There was a time when there were no differences between the physical and mental illness. Both were treated as the universe of spirit. There were times when mental patients were not treated but simply kept in cages. That is, treat them like we treat our criminals now. Society to protect themselves from dangerous members, unable to heal. That is, treat them the same way as it now comes with a morally sick. Moral disease we call contamination idea of evil. For example, swastikas on synagogues were symptoms not only information but also a moral disease. The crowd, which by some ideas shot down by a devastating riot, or to prosecute the victim was infected with a moral disease. The boy who learns to box and beat up his classmates, perfecting the techniques of combat, too ill mentally.

I would like to emphasize three differences between the information and moral contamination.

1) Moral contamination could be just a special case of information, for example, if the mass hysteria do illegal or immoral acts.

2) Information contamination may have nothing to do with morality. If a little cough in a large and quiet reading room, I immediately hear a slight cough from all sides. I have no doubt that some of you are now a desire to clear his throat lightly. This action is contagious, but morally neutral. I can offer a pop number that, when properly performed, will cause long and laughing uncontrollably the whole room. I wonder how showmen still do not think up such a simple thing. From the audience are invited to two people, they put on stage in front of each other and give the job: prosmeyatsya as long as possible. That is, arrange the competition longer than anyone prosmeetsya.

When the laughter does not necessarily have to be natural. Simply say: "ha-ha-ha", but without stopping. Hall picks up a "ha-ha-ha" and maintains it has a natural, real laughter, the laughter infects standing on stage and they start laughing for real, thereby heating the room. And so on. The chain reaction of infection with laughter. One day after a demonstration, I almost felt bad, so much laughing. In this case, the laughter is absolutely wanton. And this version of mental contamination is irrelevant to morality. Examples can be multiplied indefinitely.

3) Moral infection - is a broader concept than infection or psychological information, it includes those cases which have never been viewed as related hysteria or mass psychosis. Any person who knowingly who doeth evil, morally sick, even if we do not know when or why he became such. Maybe it has infected a family in which father and mother had criminal tendencies. Maybe he was ugly or damage and eventually caught the idea of revenge.

Maybe he caught the ideology of some latter-day prophet and became sectarian, nationalist, or terrorist. Maybe it took control of the idea of accumulation, or the idea of superiority, or the idea will win justice. Maybe it has infected a random idea, perceived from the movie. Epidemic of criminal behavior appear after the show relevant films. For example, it increased the criminal behavior of juveniles after the movie "Little Caesar" in 1932. Here we have a moral epidemic in almost pure form.

Another common form of moral epidemics - when a person has long tuned antisocial finally commits a misdemeanor. Go to the epidemic join people with other forms of antisocial or repressed feelings, and then, and many others are oppressed. Since the riots spread, or entire wave riots, rolled through the state and sometimes puts them on the brink of death. Moral epidemics are the war - the latter idea is not new and has been expressed to me many times. Unresponsive witnesses: a few dozen people watching the offense, which every one of them could have been prevented. Each of them is infected by criminal omission of other observables. Everyone is waiting - who took the first step, but no one makes the move itself. As a result, crime still occurs.

Alert of an impending flood, but people do not leave their homes: each infected peaceful behavior of its neighbors. Everyone looks at each other - who is scared of the first. And as soon as the first nachinatsya panic: people infect each other with fear. The crowd chooses a leader and begins to believe in his infallibility, and follows it, is constantly increasing. The crowd infect new members by faith in the infallibility of the leader. Religious sects, all sorts of totalitarian "brotherhood" and "church". Sectarians or mysticism can bring themselves to such a degree of frenzy, that they start to see hallucinations and these hallucinations can also spread epidemic. Born hearing that killed the ruler (the former, of course, better than the present) is in fact alive. Hearing contrary to common sense, but he is so strong that captivates an entire nation and just creates a life of a constellation of faux-rulers.

Flagellant

Flagellants - religious fanatics who appeared in Europe in the thirteenth century. Preached God's punishment, and an ambulance use ritual torment themselves in front of other people. The sect emerged in central Italy in 1259-1260 and had up to 10,000 members. They ran through the streets, beating themselves with whips, and calling all the witnesses to join them ( the moral epidemic is large enough infectiousness; could easily invent a few more similar, based on the same principle, but it is better not to do so, because the idea might be viable) . Manfred, King of Naples and Sicily, frightened, had tried to chase them, but they quickly dispersed throughout Europe.

Initially Flagellants stood his piety, but eventually joined the sect, many unworthy people. They attacked the Jews in many cities in Germany and the Netherlands. Plague in Europe has strengthened the movement, as indeed was like doomsday. Flagellants organized gang and took a vow to endure suffering for 33 days, the number of years the life of Christ. Then there were declared heretics and in the fifteenth century, almost disappeared, although it appeared here and there until the end of the nineteenth.

The epidemic of theft, described below, is not kleptomania for the following reasons: real kleptomania is quite rare, in the case of kleptomania patients can not resist the urge to steal, and the more resistant, the more he wants and at the same time may suffer conscious pain his behavior; except Facebook kleptomaniac often steal items that can sexy introducing themselves or other characters. In this case: it's like stealing, still steal or not steal and the epidemic has spread widely enough. That is, it was not a mental illness that is moral. Juvenile kleptomania, related to lack of moral principles.