The trick is not people who walk in lockstep, but a society or a shocking system that oscillates (think shock-relief-shock or tighten-easen-tighten) in such a constant rhythm that it starts to force the people inside the system to act in the rhythm of the systen unknowingly, thus enforcing the system oscillation and making all people conform to the rhythm.

The only solution: exit the system (media, jabs, rules) , to get beyond its forcing oscillations.