We need a word for destructive group outrage

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The English language needs a word for what happens when a group of people, outraged by some real or imagined transgression, respond in a way that is disproportionate to the occasion, thus ruining the transgressor's day, month, year or life.

We might repurpose an old word: lapidation.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 25, 2019, with the headline We need a word for destructive group outrage. Subscribe