Mob Psychology

Mob psychology shows that individuals tend to behave in a different manner as part of a group in contrast to acting independently. Members of a group are prone to acting in ways that they would deem immoral or unjust if in control of their behavior. This is not due to change in one’s belief or principle, but rather the fact that individuals tend to ignore or avoid one’s conscience or rational judgement. It can be said that individuals in a group defer their goals and take upon the identity of the group. Therefore, members of a group are likely to commit acts they would never commit alone. Being in a group allows individuals to defer blame, responsibility, accountability, and/or judgement upon the group.

A brief sampling …

Give A Man A Frisch, And He Eats For A Day. But Teach A Man To Frisch…

Wingnut All-Star: Jeff Goldstein (Part I)

It’s Like a Jeff Goldstein Pledge Drive, But for People Who Have …

Shorter Pasty Goldstein

Cockadoodledumb

Raising the bar a little lower

Fink Tanks: Wingbot Edition

Shorter Retardo: But I didn’t threaten Goldstein’s child. Nor did I hack his site. Not me.

So it is written, so it will be ignored As much as I appreciate …

Goldstein’s Boswell…and not in a good way Until reading this I …

You see, it’s a ‘Journal’ not a ‘Times’. They are two different …

Welcome to the He-Man’s Cubhouse

Dumb People …

Shorter TBogg: I didn’t threaten Goldstein’s child. Nor did I hack his site. Not me. (But I wish I had.)

Jeff Goldstein explained

In Goldstein’s case …

33 more times …

Shorter Atrios: I didn’t threaten Goldstein’s child. Nor did I hack his site. Not me. Discuss.

The Love Song Of J. Edgar Goldstein

Shorter Chris Clarke: I didn’t threaten Goldstein’s child. Nor did I hack his site. Not me.

What the hell is Goldstein talking about?

Jeff Goldstein on k-street

Stabbed in the back, eh?

Shorter Majikthese: I didn’t threaten Goldstein’s child. Nor did I hack his site. Not me.

Gather round ye feminists, the final Housewife Death March is …

When Do Offensive Jokes STOP Being Funny? (ed. — Tell us, Amanda.)

Poking the bear

Jeff proposes the Final Solution

Shorter Amanda Marcotte: I am merely an innocent participant in a months-long hate-filled, people-powered campaign of vituperation and demonization. You got nothing on me.

Jeff Goldstein jumps the shark - again

Jeff Goldstein Explained

Jeff Goldstein is SERPICO

Separated at Birth?

Longer Liberal Avenger: I don’t understand the connection. *

Purblind Jism

The Funniest Thing I’ve Read on the Internets in, Like, 4Evah!

Put This One in Your Koufax File

For Your Wednesday Reading Pleasure

About Those Danish Cartoons

Shorter Rox: I didn’t threaten Goldstein’s child. Nor did I hack his site. Not me. Because I am a decent person.

Protein Wisdom or Dutch Courage

the cream of the rightwing intellectual crop …

Late Nite FDL: Atlas Wept

Face the Snark

Shorter Jane Hamsher: I only regret that I didn’t threaten Rape Gurney Jeff’s child and hack his site first.

Trackbacks & Pings

  1. Hot Air » Blog Archive » Goldstein DOS’d again? (Update: Goldstein responds to Inside Higher Ed) on 10 Jul 2006 at 12:47 pm

    […] Update: How deep does the nutroots’ obsession with Goldstein go? This deep. […]

  2. Cold Fury » Blog Archive » More Lefty love & tolerance on 10 Jul 2006 at 1:11 pm

    […] A small handful of people, not at all representative of the so-called “mainstream”? As Allah says, it’d be nice to think so, but…I don’t. And neither does the Commissar. […]

  3. Screech E. Goldstein and the Lone Wolf from Southpaw at PunkAssBlog.com on 10 Jul 2006 at 9:57 pm

    […] “Yeah,” sneered Der Commienut. “I know lots of lefties who’ve smeared Screech before. None of them did anything like this, and here’s the painstakingly-assembled evidence to prove it. If you think about it, this means they all did it!” […]

Comments

  1. The Liberal Avenger wrote:

    I don’t understand the connection between my good-natured, friendly ribbing of Jeff Goldstein and that crazy woman making over-the-top comments on his site.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 12:52 pm

  2. Ryan.fenno@gmail.com wrote:

    Wow. A wholly incoherent post. I’ve always thought Commissar and his cartoon antics were better than this.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 1:05 pm

  3. Sadly, No! GmbH wrote:

    So why would we hack Goldstein’s site? That would be like breaking a candy machine.

    (ed. — I see. You did not hack his site. Not you.)

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 1:09 pm

  4. The Liberal Avenger wrote:

    Shorter Commissar:

    In a post 9/11 world, teasing an adult online is the same as raping his child.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 1:22 pm

  5. The Liberal Avenger wrote:

    Shorter Sadly, No:

    Jeff is the gift that keeps on giving.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 1:29 pm

  6. Auguste wrote:

    I thought it was Islamofascists that hacked PW. Isn’t it always islamofascists that hack right wing web sites?

    I thought it was islamofascists, seriously.

    No? Not islamofascists? My mistake.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 1:32 pm

  7. Pablo wrote:

    So why would we hack Goldstein’s site? That would be like breaking a candy machine.

    Which would be par for the course for two year olds like yourselves. I think you’re supposed to be making the “against” argument.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 1:47 pm

  8. The Liberal Avenger wrote:

    GoogleBomb:

    [Manshake]

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 1:47 pm

  9. Pablo wrote:

    Thanks for proving my p[o]int, Liberal Avenger.

    (ed. — I inserted the ‘o’ for commenter Ryan’s benefit.)

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 1:52 pm

  10. Auguste wrote:

    I think you’re supposed to be making the “against” argument.

    Well, I’m against hearing moral arguments about internet civility from the ideology that brought us LGF, FreeRepublic, Lucianne.com, et al.

    Call me crazy, but if I have to apologize for Deb Frisch and some script kiddy, you guys have a whole bunch of explaining to do.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 1:54 pm

  11. Ryan wrote:

    How does one go about “proving [a] pint”, Pablo?

    (ed. — Ryan is apparently unaware of typographical errors and the fact that bloggers and commenters invariably don’t make a fuss about them. So I will explain. You see, Ryan, sometimes we don’t type exatcly what we mean — see how I just did it? Since blogging and commenting is widely understood to be a rapid-fire medium, most normal people just let it go and don’t try to ridicule their opponents for it, if for no other reason than they reveal themselves as small-minded little pedants, with neither manners nor common sense. Just for your information.)

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 1:56 pm

  12. Mark wrote:

    I agree the IP hacking is despicable… but we have no proof it came from “the left”.

    I won’t be the person to tell you “your arguements can depict the right too”.

    There are things that transcend all the BS that is out there… and picking on a kid is one of them. That “Nutty Professor” crossed that line and paid the price. Some may think she didn’t pay enough, some may say she hasn’t come close to making restitution… that is beside the point.

    Jeff has played hardball politics with people for a long time now, and the horrible comments doesn’t erase that history.

    I dunno… I didn’t expect this post to be from you.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 1:57 pm

  13. topsecretk9 wrote:

    Jeff is the gift that keeps on giving.

    Shorter: We have no original ideas!

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 2:02 pm

  14. Ryan wrote:

    Oh boo. Did I hurt Pablo’s feelings? I’m truly sorry, Pablo.

    It’s just that I’ve read so many PW comment threads in my days and that’s just the environment I’m used to. You see, the regulars over there have a tendancy to be pedants over spelling and grammar. Just going back to the roost that was built for me, if ya know what I’m sayin’.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 2:12 pm

  15. Auguste wrote:

    Don’t mention tendancy…don’t mention tendancy…don’t mention tendancy…

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 2:17 pm

  16. The Liberal Avenger wrote:

    “Jeff is the goose that laid the golden egg.”

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 2:19 pm

  17. tbogg wrote:

    That sure was a lot of work for so few readers.

    Oh. And a word to the wise; if you’re going to be Goldstein’s lapdog…watch out for the ****.

    Cuz, y’know….

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 2:20 pm

  18. Pablo wrote:

    Thanks for spotting me the “O”, Commisar.

    Ryan, what the hell are you talking about? What gives you the idea that you’re even capable of hurting my feelings, let alone that you’ve actually done it?

    SadlyNo, freaks, you’ll be happy to know that someone thinks you’re fair and balanced. Heh. It’s like your chocolate got in her peanut butter…

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 2:21 pm

  19. The Liberal Avenger wrote:

    “…a veritable cornucopia…”

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 2:21 pm

  20. The Liberal Avenger wrote:

    “Crazed Arab with powerful explosive device is allowed to board commercial airplane by politically correct moonbats with pre-9/11 mentalities“

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 2:24 pm

  21. topsecretk9 wrote:

    “…a veritable cornucopia…”

    Translation: Thanks to Jeff Goldstein, we can pretend we have something substantive and original to say

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 2:26 pm

  22. Ryan wrote:

    Pablo– I’m glad your feelings weren’t hurt. I was just contemplating the quick edit on your post. I envisioned a sobbing Pablo, emailing the Commissar to add the mighty “o” to your tear-filled beer. Thanks so much for reassuring me that your skin is as thick as your skull.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 2:31 pm

  23. Pablo wrote:

    Ryan, you’ve got way too much time on your hands. Maybe you should be envisioning yourself with a girlfriend or something.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 2:42 pm

  24. Jim Treacher wrote:

    Shorter “The whole ‘Shorter’ concept”: I’ll put words in my enemy’s mouth and pretend I just made a really awesome rejoinder!

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 3:23 pm

  25. The Liberal Avenger wrote:

    It’s funny that you’d say that, Jim, as the Commissar’s entire post is constructed upon the hilarious “shorter” concept.

    I think you may have hurt his feelings.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 3:29 pm

  26. Mark wrote:

    Just a point of correction…

    Up above in the “amanda” section, you link to the post “When Do Offensive Jokes STOP Being Funny?”

    That post was by Jedmunds… a guy… who isn’t Amanda. You can still leave your little (ed. — Tell us, Amanda.) note, but it loses a ton of snark points.

    Just so you know…

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 3:36 pm

  27. commissar wrote:

    Mark,

    Now you know why I hate group blogs.

    Ryan,

    The wingers made you do it?

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 3:44 pm

  28. Jim Treacher wrote:

    It’s funny that you’d say that, Jim, as the Commissar’s entire post is constructed upon the hilarious “shorter” concept.

    How about that.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 3:54 pm

  29. commissar wrote:

    Vast Right Wing Conspiracy implodes as Treacher and Commissar savage each other in internecine blood feud.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 4:10 pm

  30. The Liberal Avenger wrote:

    Yeah - one of the posts that you pinned on me was written by Auguste. Ours is also a group blog.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 4:33 pm

  31. Pablo wrote:

    Collectivism as plausible deniability.
    Interesting, though poorly executed.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 4:47 pm

  32. The Liberal Avenger wrote:

    You sure get alot of comments from trolls, Commissar.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 4:48 pm

  33. Ryan wrote:

    Commissar:

    Ryan,

    The wingers made you do it?

    I think I know what you’re asking, but for the sake of avoiding misunderstanding, could you please fully expand this question to include quotes from me so as to avoid any ambiguities involving the pronoun “it”.

    Pablo:

    Ryan, you’ve got way too much time on your hands. Maybe you should be envisioning yourself with a girlfriend or something.

    I think you’re trying to make me go frisch myself. Thank you for the opportunity, but no thank you.

    Then again, I’m not sure how you’ve gone about measuring the amount of time and effort I’ve put into this comment thread, but if it has anything to do with the quality of the sentence construction and overall readability, rest assured I didn’t go to the same schools you did. Ask my girlfriend.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 5:09 pm

  34. The Liberal Avenger wrote:

    I just saw the following satirical “endorsement” written by Jeff Goldstein on his site:

    ”…with a **** almost as big as mine…”—Amanda Marcotte, Pandagon“

    Does that mean that Jeff just rhetorically raped Amanda’s unborn child?

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 5:19 pm

  35. DWB wrote:

    Does that mean that Jeff just rhetorically raped Amanda’s unborn child?

    Hey, whatever turns you on the privacy of your own home is your business.

    Me, not so much….

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 6:34 pm

  36. ReddHedd wrote:

    Not that real facts will matter one whit to you, but the Typepad-based blogs have been under an extended attack from a Russian hacker who has had an ongoing dispute with the Israeli proprieter of the software.

    http://www.securitypronews.com/insiderreports/insider/spn-49-20060504TypePadHitByDDoSAimedAtBlueFrog.html

    Before you go casting stones, you might want to take a peek at your own glass house…

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 6:49 pm

  37. Pablo wrote:

    Does that mean that Jeff just rhetorically raped Amanda’s unborn child?

    I’m sure he just raped her mind.

    Now, are you sure that’s satirical? Did you check?

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 6:51 pm

  38. Pablo wrote:

    Then again, I’m not sure how you’ve gone about measuring the amount of time and effort I’ve put into this comment thread..

    I got creeped out and stopped considering it right about here:

    I envisioned a sobbing Pablo, emailing the Commissar to add the mighty “o” to your tear-filled beer.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 6:54 pm

  39. ilyka wrote:

    Congratulations, Commissar–this is hands-down the hackiest hack of a post I have ever seen. Wrap your skull around this for a minute: One can think Jeff’s a jerk AND think Deb Frisch did a low, vicious, utterly disgusting thing. One can hold these ideas at the same time. It is not doublethink to do so because the two ideas are not inherently contradictory.

    You have some hacky nerve linking posts written well before any of this and attempting to imply that any of them have ANY association with Deb Frisch. Chris Clarke’s poem has nothing to do with Deb Frisch. Roxanne’s April 1st parody site has nothing to do with Deb Frisch. No one condones what Deb Frisch did. They just don’t like Jeff. And if liking Jeff is what’s required to avoid the moonbat-by-way-of-Frisch label these days, I guess I’m a moonbat too now.

    But that can’t be right, can it? Because only the Left purges its own for the purposes of maintaining ideological purity.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 7:37 pm

  40. tbogg wrote:

    I think it is now official: The Commissar is read by more Unhinged Moonbats than by Knuckle-dragging Wingnuts.

    We’d invite you to join our side but we have to clear it with Kos first.

    We’ll get back to you….

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 7:47 pm

  41. Amanda Marcotte wrote:

    Man, I knew you were a tool, but was unaware how big a tool. I’m not the victim of anything but mild irritation that a bunch of wingnuts are trying to distract themselves from the fact that their Glorious Iraq War is a big, fat failure.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 8:15 pm

  42. commissar wrote:

    Amanda and tbogg and the rest have engaged in an endless obsessive vilification of Goldstein. Now he is the object of verbal assault and site hacking. You have done yourselves proud, even while (I presume) keeping your own hands clean.

    Should an even more deranged moonbat than Deb Frisch commit physical violence, I am sure you would be even more firmly convinced of your total innocence in the matter.

    Amanda asked “what if the situation were reversed?” on her blog. If I had participated in the kind of mob action you all have, and then some extremist went too far, yes, I’d share some moral culpability.

    ilyka,

    I don’t like Jeff much either. That’s not really relevant to my point here. I’m sincerely surprised that you took it that way. I also don’t like Amanda, but have so far managed to avoid joining a cheering gang of like-minded ideologues to post obsessively about what a worthless human being she is.

    I really don’t ‘get’ the moonbats. Let anyone cross them, and they freak out totally, whether it’s Goldstein or Lieberman or whomever. Don’t you think, in the respective spheres, they might allocate their energies a little more … rationally?

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 9:41 pm

  43. The Liberal Avenger wrote:

    Now, you see… I am quite fond of BOTH Jeff AND Amanda.

    I’m pretty sure that Jim Treacher is a bit of an *******, however.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 11:15 pm

  44. Phoenician in a time wrote:

    commissar wrote:

    Amanda and tbogg and the rest have engaged in an endless obsessive vilification of Goldstein. Now he is the object of verbal assault and site hacking.

    Uh-huh.

    So, is the “anti-government” Right taking responsibility for Timothy McVeigh any time soon?

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 11:46 pm

  45. Auguste wrote:

    Should an even more deranged moonbat than Deb Frisch commit physical violence, I am sure you would be even more firmly convinced of your total innocence in the matter.

    Now you’re getting it.

    Otherwise, anyone on the right who has ever written anything criticizing choice, the federal government, or for-crying-out-loud any company which occupied the World Trade Center is pretty damn screwed right now.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 11:47 pm

  46. Auguste wrote:

    Whoops. My friend Ryan’s gonna come after me for not closing my “em” tag now.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 11:47 pm

  47. Encore wrote:

    “Now he is the object of verbal assault and site hacking. You have done yourselves proud, even while (I presume) keeping your own hands clean.”

    “… while keeping your own hands clean” is a phrase associated with an intent to direct or accomplish an action but maintain distance from it, i.e. to establish plausible deniability. So now you’re suggesting that these bloggers wanted Frisch to write creepy stuff about Goldstein’s child? WTF?

    The above bloggers, including Goldstein, are all adults fighting with words about ideas … and it’s not Left Blogostan’s fault if Goldstein brings an intellectual Nerf Bat to a fire fight. Moreover, if you look at TBogg’s and Sadly, No!’s posts, they convincingly demonstrate that Goldstein has a long history of engaging in repugnant rhetoric.

    Go read some Orcinus to see which side of the ideological divide slides towards physical intimidation, eliminationism and an appeal to violence … when the Left starts making mock “Conservative Hunting Licenses” and joking about “Journalist. Rope. Tree. Some Assembly Required,” we can have a discussion about moral equivalence.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 11:50 pm

  48. The Liberal Avenger wrote:

    The next time I see Jeff Goldstein I am going to drive a cream pie straight into his face - and unlike the guys who tried to “pie” Ann Coulter, I won’t miss.

    HOW’S THE PIE TASTE, GOLDSTEIN?

    You can take that to the bank.

    Posted 10 Jul 2006 at 11:57 pm

  49. commissar wrote:

    None of the Lefties want to respond to their mob action, the leftosphere’s ceaseless pre-occupation.

    Goldstein isnt Bush, nor Howard Dean, nor Hilary Clinton, nor Rick Santorum. He’s not even Glenn Reynolds nor Kos. I checked TTLB’s stats. As it happens, Pandagon gets about as much traffic as PW. So he and Amanda, both combative foul-mouthed minor bloggers, are comparable, in the scheme of things. Not really major figures.

    If the Wingnut-o-sphere subjected a minor figure like Amanda to anything like your overwhelming unrelenting Goldstein fixation, and then her child (I know, I know) was threatened and her site hacked ….jeez … my ears hurt just thinking about Greenwald’s posts.

    “Being in a group allows individuals to defer blame, responsibility, accountability.”

    Posted 11 Jul 2006 at 12:11 am

  50. The Liberal Avenger wrote:

    M _ R _ L _ Q _ _ V _ L _ N C _ ?

    Posted 11 Jul 2006 at 12:28 am

  51. Pixy Misa wrote:

    Vast Right Wing Conspiracy implodes as Treacher and Commissar savage each other in internecine blood feud.

    Only on Pay-per-View!!!

    Posted 11 Jul 2006 at 12:47 am

  52. Jim Treacher wrote:

    I’m pretty sure that Jim Treacher is a bit of an *******, however.

    That’s an interesting point.

    Posted 11 Jul 2006 at 7:31 am

  53. Søren Kongstad wrote:

    So now the Commissar is forever responsible for any threat delivered to any of the people listed in this post.

    Will most of his posts henceforths be apologies for such threats?

    Lets all hold our breaths and see

    Posted 11 Jul 2006 at 8:36 am

  54. Pablo wrote:

    God, I love the blogosphere. I’d pay good money for this kind of entertainment, but yet we get it for FREE!

    Posted 12 Jul 2006 at 8:43 am

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