The Mob

The Mob
I remember in 4th grade, on the school bus ride home on Halloween, everyone had a load of candy from the Halloween party we had at school.  One kid, who had a reputation for being a pest, accidently sat on some chocolate candy.  All it took was for another kid to notice it.  As you can well imagine, when one kid has chocolate smeared on the seat of his pants and another kid notices, it isn't a quiet occasion.  Kids won't respectfully and quietly point out that the other sat in something and should discreetly hide it until he can change clothes.  No, this kid was called out on it, quickly became the center of attention (in a bad way), and had a reputation for the remainder of the school year for pooping his pants (even though he didn't).  Of course, we all knew he didn't.  But the code was that if you stood in and tried to defend him, then you must have done it too.  I'm not proud to say that I joined the mob on the school bus that day to give this kid a hard time.  It didn't bother me as much then because this kid could be annoying.  Hopefully, this event didn't scar him for life or cause him to become paranoid around chocolate or school buses.  Kids can be mean like that. 
That was 4th grade.  Unfortunately, people don't grow up.  Mobs exist into adulthood and are even more damaging.  Over the fifteen years that I worked on church staff as a Youth Minister and a Pastor, I have witnessed mobs of many shapes and forms.  Early on, I once became involved in a mob.  There was a fellow church staff member that some in the church, including the pastor, wanted to leave.  When I heard about this, I joined in the mob at first because I thought this man was too old and not helping move the church forward.  It didn't take long before this same mob included me in their target too.  Then, in a strange irony, this fellow older staff member turned out to be one of my few friends in that church.  He and I eventually resigned and the pastor followed by resigning a few months later.  And the mob that turned against us ended up not only losing credibility, but also power.  This was during my junior year of college and I got an accelerated education through that experience far greater than most of the courses I was taking at school.  The lesson being that the mob is never good.
In my church experiences following that, I can name three times where I've been the target of a mob.  (There may be other times that I'm not aware.)  I can also name a few other times when I got caught in the middle between a mob and their target.  Those three times when I can recall being the target of a mob, two were because I refused to join the mob, but instead tried to call-off the gang-up on their target.  The other time is because I was in a position that someone else wanted. 
Mobs can occur anywhere at anytime. All it takes is one hot-headed individual to gather a following. It doesn't have to be a majority and the argument doesn't have to be logical.
As one who has had my share of experiences with the mob all I can say from experience is that joining in a gang-up on someone is never a good way to go about anything.  In the mob, people tend to think with emotion.  In the mob, the truth or even seeking the truth becomes irrelevant.  In the mob, nobody wins.  Everyone ends up getting hurt. 
So if you hear of accusations or other negativity about someone gaining steam among a group of people, try to imagine yourself in the place of their target.  If things like that were being said about you, how would you want people to respond?  Would you want to be judged and executed before you had opportunity to respond or would you appreciate being heard with an open-mind?  Even if the "talk" about you were true and you did something wrong, how would you want it handled?  Would you like the opportunity for confession/apologies/repentance (making things right) or would you appreciate it if someone stomped all over you while you were already down?  Suppose also if the talk or accusations against you were about something that is privileged information (as in you could not speak about it)?  Would you want the privacy and confidentiality respected or would you appreciate being called a liar because of your silence on the issue?
If you find yourself as the target of a mob (you will at some point in your life), I hate to break it to you, but there is little you can do.  In fact, the less you do, the better.  In the Gospels, Jesus found opposition just about everywhere he went.  He said little to those trying to hurt him.  The night he was arrested, he refused to speak to the wild charges filed against him.  Follow that example.  Once a hot-head gets going, there is nothing you can say or do to call him or her down.  Responding to the hot-head and his or her mob might become the slippery slope where you end up being just as bad as them.  My only advice is to get out of the way and let God take care of the situation.  This is hard, but start praying for the mob.  What God will do to the mob is far worse than anything you can ever do to them.  That's why it's always best to stay as far away from the mob as you possibly can.  Hurting one of God's creatures is a judgment that nobody can handle.
If anyone has better advice on this, I'm open to hearing it.