This Kindle edition consists of two long volumes, published in 1852. It details various mass delusions and obsessions, varying from hair styles to the crusades to financial crises to the burning of witches - and much more.
I enjoyed this book immensely, despite its length, but found it to be unsettling. The details of each of the many events covered are different, but there is an underlying theme that should be a warning to modern man. The author points out that the madness that periodically breaks out among the masses would, hopefully, be less in the future. If only he knew that these follies would continue up to the present day.
Each of the events he described had the same pattern:
Firstly, some individual or small circle of individuals would make a claim. The purpose could be profit, vengeance, or superstition.
Secondly, some larger segment of society (such as the Church, stock jobbers, etc.) would proclaim a societal emergency or, even, a great opportunity.
Thirdly, the masses would adopt, unquestioningly and illogically, the truth of the original claim, often twisting the claim in a manner the originators would not have imagined or possibly approved.
Fourthly, more reasonable men or organizations would be shunned or punished as heretics for failing to accept the popular delusion.
Lastly, the folly would become so reprehensible or unsustainable that it would fade away, only (regrettably) to be replaced by another.
In our times, we consider ourselves modern and rational. Many readers might look on the examples described in this book to be so absurd as to irrelevant to our times. However, our follies follow the same pattern - sometimes more subtle but often just as costly and often more deadly.
I am old enough to remember the great DDT scare. DDT was considered to be the greatest possible threat to mankind, even causing birds to lay thin-shelled eggs that would lead to the extinction of entire species. Those who pointed out the absurdity of these assertions were called "cranks" or worse. No public official or academic dared to challenge the mass appeal of junk science. As a result, deaths from malaria (which due to DDT had been almost eliminated) skyrocketed to millions per year - mostly little brown or black children for whom the Western masses had little concern. And the original claims are now known to be incorrect.
Or the great ozone hole hoax. Since the late 1800s scientists have known that the ozone hole opens and closes in sync with the 11-year sunspot cycle. However, they were cursed and ignored. The mass delirium resulted in many useful products being banned or replaced with less efficient and more costly substitutes. When the hole closed and we did not all die of skin cancer, these regulations were considered the proximate cause and remain in place.
I served as an elected official for a major water agency when the big scare was carcinogens. Great quantities of different chemicals were fed to rats. Those that allegedly caused cancer were banned, even though critics pointed out that great masses of chemicals can cause cancer when small amounts would not. Of course, these critics were decried and abused. When we were forced to spend a billion dollars to remove the last miniscule traces of carcinogens from the water supply, we tried to point out to the environmental agencies that carcinogens occur naturally, especially as defensive mechanisms in plants. In fact, if one were to drink 50 gallons of water per day for his entire life, he would have consumed fewer carcinogens than occur in a level teaspoon of peanut butter.
I could go on with many other current delusions (such as global warming or electric automobiles that allegedly defy Newton's laws by using no energy!). By definitions, mass delusions are accepted in their time by almost all people - people who consider themselves rational and caring. Reading this book will, perhaps, reduce the numbers of the deluded
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A fascinating, but worrying, 'dip-in dip-out' read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 3, 2019
