You go to X. There's a thread. Six fights.
Ranks are formed in five minutes. No one thinks. Everyone takes their positions. It is no longer ideas that speak, but sides.
You write a sentence on the screen that you cannot say to your face in real life. Because the other person is not a human being; it is a username. When you erase humanity, you erase compassion and empathy.
First you choose sides. Not to be right, but to not be alone. “Me” is tiring. “We” is comfortable.
Then you minimize the other side. You don't say wrong. You call it bad. You call it dangerous. You demonize them. So your conscience is clear.
You embrace your leader. When he makes mistakes, it's hard, but you don't admit it. You say, “He must know something.” “The conditions were difficult” or even “he did too little”. The connection with reality becomes thinner.
You write hard. You get likes. You get applause. The brain considers it a reward. When you write moderately, there is silence; when you write harshly, a crowd gathers. You learn which one works.
Then the dose increases. Yesterday's harshness becomes today's normal.
At a certain point you don't defend the idea, you defend the person. Criticism feels like betrayal. You can't call wrong wrong.
But it is not only the mass. The leader is also tested.
A healthy leader does not rely on applause. He sees criticism as a check, not a threat. He can step back when he is wrong. It derives its power from being accountable, not from being unquestionable.
A weak leader is different. He puts loyalty before merit. He magnifies applause and suppresses opposition. He ceases to be the representative and becomes the center.
Fanaticism feeds in both directions here.
The mass clings to the leader.
The leader clings to applause.
When a mass of people who cannot say wrong is wrong and a leader who cannot tolerate criticism come together, balance mechanisms collapse. Mistakes are not corrected, the same mistakes are repeated, merit retreats and decisions are made within a narrow circle of loyalty. This is why the system weakens.
And this is often called case consciousness.
But democracy is not subservience. It is control.
It is not loyalty. It is questioning.
The question is whether you can call a wrong wrong and whether your leader really allows it.
I criticized the leader.
Let me check.
I'm not dismissed, am I?