If people want to understand this phenomenon better, there is no better reference I could recommend than Rory Miller's Meditations on Violence[1] - specifically

If people want to understand this phenomenon better, there is no better reference I could recommend than Rory Miller's Meditations on Violence[1] - specifically what he calls the "group monkey dance"[2]. The simplified explanation is this: the target of the attack by the group is no longer a person, but merely a target. Group members demonstrate their loyalty to the group by gradually escalating the violence they do to the target. ___ 1. http://amazon.com/dp/1594391181 http://amazon.com/dp/1594391181 2. https://ymaa.com/articles/violence-dynamics https://ymaa.com/articles/violence-dynamics