I typically comment about University of Florida’s football games, but was working a basketball telecast yesterday and didn’t get to watch this week’s game at LSU. What I did see was the end of the University of Mississippi at University of Tennessee football game. There was certainly some interesting football to be analyzed, but sadly the relevance of the game was overwhelmed by the disturbing fan behavior in the closing moments.

In the final minutes of a close football game, the game officials made, and upheld, a call that enraged many of the fans in attendance. Some of these fans threw objects on to the field. Many, many others joined the stupidity. Ultimately, the game was paused for over twenty minutes while officials and coaches huddled to discuss how the game could be safely finished. The band left. The cheerleaders left. Some fans left. Some coaches and players were struck by thrown objects, including golf balls. Ultimately, some degree of calm was restored and the last minutes of the game were played.

The concept of sports serving as a microcosm that mirrors society isn’t new. Yesterday’s behavior occurred within the context of sports, but unfortunately is reflective of a much more pervasive societal problem. The disgusting fan behavior yesterday in Knoxville is just the current sports related example. The symptoms of this disintegration of civility and personal character are not limited to Knoxville or even to sports.

A migration of personal values, the emergence of crowd sourced decision making, a growing preference for emotion over facts, and other facets have created this dangerous dynamic.

Here’s how it usually plays out. An incident occurs that elicits a strong negative feeling in an individual or a group. This feeling is accepted as being important even before any analysis of the facts surrounding the incident can be accomplished. An impulsive and typically unfettered reaction to the real or perceived injustice occurs. We tolerate this type of unmeasured reaction because we “understand” the person’s or group’s frustration and no longer expect/require people to delay gratification for their impulses. The heightened intensity triggers even more people and the volatility of the circumstances escalate. In the final analysis, when the facts do support the basis for the initial frustration we find their behavior justified (even when excessive). When the facts don’t ultimately support the complainants reaction, we excuse the behavior (too easily) because we understand their need for instant justice.

Societally, we are conditioned more and more to expect immediate and fair outcomes. These are good things in most circumstances. The rub occurs when these things can’t/don’t happen and people aren’t emotionally stable enough to handle the disappointment. The old days of “who told you everything was going to be fair” have passed. We seek and expect immediate redress for even the smallest of transgressions by others. Patience is a lost trait. We get responded to by email and even text rather than “snail mail”. We shop online with delivery by tomorrow. We get answers on Google and rarely wait for anything. Again, all good things except when we aren’t capable of coping with any delay in gratification.

In general, the media adds to the problem by encouraging a societal attraction to victims and victimization. Drama drives clicks and interpersonal conflict is the highest drama. We learn to focus more on the struggles, conflicts, and obstacles along the way than on the successes through consistent focus and effort. This way of thinking means people get more (immediate) attention, especially as children, for fighting, crying, and struggling, than they get for being steady, positive, and smiling. The point isn’t to discount the significance of mental health issues. The point is to highlight the problems we create when we accept, reward, and reinforce what should be unacceptable behaviors. These things begin in small ways and then systematically grow into much larger and, in some cases, dangerous behaviors.

There will, hopefully, be significant consequences for yesterday’s craziness in Knoxville meted out by the University of Tennessee and the SEC, but the real solutions will lie in reshaping the societal standards for acceptable expressions of dissent. We need to return to the days when some level of civility is expected. We need to draw a clear line between dissent which is truly speech and dissent which is actually violent behavior. If we continue to accept (and even justify) dangerous behavior when it serves our own agendas, we shouldn’t be surprised when it permeates all facets of our lives.