By now, everyone has heard of the tragedy in Colorado. Some evil nut-job burst into a crowded movie theater and opened fire. Moviegoers thought it was a publicity stunt for the new Batman movie, but it wasn’t.
Crowds are dangerous. From what happened in Colorado, they attract evil people that want to do evil things. Then a crowd never reacts logically. People will panic and run. They will run over each other and kill each other in a panic that may or may not help anyone.
People become anonymous. Once people think there is no recourse for their actions, they are likely to behave badly. Then “mob think” comes into play. People will follow each other. One idiot throws a rock or breaks a window and then someone else does it, then another and another. Pretty soon the crowd is turning over cop cars and burning down buildings. Once the crowd goes from group to mob, it turns into a riot. Now you are in danger of being hurt by the crowd and by the police that will show up to put down the riot.
When a crowd moves there isn’t much stopping it. You could easily be crushed to death by the people around you or knocked to the ground and trampled to death. You have to watch which way the crowd is moving and be prepared to move with it. The best thing is to get out of there. When the crowd starts moving in one direction, don’t be a fish swimming up stream, go in the same basic direction but off at an angle to get out of the crowd. Watch out for walls and cars that you could be crushed against. Also make sure you aren’t pushed into a police line. They won’t be too kind about having you there. I mention this because a common way for the police to put down a riot is to literally push the crowd around until people get tired or bored.
If you are in a large crowd try to stay at the edges. This way you can get away from the crowd if you need to. If the crowd isn’t moving, the walls are generally a good way to move around, but watch for movement.
I generally don’t like crowds and avoid them when I can. Just remember that any confined space with a large amount of people can be dangerous. It attracts evil and just by numbers, the more people you get in one area the more likely there is to be dirt bags (people that commit crimes as a way of life).
Stay Safe,
Ben