On crowds, pro and con

Sometimes I think I'm the last Freudian...except I'm not exactly a Freudian and if I was I probably wouldn't be the only one. Still, I'm part of the diminishing crowd that thinks he knew a thing or two about a thing or two.

(And, yes, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.)

An example of Freud hitting the mark are these comments on crowd and group behavior, which can be a two edged sword:

When individuals come together as a group all their individual inhibitions fall away and all the cruel, brutal, and destructive instincts, which lie dormant in individuals...are stirred up to find free gratification. But under the influence of suggestion, groups are also capable of high achievement in the shape of abnegation, unselfishness, and devotion to an ideal. While with isolated individuals, personal interest is almost the only motive force, with groups it is very rarely prominent....Whereas the intellectual capacity of a group is always far  below that of an individual, its ethical conduct may rise as high above it as sink below it.

I'd say he nailed it.