mass hysteria doesn't really require hypotheses like these. it's a (somewhat) well understood flaw of our socially-hyperfocused monkey brains that mirror the thoughts and feelings of people around us. we see it all the time still nowadays, it's just a) less geographically concentrated, and b) it's riling up people into ganging up on folks on twitter instead of in the town square (although primarily nowadays it's selling products and services). our attention spans have been weaponized; there's no room for idle gossip to whip people into a frenzy - they need a solid narrative, some catchy clapbacks, and commentary from their preferred slice of culture to confirm their biases.

also, really bad title.