is a click of people, who feel threatened by another individual so they find ways to set this person up and make them look bad to eliminate the competition. Sometimes it is done out of malice or for fun. It is like a sport to them. A group is usually 3 or more people, but an unlimited number of people can join in. Groups suffering from Group think are usually closed-minded. They tend to ignore warnings about negative behavior, that might cause the group to rethink their assumptions. Another problem is people involved in group think is they have negative stereotypes about their enemy and view them as weak, stupid, puny, or evil. This helps them to justify their reckless and malicious group.

People involved in group think feel pressure toward uniformity. They all have to share the same opinion and behavior among group members. Sometimes the pressure is indirect, or sometimes they force others to join their team. When group think spirals out of control, and a huge portion of the community is harassing one individual, that is called mass hysteria. Mass Hysteria is a condition affecting a group of persons, characterized by excitement or anxiety, irrational behavior or beliefs, or inexplicable symptoms of illness. People may start to make believe a person has superpowers and controls their minds. So then they form a lynch mob to find a way to take the person down. No different from the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The Salem Witch Trials is one of the most notorious cases of mass hysteria, and has been used in political rhetoric and popular literature as a vivid cautionary tale about the dangers of isolationism, religious extremism, false accusations and lapses in due process.

 Among the many sailing ships bound for California, was the La Grange, a three-masted bark from Salem, Massachusetts, home of the Salem Witch trials. The Ship arrived at Sacramento, California October 3, 1849. The following June, the La Grange was purchased by the city of Sacramento for a prison. In preparation for its new role, the ship was stripped to the masts and holding cells built inside of the ship to lock up prisoners.The LaGrange served as Sacramento’s jail until November 1859 when it sank during a week-long storm. Other ships were used as hotels, and warehouses along the early waterfront, before they too bowed to, and were no longer safe to use.  In recent years, nautical archaeologists have explored three gold rush vessels and several later boats that are submerged in the Sacramento River.

In February of 1986, archaeologist located what is believed to be wreckage of La Grange, which was imprisoned by the rip-rap and mud, just south of the “I” Street Bridge. They found enough evidence–floor frame, hull planks, copper sheathing, curved timbers, and a keelson– to confirm that the vessel was an ocean-going sailing ship of LaGrange’s size and age. In order to prevent group think and not enslave good people, groups must be recognize that they have a problem. If one person speaks up and lets the group know that there is something wrong with what they are doing, it will stop the problem before it turns into mass hysteria. However, if people just let it slide, then the problem only gets worse. If you have high status members engaging in group think, that needs to be addressed so their sickness does not spread and infect others, and you might want to have a member to remind the group of what their roles are.

No one should be looking to create problems, use people and then smile in their face. Point out their collective error, confirmation bias, false dichotomies, and any other symptoms. Basically, group think is just like mean girls, jealous, evil and unhappy people get together to bring a person down by any means necessary. Even if they look like fools in the process, and they see nothing wrong with they are doing, until the person they are targeting is killed. When it gets to the point people are getting death threats, it is serious. My affairs are managed by love and directed by wisdom, and they cannot fail to prosper and expand. My affairs are in his hands.