Parade induced panic

This year for Thanksgiving my sister Emily came out to good old CT to play with me. We decided that it would be fun to brave the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade! You apparently have to be a person specialer than I to stand where you can see the performances, but it was fun seeing the floats, and especially seeing Cheyenne Jackson ride by on the Big Apple.

What I found most striking however about the parade was what I observed on human behavior. We arrived about 3 hours early and we found this cozy little spot towards the end of the parade route. There were just a few people there sitting on their blankets enjoying each other's company with the sweet sounds of kids laughter, anxiously waiting for the signs of the coming parade. This nice couple in front of us even bought us donuts! We quickly learned however the true meaning of 8 million people living in New York City. As more and more people crowded in and started standing behind us, I became more and more grateful for our little spot in the front. Then disaster struck. A police officer came by and moved the fence that was keeping people off the street up about 2 feet. A meer 2 feet. Can you foresee what happened? The people standing in the back saw their chance!! "Look!! Space up front" they all said, "we can definitely beat all those early people who are sitting down and have to move their blankets!" They quickly rushed up front, not concerned about who might be bumped or stepped on. After the second time the fence was moved, our cozy little spot had no sitting room, and had turned into a sea of backs for a short person such as myself. If everyone had stayed where they were, I estimate 87.6% of the crowd would've been able to see well. The people sitting would've been able to see, and those standing would've been able to see over the people sitting. As it happened, only those that had aggressively pushed their way to the front and the select few tall people could really see, an estimated 8.3% of the crowd.

As I contemplated this interesting behavior I have tried to understand what psycological explanation there is for it. I came across a good term for what may have happened. This term encompasses behavior we saw at the parade, such as

• Individuals attempt to move faster than normal
• Interactions between individuals become physical
• Exits become arched and clogged
• Individuals display a tendency towards mass or copied behavior

Sounds fitting right? What is the term you ask? Escape panic.

Intriguing! In this instance, people are not trying to escape, but rather they are going into the heart of the beast (aka ginormous crowd), yet the behavior is the same! Therefore, with all the evidence laying before me, I have coined the name for a new psycological condition, parade induced panic. The central components are: the combination of a large crowd, and the overall weirdness yet historical significance of parades, will put people into a panic mode causing them to act as though they were escaping while actually moving toward the danger, thus enhancing the danger, thus enhancing the panic, thus creating an ongoing cycle. BEWARE! NO ONE IS IMMUNE!! I myself followed the strange pull of the parade. One day you too may find yourself happily blocking the view of a 6 year old child who had been waiting patiently since 7am to see the parade.

A good question was posed, who does clean up all of his webs?