This story shows how the scapegoating mob functions. Likely, a majority of students in the crowd are on-paper supportive of gay students. But someone who isn’t starts yelling …. others around that person mirror the response, maybe to demonstrate that they aren’t gay, or simply because humans have a powerful mirroring system. The crowd in a very short time morphs into a mob. The on-paper supporters are frozen, becoming silent bystanders. Most in authority think someone else in authority should do something. Nobody does anything. Thus even a small minority of homophobic people can flip a crowd into a mob. The fact that it took place in a liberal community, perhaps with a lot of privilege, means that fewer people have empathy toward those without privilege; they consider themselves “good people” and perhaps credit themselves with not chanting along with the mob, rather than feeling ashamed of themselves for not speaking up in defense. Thanks for this great reporting, James Finn