Distance

They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. 

 - From Genesis 37

It's ten to fifteen years into the era of social media. By now, several people are familiar with a refrain, from memories of the Autumn Lane neighborhood where I grew up. The oft-repeated theme has to do with the way kids would "gang" up on someone not present. The person is not there to defend him or herself. A group of kids, with some aggregate level of frustrations in their own lives, will stir themselves up, and personalize their angst against one of their absent friends. It's easier to talk about people when they're not there.

Ahhh . . . . there it is again. Groupthink. Or Mob Behavior.

I was all too familiar with it, as a kid. Group behavior is not the same as the sum of its parts. Five very good kids can group up, and then develop a distinct group personality that is decidedly bad. They do things they would not approve of, in private moments.

When the friend finally appears, it becomes evident when he approaches the others, that something is wrong. One of them might say "You should go home because we're ganging up on you."

But there was always one, or two kids, that, by then, had already begun reflecting that they're being mean, and a little dopey. Ganging up doesn't last long. Regrets follow it. But it sure feels right, when you're in the middle of it.

This is how Joseph's brothers got around to throwing him in a pit, and selling him to their cousins, the Ishmaelites. While they were away from him, they were able to egg each other on, to a diabolical scheme to do great harm to one of the sons of their father. The scheme was cruel on a whole array of levels.

Violent, evil group behaviors are always wrong on many levels. And usually very, very cruel. People don't want to be cruel. But when they're in a violent crowd it becomes easy to do, and for a moment even feels good.

Ganging up . . . and distancing. These are the two prerequisites to group violence. Separate them out . . . and turn them against The Other. It's easy. So easy.

Humans must not see each other, only, from a distance. We're too social. We're wired towards separation and division. It takes special effort to move ourselves together. We have to get close. We have to see each other's faces.

It may be no surprise, that the most extreme urban violence in American history, abruptly followed a period of the most deliberate isolating of ourselves from each other. We all became little sons of Joseph, casting suspicious glances at each other and wanting to do harm to others, for no particular reason.