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Ten things I’ve learned from crowds

October 26, 2011 By
  1. There is one acceptable place to look in a crush of people on a subway in rush hour. Up.
  2. When you are in a mob, you feel powerful. When you are facing a mob, you feel desperate.
  3. Crowds allow for many things you can’t do on your own: crowd-surfing, crowd-sourcing, ‘the wave’, orgies.
  4. Elevators are always too crowded.
  5. There is a kind of aimless group mind that happens with a crowd. A listless communal lurch that you see in parades or protests.
  6. It is easy to be anonymous in large groups of people. That is one of the reasons I like big cities.
  7. People need leaders. I used to flirt with anarchist philosophy ok? I know all about collective bullshit decision making. I know from experience that large groups of people get stupid or incapacitated without somebody to make decisions.
  9. People attract more people.
  10. There is nothing like the sound of a group of choral or gospel singers. The variety of tones, how they fill the aural space. It is glorious.
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About Josh Bowman

Josh Bowman is a professional fundraiser, story-teller, comedian, and blogger. He has worked and consulted in Vancouver, New York, and now Toronto for almost a decade. Josh improvises around Toronto, including regular shows with Opening Night Theatre, and also blogs for the Huffington Post. You can email Josh or follow him on Twitter. If you want to submit a guestpost or know more about Josh, check this post and this post out first.