We detest mob mentality.

While once mob mentality was only evidenced by a strong-willed person taking control at a gathering and influencing others into a frenzy, today it just as easy — if not easier — to form a mob on social media and then “have at it.”

The latest victim was former Gov. Rick Snyder, who resigned earlier this month from a one-year fellowship at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, where he was going to lecture on things like management and public policy. A social media campaign aimed against him after the announcement of his fellowship resulted in he and Harvard officials agreeing his appearance on campus would be disruptive, rather than helpful. The social media campaign was critical of him and his administration for the handling of the Flint water crisis.

We find it ironic that a politician who, at the very core of his belief system, practiced and preached civility in politics, would be treated so poorly. Just days earlier, Jeffrey Liebman, who is the director of the Kennedy School’s Taubman Center for State and Local Government, said Snyder would bring “significant expertise in management, public policy and promoting civility” to the campus.

Days later, Snyder, in announcing his resignation, tweeted, “It would have been exciting to share my experiences, both positive and negative; our current political environment and its lack of civility makes this too disruptive.”

Chalk one up to mob mentality.

In the end, however, the students at Harvard are the losers, as Snyder could have provided them some valuable life lessons to ponder.

So much for the concept of free speech and learning from a diverse range of viewpoints on campus.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)