1. Introduction
“Together we’re strong
We can’t go wrong
And now we know just what to do
And how to get our meaning through.”
According to Mireille Mathieu’s and Patrick Duffy’s song our species’ power and strengths lies in collaboration and group behaviour. But can we as group really not go wrong? In his book “21 Lessons from the 21 Century”, the Israeli historian Youvsal Noah Harari strongly refutes this claim. Exploring the nature of post-truth society, he comes to the conclusion that group behaviour is key for the individual’s acceptance and the general propagation of fake news. This essay explores group behaviour and its influence on the perception and propagation of beliefs in our current society. In a first part group behaviour will be defined.
