Thank you for this, Colette. I too experienced 'mob power' for the first time at the Let Women Speak event in Hobart, and can confirm that it is life changing. 'Mob mentality', it turns out, is all too real, and utterly inhumane. It lacks all reason (as in rational thought) and is devoid of any acknowledgment of the reality of The Other(s). I suspect, though, that there are reasons for it. As I watched *people I knew* simply lose their cool and embrace their rage, express their animal emotions without any civilising filters (I don't know how else to put it), I could not help but reflect that in that moment they were actually *in their bodies*, feeling something-not-nothing, and they were loving the feeling of, well, feeling something-not-nothing. It was a terrible antidote to their mostly disembodied lives online. It made them feel part of something greater than themselves. And the tragedy is that we puny little awkward humans do need to feel that we are a part of something bigger than ourselves, or else we go quietly insane. The tragedy, in case it isn't clear, is that the mob has chosen to sacrifice children, women, lesbians and gay men, or well over 50% of all human beings, in order to feel something-not-nothing. The choice they have made is loudly insane, rather than quietly insane.
Colette that made me tear up. I couldn’t make it to Dublin on Saturday but my heart was there. It is hard to believe, in this day and age, that women are STILL vilified, silenced and scared to speak. More power to all the women who went and especially the ones who spoke. And thanks from me to the stewards and the Gardai who policed the even so well.
Colette thanks for that brilliant piece. I knew 2 women from an exercise class who wanted to come but were too scared. PbP will most likely be out at next election. I'm in Aodhan I Riordans constituency and he'll hear from us as we now have a small group who will be leafletting our area about gender ID in schools.
ls there any way to share this piece without substrack but obviously crediting you. I'm thinking of some local wonen who need to read this. Thanks Anne
Thank you for this, Colette. I too experienced 'mob power' for the first time at the Let Women Speak event in Hobart, and can confirm that it is life changing. 'Mob mentality', it turns out, is all too real, and utterly inhumane. It lacks all reason (as in rational thought) and is devoid of any acknowledgment of the reality of The Other(s). I suspect, though, that there are reasons for it. As I watched *people I knew* simply lose their cool and embrace their rage, express their animal emotions without any civilising filters (I don't know how else to put it), I could not help but reflect that in that moment they were actually *in their bodies*, feeling something-not-nothing, and they were loving the feeling of, well, feeling something-not-nothing. It was a terrible antidote to their mostly disembodied lives online. It made them feel part of something greater than themselves. And the tragedy is that we puny little awkward humans do need to feel that we are a part of something bigger than ourselves, or else we go quietly insane. The tragedy, in case it isn't clear, is that the mob has chosen to sacrifice children, women, lesbians and gay men, or well over 50% of all human beings, in order to feel something-not-nothing. The choice they have made is loudly insane, rather than quietly insane.
Colette that made me tear up. I couldn’t make it to Dublin on Saturday but my heart was there. It is hard to believe, in this day and age, that women are STILL vilified, silenced and scared to speak. More power to all the women who went and especially the ones who spoke. And thanks from me to the stewards and the Gardai who policed the even so well.
Thanks for this write-up Colette
Colette thanks for that brilliant piece. I knew 2 women from an exercise class who wanted to come but were too scared. PbP will most likely be out at next election. I'm in Aodhan I Riordans constituency and he'll hear from us as we now have a small group who will be leafletting our area about gender ID in schools.
ls there any way to share this piece without substrack but obviously crediting you. I'm thinking of some local wonen who need to read this. Thanks Anne
Clearly it's these misogynist terrorists who are the latter-day Nazis.