I’m sure that you’ve noticed that there seems to be a surplus of mass movements, identity politics and ideologues these days and that in general people seem to be a little tense about the whole thing.
Regardless of the validity of these mass movements and ideologies, the mere fact of their existence and level of adherence is interesting (read: scary). But, if you want to fortify yourself against your enemy, you first have to understand him.
The surface.
Blog Post: Without Belief In A God, But Never Without Belief In A Devil
Creator: Lou Keep at Samzdat
Length: 7646 words.
In A Sentence: A essay on the psychology of ideologues, and how mass movements spread and maintain themselves as seen through Eric Hoffer’s book The True Believer (1951).
Favourite Quote: “Mass movements do the opposite: they pretend to give you power, while stealing what little you had; they pretend to solve your problems, while entrenching them. Movements make the frustrated more frustrated and they self-perpetuate with no regard for those who perpetuate them. The seed that they sow is frustration.”
Related Recommendations: Use A Strategy In Normal Life and Moloch: Destroyer Of All That Is Good.
The Deep Dive: Coming soon.
The Review
Lou Keep is a brilliant writer – I think he’s one of the best bloggers on the internet.
The best ideas and the most insightful insights are obviously true observations that you’ve somehow never considered before. As someone said: “In the minds of geniuses we often find our own neglected thoughts.”
This post resonated so deeply with me because what he writes is so obviously true that it’s banal, and yet it caused a massive paradigm shift in my thinking about the world we live in today.
Why Today?
Because the world is getting more and more fractured as we are being pulled deeper and deeper into tribalistic thinking. You will drive yourself insane trying to understand ideologues and ideologies if you are naive enough to believe that the stated goal is the true goal. It’s crucial to understand their motivation. Once you do, you will realise that the best course of action is not to get involved and stay clear.
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