The Dangers of “Groupism” were on display at the Ryder Cup in New York

The Ryder Cup golf tournament took place this weekend. It’s arguably the biggest event in golf pitting Europe versus United States in a golf competition that takes place every two years and alternates between locations in Europe and in the U.S.. This year the Ryder Cup golf tournament took place just outside of New York City. Unlike any normal golf tournament this is an event that puts nations against nations and that is why it is associated with the greatest amount of pressure on the players and the most invested fans.

I’ve been watching this tournament for 40 years but what I saw on Friday was something I’ve never seen at the Ryder Cup or at any golf tournament anywhere, anytime. The European golfers were ready for very outspoken fans and maybe some hostility but what the group of Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, both of Ireland, experienced was another thing entirely. Golf Digest magazine on Sunday described it this way:

“The European team had arrived prepared, boasting about VR headset training sessions designed to simulate crowd hostility. They claimed to be ready for the worst. But no simulation could replicate the toxic alchemy at work here: alcohol mixed with entitlement, rudeness fused with xenophobia.”

“McIlroy crushed his drive down the fairway only to receive a "F*** you, little man!" in return off the tee. The mathematics were something: By this reporter's count, 30-something f-bombs had been hurled at McIlroy in the first four holes alone. The tallies for "You suck" and "Pinehurst" references became impossible to track.“

The personal and relentless remarks targeted at both Rory and Shane and the shocking attempts to interrupt the players during their pre-shot and shot routines was altogether unsportsmanlike and unprecedented. But, if that wasn’t enough, it was the fact that police had to be called out to protect the European players and to eject rowdy American fans repeatedly during the afternoon rounds. It wasn’t one or two, it was hordes of fans, chanting in many cases. Rory and his wife had objects thrown at them. It had all the trappings of an old style mob mentality. It was ugly Americanism. Yes, only in America.

I doubt if there were many American fans who planned on yelling “F Rory” or a comment about Rory’s sexual orientation or how fat Shane Lowry is, etc.. I doubt if there were too many individuals who actually had that on their agenda that day.

No, it always takes a group. A group of people can often be triggered into behaving like a vicious mob. A group will do things that an individual would never do. A group can override the otherwise stable judgment of the individual and push those individuals into unethical and sometimes illegal behavior. Groups may be one of the most dangerous things in any culture. No better example is the January 6 Insurrection where a large mob mentality showed up on the steps of the Capitol and forcibly entered with the collective cry of killing the vice president. They had flags with swaztikas and Confederate flags. Five people died, including a policeman, as a direct result of this mob action. Another policeman has irreversible brain damage as a result of the break-in. None of those people would’ve done that on their own… it took a “group.” It took a group led by one person.

Heather McMahon, a comedian, was hired to be the MC of the Ryder Cup. She was there to organize the crowds leading cheers. She was leading a cheer for American golfer Bryson DeChambeau on Saturday and it wasn’t catching on. The crowd quickly turned it into an “F Rory” cheer and it didn’t take long for Heather, herself, with microphone in hand, to lead in cheering “F Rory”. Would Heather have imagined starting an “F Rory” cheer on her own? Absolutely not. It took the collective incivility of a “group”.. the group takes on the personality of its most uncivil member in many cases. Heather was told by the PGA to not return on Sunday and she apologized to Rory McIlroy publicly.

A famous and now deceased comedian once said this about groups, even groups as small as two.

“Individuals are wonderful. I love individuals. I hate groups of people. I hate a group of people with a 'common purpose'. 'Cause pretty soon they have little hats. And armbands. And fight songs. And a list of people they're going to visit at 3am. So, I dislike and despise groups of people but I love individuals. Every person you look at; you can see the universe in their eyes, if you're really looking.”

Groups of people have the potential to act to a standard way below the standard of an individual. They never act above the standard of the individual. Groups embolden an individual to go to that next level below.

I’ve never understood groups. Yeah I get the Red Cross and stuff like that and I understand acting as a group when you’re being attacked by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor, but even in being a group, you must preserve your individual standards, morals, and ethics. You can’t let those standards be compromised by the often uncivilized rumblings. The individual must be fiercely independent. Yes, of course there are times when we must band together for a common cause but too often that common cause is about destruction or absurdity or what happened at the Ryder cup.

Groups have given us the Ku Klux Klan and Nazi Germany and even the Manson “family” (none of those members would have committed those acts on their own).

It only took one man to yell “lynch him” and you had all you needed. How many black people were hung from trees with hundreds of spectators watching, some cheering. There are very few “groups” that pass out flowers and food for the needy. Most groups are doing things out of total self interest, hollow pride, and intense hostility; they’re finding a target, someone to victimize in one form or another.

And, as we know, social media has made it unbearably easier to fall into severe groupism. It’s the greatest tool for creating polarity and “groupism” that man has ever invented. It makes newspapers and magazines and public speeches look absolutely feeble by comparison. It’s so easy now to galvanize (and hostilize) groups, very large groups, using tools of social media. It’s going to take incredible thoughtfulness, independent and critical thinking, and civility to overcome the gravity of cruelty and groupism, in this country most specifically. I can only hope that our best days as a society are not behind us.

Food for thought..