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 Still valid after all these years... November 1, 2008
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I read Hoffer avidly in the 1960s-70 as a young man. My father only had a high school education yet showed a wisdom far above college-educated people; the same for Hoffer.
Now Hoffer has relevance to today. When I see an Obama sticker with "Hope" under his visionary pose, I think "True Believer." Followers of Obama seem strangely familiar to me, bringing me back to those sorry souls who followed communism in the 50s-60s, only to find that what they were worshiping was not really going to help them solve their own angst.
Hoffer should be required reading at this scary time.
Fanatic; True Believer; Religionist; Atheist; Nazi: Communist September 20, 2008
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I have probably recommended Hoffer's 'True Believer' more than any other book I've ever read. His thoughts are, at the same time deeply insightful, chilling and ring of underlying truths about human nature. Hoffer dissects, as under a microscope, the essential nature of the fanatic i.e. the searcher, dissatisfied with himself, who always longs for self-completion and seizes it--avidly--in the form of intense belief. As such, he is not amenable to logic. He is blind to reality and can only feel the 'truth' of the great cause that he has immersed himself in.
Logic means nothing, belief and conviction mean everything. He lusts for the total committment and sometimes the self-immolation that comes from blind belief. Hoffer has the profound insight that 'True Believers', no matter their political or religious stripe; no matter their lethal animosities, are essentially the same people. They are the same people, two sides of the same coin, and as such, are totally and sometimes devastatingly interchangeable. Hitler claimed, in "Mein Kampf" that his primary source of converts was fanatical Communists. He had no use for the more lukewarm Social and Christian Democrats. They were, by nature, fence sitters. According to Hoffer: 'You cannot convince a true believer; only convert him.'
Hitler, a man who understood the power and weakness of the True Believer as much as anyone, eschewed logic and reason. Instead he promoted the sheer emotionalism of sheer 'belonging', faith and consolidarity with a mass movement--loss of individuality--that the true believer and fanatic could totally immerse himself in.
The Christian-Killing Saul, on the road to Damascus, becomes an instant, devout and fanatical convert to the religion he had been persecuting. He became Paul, the defender of the Resurrected Christ. "What is the Opposite of a fanatical Religionist?" Hoffer asks us. "Atheist?" "No." answers Hoffer. "The atheist and religionist are fellows in fanatical faith." The opposite states Hoffer is the gentle agnostic.
Much of the grief and death of the Twentieth Century, and now extending into the Twenty-First century, is the product of 'True Believers.' Communism, Fascism, Naziism, Radical Islam--all demonstrably false and failed philosophies that have generated tsunammis of faith and fanatism. Entire peoples have been sacrificed on their altars. The more demonstrably fictitious is a belief, a faith, the more ferventaly its admirers cling to it. Reason is nothing. Belief is everything and, there, lies the continuing tragedy of the human race.
Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico
The Medium is the Message--and the Medium is Rage September 6, 2008
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I cannot recommend this book often enough to family and friends who are perplexed by the current state of world affairs. Hoffer directs the attention of the reader away from the particular grievance that every demagogue and his followers have had since the dawn of history, and instead helps us to understand the dynamic at work.
More learned scholars than I have written about this in other reviews. All I would like to add is this: The moral of this book is that, whenever a politician, preacher or other leader addresses a crowd in tones intended to whip up rage and hatred, be suspicious (even if he or she is "on your side.") In other words: It's not Osama or Mao or The Grand Inquisitor or Stalin that's the problem (nor Islam, Communism, Christianity or Socialism)--it's the way they manipulate masses of people in order to gain power.
This wisdom is paralleled by mystic teachings in the holy Jewish text known as the Zohar or Kabbalah. In it, we learn that all evil behavior eminates from the Godly attribute of Justice. In other words--when the Lord seeks to right injustice, it is holy. When people seek to do so, what often results is a mob exacting revenge.
I am thinking of this book a great deal as election rhetoric whips up to a feverish pitch and some individuals urge their supporters to revile "unpatriotic" Americans who hold different views. God only knows (if what Hoffer writes is prophetic) what such dangerous inspiration may lead to.
Astonishing psychological insight August 24, 2008
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Hoffer focuses on the active phase of mass movements, the one dominated by the true believer. Frustration seems to be inherent in this personality type. He cautions that although mass movements share many traits this does not imply that they're equally toxic or beneficent. The work tries to understand and explain, not pass judgment.
Their appeal derives from the promise in their materialistic, religious, nationalist or mixed natures. Intense, infectious emotion is required as fuel. Hoffer analyses the causes of the desire for change: discontent alone is not enough. Other factors are needed to activate it, like a sense of power and the ability to spread a vision of hope.
Faith in a cause is to a large degree a replacement for the individual's lost self-confidence. The movement offers a substitute for individual hope. Furthermore, movements are interchangeable to a surprising extent. As he puts it; "A Saul turning into a Paul is neither a rarity nor a miracle." The reason is that they attract the same mentality.
Antidotes include arrangements that discourage atomistic individualism or offers opportunities for action or new beginnings, like emigration. Creative expression is a potent protector: even the poor that are creatively involved are immune, as are the abjectly poor and members of close-knit family, tribal or religious groups.
Potential converts are the disaffected. Hoffer identifies them as misfits, outcasts, minorities, adolescents, the ambitious, the obsessed, the impotent in mind or body, certain categories of the poor, the extremely selfish, the bored and the sinners.
He explains the burden of freedom, how it aggravates frustration in certain individuals. The followers exchange their individual responsibility for the sense of redemption that the movement offers. Those who feel like failures value equality and fraternity much more than freedom. This illuminates Russia's regression into totalitarianism.
Another striking insight is that that visions, dreams and utopian hopes are powerful weapons; people will die for delusions. Craving/desire is what causes the reckless self-sacrifice.
Movements always target the family; Hoffer provides proof by quoting from inter alia the New Testament. Disruption of the family makes the person more dependent on the movement. Movements attract and retain followers due to the refuge they offer from the boredom, barrenness, anxiety and lack of meaning in the individual's life.
There are various species of misfit - the permanent misfit finds peace only in a total separation from the self. The extraordinarily selfish are likely to be the most fanatical champions of selflessness. Oddly, spinsters & middle aged women have played a crucial role in the birth of mass movements. Emotions like remorse and grievance appear to lead people in the same direction. Fervent enthusiasm helps to suppress a guilty conscience.
United action and self-sacrifice are the elements that determine the vigor of a movement. Both sublimate the blemished self. Ways of persuading people to fight and die for the cause include:
(a) separating them from the real self by means of assimilation into the collective
(b) creating a make-believe self or a collective show
(c) making them hate the present and worship the future; the present is not only portrayed as miserable but is deliberately made so
(d) separating them from reality with the wall of dogma. Observation & experience are rejected in favor of doctrine which provides certitude. It is believed in, not understood.
(e) Keeping them in a state of fanaticism by inflaming passions & breaking down the will, thus transforming them into automatons. Constant fanning of the flames prevents the attainment of inner balance. Reason is ineffective in trying to free a fanatic from these mental chains.
Hoffer's view of how different political persuasions view past, present and future is an interesting aside: The conservative is like the skeptic, echoing the thoughts of Ecclesiastes about nothing new under the sun whilst the liberal (Hoffer means the Classical Liberal, not today's leftist types) considers the present the legitimate offspring of the past, a springboard towards a better future.
On the other hand, both the reactionary and the radical hate the present. They differ only in their opinion on human nature's potential for change. The radical is convinced that human nature is perfectible whilst the reactionary believes the opposite.
Fanatics occupy the same space on the political spectrum which is circular, not linear. The real difference is between the fanatics and the moderates of all ideologies. It is the temperament, not the ideological content that is crucial: fanatics often move from one form of extremism to another: communism, fascism, xenophobic nationalism, religious intolerance. Sinisterism by Bruce Walker offers more insight into this phenomenon.
The unifying agents are hatred, imitation, brainwashing (although Hoffer believes that the power of propaganda is overrated and that it merely justifies & articulates opinions already present in the minds of recipients), leadership, action and suspicion.
His observations on the impulse to convert are most arresting. The missionary zeal emanates from a profound uncertainty, an aching inner void. Proselytizing is a search for something instead of a gift, a quest to confirm that the fanatic's faith is indeed the absolute truth.
Three personality types are influential in mass movements: (a) men of words (b) fanatics (c) men of action. The first prepares the ground, the second initiates/dominates the active phase and the 3rd consolidates. Hoffer remarks that the first, whether they be journalists, academics or priests, thirst for recognition & a status above the rest of mankind. They are often the first victims of what they have unleashed. The fanatic thrives on chaos & destruction. The man of action rescues the movement from the recklessness of the fanatic; when he assumes control the active phase comes to an end.
In conclusion, Hoffer discusses good & bad movements, the sterility of the active phase and some factors that determine its length, plus useful mass movements. The book concludes with notes arranged by chapter, a portrait and brief biography of the author.
A Warning To All Who Listen July 16, 2008
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This book was recommended by Mark Levin on his radio program. I was interested and so ordered it through Amazon and finished reading it a few weeks back.
First, my hats off to Mr. Hoffer. A self-educated man who witnessed the evils of the 20's, 30's, and 40's and came to the conclussion that those decades were not aberations.
There have always been mass movements and they all tend to share the same characteristics. Also, they share the same type of leaders - those who preach while safely in the rear - and the followers who perform the dirty work.
This years - 2008 - political election gives a prime example of a mass movement with the slogans of hope and change.
On a side note, I just finished the novel Gai-Jin by James Clavell. It is interesting how the use of a mass movement is used in this novel.
I recommend this book to anyone trying to understand lemming-like behavior. Beware - it is for the serious reader.
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