Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds is a book about the history of popular folly by Charles Mackay. The book chronicles its targets in three parts: National Delusions, Peculiar Follies, and Philosophical Delusions. It attempts to educate the reader as to why intelligent people do amazingly stupid things when caught up in speculative endeavors. It explores how easily we can be misled and how illogically we can think
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds is a book about the history of popular folly by Charles Mackay. The book chronicles its targets in three parts: “National Delusions,” “Peculiar Follies,” and “Philosophical Delusions.” It attempts to educate the reader as to why intelligent people do amazingly stupid things when caught up in speculative endeavors. It explores how easily we can be misled and how illogically we can think when popular opinion influences us.
Mackay’s central theme in the book is that the tendency of humans to develop a herd mentality which leads individuals in the herd to act and react to various stimuli. The reactions are very similar and predictable and this “madness” leads to a downward spiral with undesirable effects. His book highlights several stories from the history of various manias that took place. There are lessons to be learned from them in the present day.
Across Western Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, many witch trials took place. The trials came about because, at the time, bad luck was attributed to supernatural causes. This mass-superstition proved to be extremely dangerous with thousands of innocent people dying as a result of the cases. Many of the trials had very low standards of evidence and often came about as a way to settle old scores between neighbors or acquaintances.
In England, a self-styled “Witch-Finder General” named Matthew Hopkins traveled around East Anglia, making a point of appearing wherever there was an accusation of somebody being a witch. He would assist the judges with his knowledge on witches, leading to them carrying out many miscarriages of justice. He charged a large sum for his services, using the fear of witchcraft, which had spread like wildfire amongst the public, to extort money from the local authorities. He received extra money for identifying a witch and devised tests such as tying the accused’s hands and feet together and putting them in the river. If they sank, they were innocent (but drowned). If they floated, they were deemed to be a witch and burnt at the stake.
Modern-day witch hunts continue to this day. There is evidence of this all around us. From entire groups of people being persecuted in various parts of the world to the online abuse of individuals where the pitchforks have been replaced with keyboards. When a person is accused and identified on social media, there is often no fair trial, no hearing of both sides of the story, and no critical analysis. When sharing information online, we need to be careful, especially if that information condemns or vilifies another individual. Nobody wants to be the target of a witch hunt, but we should also not want to participate in one. This is not a witch hunt.
In an interesting twist to the witch-finder story, the imposter Matthew Hopkins met an untimely death due to his own notoriety, using his own witch-finding method. An angry mob from a village he was visiting believed that to find so many witches, he must have been a wizard who had acquired a book from Satan. The book listed all the names of the so-called witches and he was therefore working with the devil. He was thrown in the river and tested using his own method. Some say that he sank, others say that he floated and was then tried and executed. What’s sure is that either way, he met his demise at the hands of the angry mob.
Today’s blog is about “Hating Dave Roberts Mania and Why You Should Seek Help“. I have kidded about that in the past, but I am not kidding today. I know very few of the people on this blog, but there are a few who spew hatred of Dave Roberts as if they are Racists against persons of Black and Asian descent. Of course, Dave Roberts is both, having an Asian mother and a Black father. The vitriol that they spew is both irrational and dangerous.
No matter what Dave Roberts does, it is wrong, but sometimes he gets away with it and he wins in spite of himself. That is what they believe and if the Dodgers win, it is in spite of Dave Roberts and if they lose it is because of Dave Roberts. Last night, the Mets were the recipients of some bloop, soft contact, lucky hits. It happens in baseball, but some morons (yes, you are morons) have such an irrational hatred of Dave Roberts that they create scenarios in their small minds to blame everything on him.
Look, Dave Roberts makes plenty of mistakes. We all do. Every manager has, does, and will continue to do so. However, in the instant case of Dave Roberts, to continually criticize him brands you as a Racist, a fool, a mental midget, a deranged person, or maybe all of the above. It’s hard to hear such drivel, over-and-over-and-over-and-over. You don’t have to like Dave Roberts. I have no desire to meet him. I had a desire to meet Tommy Lasorda and I did. Dave Roberts? Nah!
However, he has the highest winning percentage of any active manager and is #2 on the all-time list, with a .612 winning percentage. Of course, you will say that it’s is because he has such a good team. You evidently believe that if it weren’t for his stupidity the Dodger would win 162 games! As if no other manager had such a great team?
I am not saying you cannot criticize Dave Roberts, but when all you do is criticize the guy ad nauseum, it gets old very quickly and screams “I need mental help!” Now, I get that second-guessing baseball moves is a National Pastime to some, but Damn… Every Move? That is a compulsion or sickness. Maybe I have a different viewpoint because I run a multi-million (not billion) dollar company. I understand how easy it is to criticize moves I make from the “cheap seats.” Everyone is an expert… or so they think!
However, if you do decide that you will want to criticize Dave Robert’s every move, I suggest that you get a tattoo… so that we can all understand where you are coming from. If not, seek help!
Have a nice day!
Dodger News
- I am sure that Mookie Betts has the best physicians, but there are miniminally invasive arthroscopic options for hip bone spurs that could be performed and have him ready fpr the playoffs… maybe! Of course, one of the leading causes of bone supurs is the onset of arthritis, but that is not always true. I really doubt they do anything until after the saeson, but it does not look promising for him THIS year.
- V-Gone could be back this weekend, as could Gavin Lux.
- Justin Yurchak who hit .356 at Great Lakes is now hitting .432 with a .479 OB% and a 1.116 OPS at Tulsa. The 24-year-old LH 1B acts like he wants to get his ticked punched at The Show.
- Gus Varland pitched 3 innings and allowed 1 hit last night at Tulsa.
- 6′ 7″ Mark Washington pitchd 2 scoreless innings for Tulsa and struck out 4. He has a 2.31 ERA.
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Discussion (149)
Disagree, not disagreeable
What this all boils down to guys is that some of you dislike Roberts and others do not. We all agree he is not a great in game manager, or at least he has not shown that to be the case. He is definitely a players manager. I also doubt any on here dislike him because of his race. He is the first Dodger manager of color. I think those who say they hate him are going a little overboard. Hate is a powerful emotion and thrown about way too much. Hate drains ones energy, and at my age, I do not have the luxury of expending too much of it worrying about something I have no control over. Roberts is the manager for the next several years. He signed an extension, he does what management desires, and he soothes his teams egos, and in reality, he does that really well. Tommy would have bitten some heads off by now. He also would have a tough time dealing with the new rules. Tommy was every bit an old school manager. If you do not believe that, watch the video of him removing Doug Rau from game 4 of the 1977 series. It pretty much sums up Lasorda’s state of mind when things go south. Bruihl, under Tommy would have been gone the second he walked Alonzo. And not mollycoddled about it either. Alston had players he disliked who played for him who were Black. But he was never accused of being a racist because of it. And each of those players, Frank Robinson and Richie Allen spent exactly one year as a Dodger.
From Noah Syndergaard
Hey MLB, ESPN whose dumb f@*#ing idea was it to change tomorrow’s game to a night game when we’re traveling to the West Coast after,” the Mets right-hander wrote in his Instagram story. “Won’t get in until Monday morning. Take on first-place (San Francisco) Giants later that evening. Brilliant!”
Wow. The Dodgers don’t even get an off day Monday. This is cruel,” the 28-year-old added.
I think its a plot by MLB to help SF.
What the hell was AF smoking when he signed Bauer?
Tonight’s lineup with JT available off the bench:
2b Trea
1b Max
c Will
ss Corey
lf AJ
3b Chris
cf Cody
rf Billy
P Waker
Exciting and interesting game. Certainly a festival for second guessers.
* Who are the 4 Dodgers who had 200 plus homers since moving to LA?
* I had to take a break from Orel yesterday. Of all the former pitchers who are now color commentators, Darling, Smoltz, Ek, Krukow, Cone, Glavine, Palmer, anyone, Orel spends more air time analyzing every aspect of pitching. I’m an interesting audience about all things pitching but he can even wear me out. When it comes to hitting and position play it’s out of his wheelhouse and he makes shit up. He still talks way too much.
* I watched the Mets broadcast and it was great. The Mets booth is a nice change. Ron Darling and Gary Cohen were very knowledgeable and flattering with the Dodgers. No flagrant home town bias. I got a ton of info I don’t get from Orel and Joe. They do their homework and had very cool old video and clips from Dodger past. They showed a letter from Branch Rickey’s scouting report on an 18 year old Don Drysdale that was great. They featured Big D on a couple of spots including an old video from the Joey Bishop Show with 6 Dodger players singing to honor Don’s performance. Don looked dapper in a Tux and sang too. Great stuff.
* They were questioning Doc pulling Graterol. And then not going to Treinen. not critically, just observations.
* When Mets skipper, Rojas, stayed with his righties pitcher to Belli, he was ignoring the match up. Went against the book. Darling said one manager made a decision and trusted his eyes, while Doc went with the script. Interesting observation.
* Barnes’ bunt attempt was pitiful in a big spot.
* Why cant we seem to communicate on pop ups? Every kid is taught priorities on pop ups and fly balls. Did we miss that?
* Lots of guys showing slow bats these days, like they’re under water. Long season.
* CT3 is awesome. 3 hits and a nice heads up baserunning play on the overthrow to pitcher, after Bellinger horseshit AB. It got us a run that proved to be very important. He continues to be our MVP.
* The Mets announcers reported K-bear, after being traded, hired Scott Boras as his agent.
Answer to the question: (I bet this was a yawner for you Bear)
4 Dodgers who had 200 plus homers since moving to LA:
Karros, Cey, Garvey and Kemp
No Piazza. I had him in and not Kemp, with his 2nd stint.
Boy this site gets testy sometimes. The Dog Days effect the fans too, I guess.
The Dodgers have placed left-hander Julio Urias on the 10-day injured list due to a left calf contusion. The open roster spot will be filled by utilityman Zach McKinstry, who has been recalled from Triple-A.
And the wheels on the injury bus go round and round.
Putting Urias on the IL might have been necessary or might just be a way to have him skip a turn without having to give up the roster space.
If my calculations are correct, he’ll miss his start against the Pirates and be back to pitch against the Pads on the 24th.
I think we can solve this problem of Roberts once and for all. All we have to do is go back in time and put Mike Scioscia, Joe Torre, Dusty Baker or anyone else you like in the position and see how it works out.
Wow, with no Urias for 10 days, our rotation will look like:
1. Scherzer
2. Buehler
3. Price
4. White +bullpen
5. All bullpen
Is this about right?
They need a good game from Butane today. He seems a bit off so far.
With Julio Urius going on the il I would like to see Andre Jackson come up for a spot start. He is on the 40 roster and recently joined AAA OKC.
I have some questions regarding Doc. It seems to me that after every blowout win, the team has trouble scoring runs. Is that just my perception, or does Doc fail to motivate them? Also, when he was playing, he loved to use his speed and baserunning to win games. Now he does not seem to value the stolen base or trust his players on the bases. Hope he will allow TT to run.
I’m so tired of seeing McKinney in there.
The Mets pitcher has a no-hitter going on through six innings.
Striker Buehler Hotter than a plasma torch
Our offense has to pick him up, come on boys
Beatty is so due
I am getting a man crush on Vesia
McKinney then Beaty, 6 strikes, nothing in play.
Any time Trea. His OPS as a Dodger is less than McKinney’s.
Two one run games in a row maybe we’ve broken the trend
Cmon let’s be honest. Show of hands. Who was ready to light Roberts up for removing Bickford with Knebel? Buehler and the bullpen saved our sorry offense tonight! How good are Vesia and Bickford right now? I trust our bullpen a lot more than our offense right now. Without the long ball this offense is not consistently good enough to catch the Giants right now! Wake up bats!
‘m starting to get just a little concerned about Trea Turner. I’m wondering whether he may be trying too hard for his new team. He’s 6-30 a .200 average. Yes it’s a small sample but still………..
It must be the bats we’re using!
I just can’t believe Roberts, guess he liked that guy in that situation. And the guy did what he was asked to do,
DODGERS WIN…..DODGERS WIN…….
4 hits was all we needed. Bullpen again is dominating. Who are these guys? VESIA, Bickford, Bruihl, White?
Nevertheless, it’s nice to see when the bats go cold, the arms heat up….and visa versa.
Okay, now time to check on my other boys….the New York Football Giants v the new york jets.
Giants lost finally.
One silver lining to our “dark days” and our endless pitching auditions is the learning that Vesia and Bickford experienced. You sure have to kiss a bunch of frogs to find a couple of princes! I hope we never have to go through this again!
My opinion of Bauer is that he is a serial abuser and, possibly a sociopath. He deserves at least a year’s suspension without pay. He should have to go through the full MLB intimate partner violence program. And when he returns, he should be “on probation” for the duration of his contract–at the very least. But I’m a woman who, at my age, is leery of men like him. I will admit to my prejudices. They have kept me alive.