Reeling in horror at the lynching of four students in southern Nigeria earlier this month, Teju Cole explores the embrace of mob violence in Nigeria:
One of the chief characteristics of a mob is its quickness. It is sudden. It pounces. In Ikeja, Lagos, in 2011, two men, Alaba and Samuel were severely beaten and very nearly killed for eating human flesh. Closer investigation showed that what they'd been chewing on was, in fact, beef. By this time, their punishers had long dispersed into the city. In Nigeria, we sometimes call these mob actions "jungle justice." Most people are not opposed to them on principle.
Cole delves into the psychology behind vigilantism:
Crowds are attractive because of their egalitarian promise. The mob is a form of utopia. Justice arrives now, to right what has for too long been wrong with the world. As Elias Canetti wrote in his masterful psychological study, Crowds and Power, "All who belong to the crowd get rid of their differences and feel equal." In this sudden equality is part of the appeal of a lynching. But, it is a spurious appeal. As Canetti says of the equality that mobs feel, "it is based on an illusion; the people who suddenly feel equal have not really become equal; nor will they feel equal forever."
The Dish 