Youseff wrote:nothing will happen, but I'd like to see some of the more sensible, middle of the road type people see the light. the true believers are a different story. In Eric Hoffer's True Believer he talked about how during the Spanish Civil War & WWII extremists of any ilk made the best extremists of any other ilk. so the socialists made the best anarchists made the best Nazis, etc. we just have to hope some of these people gravitate to another, less harmful, but equally extreme political movement.

All mass movements generate in their adherents a readiness to die and a proclivity for united action; all of them... breed fanaticism, enthusiasm, fervent hope, hatred and intolerance; all of them are capable of releasing a powerful flow of activity in certain departments of life; all of them demand blind faith and single hearted allegiance. All movements, however different in doctrine and aspiration, draw their early adherents from the same types of humanity; they all appeal to the same types of mind.

As an idea, this isn’t a splash of cold water — it’s a bitch slap to all those who believe so strongly in a cause that they want everybody else to believe in it. That single-mindedness, that intolerance, is the core question of Hoffer’s book: what kind of people become fanatics?

The answer is personal. And psychological. Before they believed, Hoffer writes, they felt small, confused, destined for nothing. With belief, they feel strong, certain. Their fanaticism transforms them; losers become winners. (“Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for the lost faith in himself.”)

Lost people attaching themselves to a passing raft — if the cause sounds almost randomly chosen, it is. (“In pre-Hitlerian times, it was often a toss up whether a restless youth would join the Communists or the Nazis.”)

The goal of the mass movement doesn’t matter? Not according to Hoffer. He says: the more unrealistic and unattainable, the better. It’s not even important that the doctrine be understood. In fact, Hoffer says, the harder it is to believe, the better. Forget your mind, trust your heart, the zealot says, and his followers do just that. (“We can be absolutely certain only about things we don’t understand.”)

wwry wrote:i think my username in the politics thread is throwing people off. don't change it!

What is my rank and how do I change it?
Ranks, which appear below your username, indicate the number of posts you have made or identify certain users, e.g. moderators and administrators. In general, you cannot directly change the wording of any board ranks as they are set by the board administrator. Please do not abuse the board by posting unnecessarily just to increase your rank. Most boards will not tolerate this and the moderator or administrator will simply lower your post count.

Youseff wrote:it doesn't align with post count though.....

memberlist.php_mode=&sk=d&sd=d#memberlist

I wonder if I'm jobbed bc most of my posts are Sixer posts and those are relegated to the bottom, back corner of the forum after they're 50 paged.

CFP wrote:Realized last night that the Galentine's Day episode of Parks and the Valentine's episode of the Office are both season 2, episode 16

This may be the most useless information I have ever accumulated in my life