The return of the loony Left

Every so often, social groups fall prey to mass hysteria. The “choreomania” of 1518 saw several hundred Strasbourg peasants dance themselves to death. It lasted weeks, with victims convulsing rhythmically until they collapsed from exhaustion. The “dancing plague’s” real cause still divides historians — some posit stress as the catalyst, a superstitious populace ravaged by disease and privation, while others contend it was a reaction to mass poisoning. But, at the time, it was largely put down to demonic possession. We like to think of ourselves as more rational today, immune to such disturbing outbreaks. But they still rear their heads — just in more subtle ways. And the Left — nominally the home of Enlightenment rationality and clear-headed secularism — is still just as susceptible to the