Latest / The Art of Public Speaking / Episode 25: Influencing the Crowd - Art of Public Speaking - Dale Carnegie

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Episode 25: Influencing the Crowd - Art of Public Speaking - Dale Carnegie · The Art of Public Speaking

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Chapter twenty five, influencing the crowd. Success in business in the last analysis
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turns upon touching the imagination of crowds. The reason that preachers in this present
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generation are less successful in getting people to want goodness than business men are in
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getting them to want motor cars, hats, and pianolas is that business men
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as a class are more close and desperate students of human nature, and have
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boned down harder to the art of touching the imaginations of the crowds. Gerald
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Stanley Lee crowds. In the early part of July nineteen fourteen, a collection
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of Frenchmen in Paris or Germans in Berlin was not a crowd in a psychological
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sense. Each individual had his own special interests and needs, and there was
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no powerful common eye dear to unify them. A group then represented only a
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collection of individuals. A month later, any collection of Frenchmen or Germans form
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the crowd. Patriotism, hate, a common fear, a pervasive grief had
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unified the individuals. The psychology of the crowd is far different from the psychology
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of the personal members that compose it. The crowd is a distinct entity.
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Individuals restrain and subdue many of their impulses at the dictates of reason. The
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crowd never reasons, It only feels as persons. There is a sense of
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responsibility attached to our actions, which checks many of our incitements, but the
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sense of responsibility is lost in the crowd because of its numbers. The crowd
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is exceedingly suggestible and will act upon the wildest and most extreme ideas. The
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crowd mind is primitive and will cheer plans and perform actions which its members would
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utterly repudiate. A mob is only a highly wrought crowd. Ruskin's description is
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fitting. You can talk a mob into anything. Its feelings may be usually
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are on the whole, generous and right, but it has no foundation for
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them, no hold of them. You may tease or tickle it into anything
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at your pleasure. It thinks by infection, for the most part, catching
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an opinion like a cold and there is nothing so little that it will not
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roar itself wild about when the fit is on, nothing so great, but
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it will forget in an hour when the fit is past. History will show
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us how the crowd mind works. The medieval mind was not given to reasoning.
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The medieval man attached great weight to the utterance of authority. His religion
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touched chiefly the emotions. These conditions provided a rich soil for the propagation of
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the crowd mind. When in the eleventh century flagellation, a voluntary self scourging
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was preached by the monks, substituting flagellation for reciting penitential psalms was advocated by
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the reformers. A scale was drawn up, making one thousand strokes equivalent to
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ten psalms, or fifteen thousand to the entire psalter. This craze spread by
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leaps and crowds. Flagellant fraternities sprang up. Priests carrying banners led through the
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streets great processions, reciting prayers and whipping their bloody bodies with leaden thongs fitted
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with four iron points. Pope Clement denounced this practice, and several of the
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leaders of those processions had to be burned at the stake before the frenzy could
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be uprooted. All Western and Central Europe was turned into a crowd by the
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preaching of the crusaders, and millions of the followers of the Prince of Peace
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rushed to the Holy Land to kill the heathen. Even the children started on
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a crusade against the Saracens. The mob spirit was so strong that home affections
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and persuasion could not prevail against it, and thousands of mere babes died in
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their attempts to reach and redeem the sacred sepulture. In the early part of
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the eighteenth century, the south Sea Company was formed in England. Britain became
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a speculative crowd. Stock in the south Sea Company rose from one hundred twenty
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eight one half points in January to five hundred fifty in May, and scored
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one thousand in July. Five million shares were sold At this premium. Speculation
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ran riot. Hundreds of companies were organized. One was formed for a wheel
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of perpetual motion. Another never troubled to give any reason at all for taking
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the cash of its subscribers. It merely announced that it was organized for a
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design which will hereafter be promulgated. Owners began to sell The mob called the
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suggestion a panic. In suit, the south Sea Company stock fell eight hundred
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points in a few days, and more than a billion dollars evaporated. In
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this era of frenzied speculation, the burning of the Witches at Salem. The
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Klondike gold craze, and the forty eight people who were killed by mobs in
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the United States in nineteen thirteen are examples familiar to us. In America,
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the crowd must have a leader. The leader of the crowd or mob is
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its determining factor. He becomes self hypnotized with the idea that unifies its members.
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His enthusiasts is contagious, and so is theirs. The crowd acts as
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he suggests. The great mass of people do not have any very sharply drawn
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conclusions on any subject outside of their own little spheres. But when they become
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a crowd, they are perfectly willing to accept ready made, hand me down
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opinions. They will follow a leader at all costs. In labor troubles,
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they often follow a leader in preference to obeying their government. In war,
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they will throw self preservation to the bushes and follow a leader in the face
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of guns that fire fourteen times a second. The mob becomes shorn of will
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power and blindly obedient to its dictator. The Russian government, recognizing the menace
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of the crowd, mind to its autocracy formerly prohibited public gatherings. History is
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full of similar instances how the crowd is created to day, the crowd is
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as real a factor in our socialized life as our magnates and monopolies. It
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is too complex a problem merely to them or praise it. It must be
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reckoned with and mastered. The present problem is how to get the most and
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the best out of the crowd spirit and the public speaker finds this to be
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peculiarly his own question. His influence is multiplied if he can only transmute his
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audience into a crowd. His affirmations must be their conclusions. This can be
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accomplished by unifying the minds and needs of the audience and arousing their emotions.
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Their feelings, not their reason, must be played upon. It is up
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to him to do this. Nobly argument has its place on the platform,
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but even its potencies must observe the speaker's plan of attack to win possession of
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his audience. Reread the chapter on feeling and enthusiasm. It is impossible to
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make an audience a crowd without appealing to their emotions. Can you imagine the
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average group becoming a crowd while hearing a lecture on dry fly fishing or on
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Egyptian art? On the other hand, it would not have required world famous
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eloquence to have turned any audience in Ulster in nineteen fourteen into a crowd by
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discussing the Home Rule Act. The crowd spirit depends largely on the subject used
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to fuse their individualities into one glowing whole. Note hour Antony played upon the
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feelings of his hearers in the famous funeral oration given by Shakespeare in Julius Caesar.
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From murmuring units, the men became a unit a mob. Antony's oration
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over Caesar's body, Friends, ro moments, countrymen, lend me your ears.
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I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that
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men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones.
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So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus hath told you Caesar was
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ambitious. If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously
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hath Caesar answered it here on the leave of Brutus and the rest. For
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Brutus is an honorable man, So are they all all honorable men? Come
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I to speak in Caesar's funeral. He was my friend, faithful and just
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to me. But Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable
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man. He hath brought many captives home to Rome, whose ransom did the
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general Coffus feel? Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? When that the poor
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have cried? Caesar hath wept. Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.
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Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man. You
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all did see that on the lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
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which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was
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ambitious, and sure he is an honorable man. I speak not to disprove
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what Brutus spoke, But here I am to speak what I do know.
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You all did love him once, not without cause? What cause withholds you
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then to mourn for him? Oh judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,
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and men have lost their reason. Bear with me. My heart is
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in the coffin there with Caesar, and I must pause till it come back
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to me. Weeps. First, Plebeian, methinks there is my much reason
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in his sayings. Second, Plebeian, if thou consider rightly of the matter.
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Caesar has had great wrong. Third Plebeian, has he masters? I
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fear there will the war's come in his place? Fourth Plebeian, mark dye
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his words. He would not take the crown. Therefore tis certain he was
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not ambitious. First Plebeian. If it be found so, some will dear
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abide it. Second Plebeian, poor soul. His eyes are red as fire
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with weeping. Third Plebeian. There is not a nobler man in Rome than
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Anthony. Fourth Plebeian. Now mark him. He begins again to speak Anthony.
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But yesterday the word of Caesar might have stood against the world. Now
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lies he there, and none so poor to do him reverence? O,
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Masters, if I were disposed to stir your hearts and minds to mutiny and
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rage, I should do Brutus wrong and Cassius wrong, who you all know
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are honorable men. I will not do them wrong. I rather choose to
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wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you, than I will wrong such
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honorable men. But here's a parchment with the seal of Caesar. I found
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it in his closet. Tis his will. Let but the commons hear this
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testament, which pardon me. I do not mean to read, and they
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would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds, and dip their napkins in his sacred
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blood. Yea beg a hair of him for memory and dying mention it within
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their wills, bequeathing it as a rich legacy unto their issue. Fourth Plebeian,
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will hear the will? Read it, Mark Antony, all the will,
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the will? We will here Ceesar's will, Antony. Have patience,
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gentle friends. I must not read it. It is not meet you know
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how Caesar loved you. You are not would you are not stones but men,
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and being men. Hearing the will of Caesar, it will inflame you.
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It will make you mad. Tis good? You know not that you
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are his heirs? For if you should, oh, what would come of
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it? Fourth Plebean read the will? Will hear it, Antony? You
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shall read us the will Seesar's will? Antony? Will you be patient?
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Will you stay Awhile I have always shot myself to tell you of it?
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I fear I wrong. The honorable men whose daggers have stabbed Caesar, I
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do fear it. Fourth Plebeon they were traitors, honorable men, all the
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will the testament. Second Plebaean, they were villains, murderers. The will,
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read the will, Antony. You will compel me then to read the
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will. Then make a ring about the corpse of Caesar, and let me
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show you him that made the will. Shall I descend, and will you
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give me leave? All come down? Second plebaein descend, He comes down
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from the rostrum. Third plebaein you shall have leave, Fourth plebaein a ring.
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Stand round. First plebain stand from the hearse, stand from the body.
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Second plebaein room for antonye most noble Antonae, Antony, nay, press
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not so upon me stand far off all stand bad back room, bare back
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Anthony. If you have tears prepared to shed them. Now you all do
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know this mantle. I remember the first time ever Caesar put it on twas
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on a summer's evening in his tent. That day he overcame the nervy look
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in this place, ran Cassius, dagger through. See what a rent the
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envious Casca made through this the well beloved Brutus stabbed, And as he plucked
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his cursed steel away, mark how the blood of Caesar followed it as rushing
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out of doors to be resolved. If brutus so unkindly knocked or no,
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for Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel judge O U gods,
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how Caesar loved him. This was the most unkindest cut of all. For
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when the noble Caesar saw him stabb ingratitude more strong than traitor's arms, quite
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vanquished him, then burst his mighty heart and in his mantle, muffling up
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his face, even at the base of Pompey's statue, which all the while
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ran blood. Great Caesar fell. Oh what a fall was there, my
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countrymen? Then I and you and all of us fell down, whilst bloody
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treason flourished over us. Oh, now you weep, and I perceive you
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feel the dint of pity. These are gracious drops, kind souls. What
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weep you when you but behold our Caesar's vesture wounded? Look you here,
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he is himself marred as you see by traitors. First plebaein O piteous spectacle,
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Second plebaein O noble Caesar, Third plebein, oh woeful day, fourth
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plebein O traitors villains. First plebaein almost bloody sight, Second plebaein we will
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be revenged all revenge about seek burn fire killed day. Let not at freighter
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live, Antony stay, countrymen, First, plebein peace. There hear the
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noble Antony. Second plebain will hear him. We'll follow him, will die
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with him Antony, Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you
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up to such a sudden flood of mutiny. They death have done this deed,
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are honorable. What private griefs they have, alas I know not that
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made them do it. They are wise and honorable, and will no doubt
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with reasons answer you. I come, not friends, to steal away your
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hearts. I am no orator, as Brutus is. But as you know
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me, all a plain blunt man that love my friend, and that they
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know full well that gave me public leave to speak of him. For I
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have neither wit, nor worth, action or utterance, nor the power of
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speech to stirman's blood. I only speak right on. I tell you that
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which you yourselves do know. Show your sweet Caesar's wounds, poor poor dumb
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mouths, and bid them speak for me. But were I brutus and brutus
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Antony there were an Antony would ruffle up your spirits and put a tongue in
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every wound of Caesar, that should move the stones of Rome to rise and
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mutiny. All will mutiny. First Plebaein will burn the house of Brutus.
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Third Plebaein away, Then come seek the conspirators. Antony. Yet hear me,
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countrymen, yet hear me speak all peace? Ho hear Antony, most
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noble Antony, Antony, Why friends you go to? Do you know not
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what? Wherein hath Caesar thus deserved your loves? Alas you know not?
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I must tell you. Then you have forgot the will I told you of
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Plebeyan's most true the will. Let stay and hear the will, Antony.
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Here is the will, and un the Caesar's seal to every Roman citizen.
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He gives to every several men seventy five drachmas. Second Plebean, most noble
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Caesar will revenge his death. Third Plebean, Oh Royal Caesar, Antony,
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Here me with patience, all peace, Hoe Anthony. Moreover, he hath
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left you all his walks, his private arbors, and new planted orchards on
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this side Tiber. He hath left them you and to your heirs forever common
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pleasures to walk abroad and recreate yourselves. Here was a Caesar when comes such
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another. First Plebeian never never come away away, will burn his body in
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the holy place, and with the bronze fire the traitor's houses take up the
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body. Second Plebeian, go fetch fire. Third Plebeian pluck down benches.
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Third Plebeian pluck down benches. Fourth Plebeian pluck down forms windows, anything excellant
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citizens with the body. Antony, now let it work mischief. Thou art
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a foot, Take thou what curse thou wilt? To unify single auditors into
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a crowd. Express their common needs, aspirations, dangers, and emotions.
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Deliver your message so that the interests of one shall appear to be the interests
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of all. The conviction of one man is intensified in proportion as he finds
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others sharing his belief and feeling. Antony does not stop with telling the Roman
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populace that Caesar fell. He makes the tragedy universal. Then I, and
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you and all of us fell down, whilst bloody treason flourished over us.
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Applause Generally, a sign of feeling helps to unify an audience. The nature
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of the crowd is illustrated by the contagion of applause. Recently, a throng
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in a New York moving picture and board Willehouse had been applauding several songs,
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and when an advertisement for tailored skirts was thrown on the screen, some one
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started the applause, and the crowd, like sheep, blindly imitated until some
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one saw the joke and laughed. Then the crowd again followed a leader and
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laughed at and applauded its own stupidity. Actors sometimes start applause for their lines
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by snapping their fingers. Some one the first few rows will mistake it for
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faint applause, and the whole theater will chime in. An observant auditor will
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be interested in noticing the various devices a monologist will use to get the first
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round of laughter and applause. He worked so hard because he knows an audience
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of units is an audience of indifferent critics. But once get them to laughing
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together, and each single laughing to sweeps a number of others with them,
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until the whole theater is a roar and the entertainer has scored. These are
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meretricious schemes. To be sure, and do not savior in the least of
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inspiration. But crowds have not changed in their nature in a thousand years.
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And the one law holds for the greatest preacher and the pettiest stump speaker.
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You must fuse your audience or they will not warm to your message. The
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devices of the great orator may not be so obvious as those of the vote
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wilmonologist, but the principle is the same. He tries to strike some universal
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note that will have all his hearers feeling alike at the same time. The
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evangelist knows this when he has the soloist sing some touching song just before the
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address, or he will have the entire congregation sing. And that is the
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psychology of now everybody sing, for he knows that they who will not join
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in the song are as yet outside the crowd. Many a time has the
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popular evangelist stopped in the middle of his talk when he felt that his hearers
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were units instead of a molten mass. And a sensitive speaker can feel that
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condition most depressingly and suddenly demanded that everyone arise and sing or repeat aloud a
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familiar passage, or read in unison. Or perhaps he has subtly left the
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thread of his discourse to tell a story that from long experience he knew would
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not fail to bring his hearers to a common feeling. These things are important
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resources for the speaker, and happy is he who uses them worthily, and
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not as a despicable charlatan. The difference between a demagogue and a leader is
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not so much a matter of method as of principle. Even the most dignified
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speaker must recognize the eternal laws of human nature. You are by no means
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urged to become a trickster on the platform. Far from it. But don't
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kill your speech with dignity. To be icily correct is as silly as to
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rant. Do neither, but appeal to those world old elements in your audience
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that have been recognized by all great speakers, from Demosthenes to sam Small,
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and see to it that you never debase your powers by arousing your hearers unworthily.
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It is as hard to kindle enthusiasm in a scattered audience as to build
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a fire with scattered sticks. An audience to be converted into a crowd must
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be made to appear as a crowd. This cannot be done when they are
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widely scattered over a large seating space, or when many empty benches separate the
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speaker from his hearers. Have your audience seated compactly how many a preacher has
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bemoaned the enormous edifice over which what would normally be a large congregation has scattered
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in chilled and chilling solitudes Sunday after Sunday. Bishop Brooks himself could not have
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inspired a congregation of one thousand souls seated in the vastness of Saint Peter's at
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Rome, in that colossal sanctuary. It is only on great occasions which bring
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out the multitudes, that the service is before the high altar. At other
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times, the smaller side chapels are used. Universal ideas so charged with feeling,
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helped to create the crowd atmosphere. Examples liberty, character, righteousness,
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courage, fraternity, altruism, country and national heroes. George Cohen was making
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psychology practical and profitable when he introduced the flag and flag songs into his musical
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comedies. Cromwell's regiments prayed before the battle and went into the fight singing hymns.
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The French corpse singing the Marseilles in nineteen fourteen charged the Germans as one
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man such unifying devices aroused the feelings, make soldiers fanatical mobs and alas more
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efficient murderers. End of Section twenty five