Collective ego problems

[SaltyMeatballs]

Why do we escalate our egos In groups ( esp strangers /acquaintances), act and think in selfish ways, become hyper arrogant, try to prove that we are better and express ourselves more strongly.

In contrast, with less people we try to get along and be nicer to each other..

Why is this?

 

[Leo Gura]

Anonymity in large numbers creates a lack of responsibility. Individual responsibility is off-loaded onto someone else and evil behavior becomes normalized: "everyone's doing it, so it must okay for me to do it too."

In small tribes anonymity is impossible. But in a society of millions of people, and online, it's the opening of Pandora's box. When nobody is holding you accountable it's much easier to behave like a devil.

[Forestluv]

@Leo Gura I hadn't thought about how a collective ego can thrive in an atmosphere of anonymity. You mentioned in one of your videos how a collective ego has a survival aspect, as does an individual ego. From a survival perspective, I can see how an anonymous environment would be attractive to a collective ego.

[Leo Gura]

@Serotoninluv It's individual ego which thrives in anonymity. Which then creates a toxic collective ego.

Of course collective ego also loves to disable transparency. For example, CIA secret torture programs and NSA wiretapping thrive on lack of transparency, so they cannot be held accountable. And that's when evil happens.

The individual ego off-loads responsibility onto the collective ego, and the collective ego off-loads responsibility onto the individual ego in a game of phone-tag. You see the ego's game? It always points the finger at someone else. That's how the devil operates because the devil cannot ever stand looking in the mirror -- because then he'd see his own devilish face, which would contradict his self-image of being an angel. The devil always thinks he's an angel and refuses to see any evidence to the contrary -- therein lies the devilry.

[vpandey]

'Individual ego thriving in anonymity' can be seen in Pickup culture where you are forced to do it in big cities...It would be pretty darn hard to be neurotic then sociopathic (your evolution of a typical PUA) in a small town.