We human beings have the potential for great good and great evil--within each and every one of us. That potential is amplified (usually in the negative) when we congregate into groups. It's groups of people that tend to terrify me.
I read a study in college last semester that claimed people's IQ decreases when they join into a group. The collective IQ of the group is lower than that of its individual members.
That isn't what scares me about groups of people, though. You know the phrase "mob mentality"? That is what terrifies me. 1.) I don't want to lose myself to a group of other people--I don't want to lose myself or become someone (something) different at all! Even temporarily. 2.) The thought of people morphing, changing, into something different--into some collective creature--is like something out of a nightmare.
Don't get me wrong, I don't cower in my room whenever I'm confronted by an approaching hoard of people. I used to hyperventilate in extremely large crowds (no summer fairs for me), but I've gotten over that. I used to imagine myself in a protective bubble. Now, I no longer have to do that. Still...groups, hoards, assemblies, mobs of people make me nervous.
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