 Bertrand Russell Quotes 366 |
Mass hysteria is a phenomenon not confined to human beings; it may be seen in any gregarious species. I once saw a photograph of a large herd of wild elephants in Central Africa. Seeing an airplane for the first time, and all in a state of wild collective terror. The elephant, at most times, is calm and sagacious beast, but this unprecedented phenomenon of a noisy, unknown animal in the sky, had thrown the whole herd completely off its balance. Each separate animal was terrified, and its terror communicated itself to the others, creating a vast multiplication of panic. As, however, there were no journalists among them, the terror died down when the airplane was out of sight.
Source: Bertrand Russell: To Face Danger without Hysteria .In: New York Times Magazine, 21 Jan. 1951, pp.7, 42, 44-45.
More info.: https://russell-j.com/beginner/KAMI-43.HTM
* a brief commnet:
Today, with the development of broadcast and online media, the print media have become relatively less influential. As a result, mass hysteria caused by journalists in the old media has largely disappeared. What is more worrying today is the control of the media by power (e.g. the state). This is a matter of constant vigilance, not only in communist states but also in democratic countries. In Japan, the press club system allows the authorities to control the media, which is very convenient for journalists who want to cover the news with ease.