As I was getting on the bus to get home the next day, one of them suddenly came onto the bus and sat opposite me. He was the one who had spat at my feet, so I got prepared for trouble. But what he said to me surprised me completely. "I'm a Republican too." So I asked him exactly why he didn't stand up for me the day before and he answered "I have to work with these guys everyday, y'know."
The use of peer pressure to enforce conformity. Some of us outgrew that after high school...