In my recent blog I challenged you thoughtful readers to name a government policy that is supported by 66.7% or more of its citizens while being considered immoral by 66.7% or more within that same country.
Only a few of you noticed that my challenge was very similar to saying “Name something that is supported by 66.7% of the people while also not supported by 66.7% of those same people.” But that didn’t stop people from arguing the point.
Many examples were offered, and as far as I can tell, all of them supported the morality of mob rule if you looked at them carefully. Here are the ones most frequently mentioned.
Hitler
Slavery
Lynching
Abortion
Let’s take them in order. You historians can jump in and correct me where needed.
Hitler: I’m fairly certain he didn’t enjoy a 66.7% approval for starting WWII and the Final Solution, even in his own country. But the 66.7% mobs in other countries did stop him. Mobs ruled and fixed the tyranny of the Nazi minority. Yay mobs!
Slavery: I’d have to see the numbers, but I’m guessing that slavery in the U.S. didn’t enjoy a 66.7% approval by the time of the Civil War, especially if you counted the slaves themselves. And remember that the South was a much smaller population than the North. But let’s say for the sake of argument that slavery WAS supported by the vast majority during the Founding Father days. That means the vast majority also considered it moral. So it proves my point that laws conform to the majority’s view of morality. And when opinions on slavery shifted (assuming that happened) then the Mob righted the wrong just as my question assumes it would. Again, the mob fixed the tyranny of the plantation owning minority. Go mobs!
Lynching: Some of you cleverly substituted a literal “mob” for my point about a 66.7% citizen opinion. I doubt there was ever a time when 66.7% of the entire country supported lynching. But the mob did end the practice, providing yet another victory of the righteous majority over the minority of lynchers.
Abortion: Someone here claimed that more than 66.7% of Americans approve of keeping abortion legal while at least that many also consider it immoral. I doubt that’s true if the question is asked the right way. And if someone can produce a poll to support it, I’d like to see it. If 66.7% do believe abortion is immoral, I predict that abortion will become illegal in the U.S., making the laws and the majority view of morality conform, just as they always do in the long run.
There certainly can be some time lag between the shift in moral opinion and the change of laws to support that opinion. But I’m still waiting for the example where the mob gets it wrong in the long run.
Recently I attended a grade school play where third graders sang songs about character. It was part of Character Month, an obvious attempt to brainwash the tots into becoming good citizens. I don’t object to brainwashing kids because they don’t have the capacity to make their own decisions. Still, it was disturbing to see their little brains being programmed with such a heavy hand, and to know that they will grow up defending those principles they sang about as if they had arrived at them through reason.
Most of us have been taught that mob rule is bad, and that the only way to protect minorities is by letting enlightened leaders make moral decisions on behalf of the ignorant public. That view certainly seems reasonable, especially when I see the quality of comments on this blog. But I have to wonder if the facts support that view. I was hoping you people would give me some examples to show how mob rule is evil. Otherwise I have to assume I was brainwashed in third grade just like the rest of you.