Sheer numbers of strangers can overwhelm every other impression

Evidence

The ocean is something every inland Indian has heard of and has some sort of picture of in his mind… . Ishi was looking forward to seeing it, but when the car stopped on the bluff above the Cliff House, giving onto a wide view of ocean, surf, and beach, Ishi’s breath drew in, not because of the great rolling Pacific but because of the thousands of people who covered the beach below and spilled over into the surf … He said over and over softly, half-whisperingly, Hansi saltu, hansi saltu! Many white people, many white people! He had not known so many people could inhabit the earth at one time; the shock of sheer numbers obliterated every other impression. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 3

Categorization

• XREF: This opening vignette about the shock of sheer human numbers connects to Simmel’s blasé attitude as a defense against numeric overload — mass crowding itself forces psychic retreat.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 3