“Information is the Currency of Democracy” Thomas Jefferson From “At The Mercy Of The Mob” by Kenneth Westhues, Prof. of Sociology University of Waterloo. “Scapegoating is an effective if temporary means of achieving group solidarity, when it cannot be achieved in a more constructive way. It is a turning inward, a diversion of energy away from serving nebulous external purposes toward the deliciously clear, specific goal of ruining a disliked target’s life. … Mobbing can be understood as the stressor to beat all stressors. It is an impassioned, collective campaign to exclude, punish, and humiliate a targeted individual. Initiated most often by a person in a position of power or influence, mobbing is a desperate urge to crush and eliminate the target. The urge travels through the city like a virus, infecting one person after another. The target comes to be viewed as absolutely abhorrent, with no redeeming qualities, outside the circle of acceptance and respectability, deserving only of contempt. As the campaign proceeds, a steadily larger range of hostile ploys and communications comes to be seen as legitimate.” “It’s something that’s really important to me too. The inner fight not to become bitter and hateful is a big deal to me. Personally I notice how much more vulnerable I make myself when I allow myself to go into hate mode, and also I just don’t like myself. There’s something to say for standing in integrity (without being selfrighteous if possible) in my book. I’m …