“The True Believer- Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements” by Eric Hoffer

(from the Philosophy Now review)- “Hoffer was to write several books throughout his career, but it was first book, The True Believer which, published in 1951, made his name and fame. Aphoristic in style (his later books would be even more in this vein, some having only a single sentence on a page), it was based upon years of reflection, and his own observations of the rise of fascism, Nazism and communism as reactions to the Great Depression. The main point Hoffer stresses in his book is that, for the ‘true believer’ (someone so committed to a cause that he or she is willing to unthinkingly die for it) ideologies are interchangeable. It is the frustrations of life which lead the believers to join a cause that gives meaning to their own existences, and the more frustrated they feel, the more attracted they are to extreme revolutionary solutions to their problems. Such frustrations can be the basis for positive social change, but usually mass movements have less beneficial effects. The message that self-sacrifice is needed for the good of a cause can often justify the most heinous of endeavors, and followers are treated as interchangeable cogs in a machine rather than as flesh-and-blood humans. Abstractions and atrocities often go hand-in-hand..”

“The True Believer Revisited” by Tim Madigan in Philosophy Now, 2001

“Mass Movements and “The True Believer“, Reddit thread, 2019

The BOOK SPOTLIGHT at Wallace Books-   We always link our Book Spotlight to Powells.com so you can order the book if you’re interested, but it’s also available Sellwood’s Wallace Books, in the  “Tom Dwyer Book Spotlight” display.  Check it out!