Anyone here ever read any Eric Hoffer?

[SoCalDem]

I found this accidentally and it looks like this guy was right on the money on many things he more or less predicted back in the 50's & 60's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Hoffer

What an interesting biography this guy had.. was blind until he was 15.. and becamke a voracious reader after than..and then became a writer, although he never "quit his day job"..


Charles Kiel wrote "Urban Blues", and included many of Hoffer's theories.. The stuff he relates about the way we live now, is so accurate it gives me the creeps..

[Mythsaje]

1. Well...

I find some interesting flaws in the reasoning here. We don't have many mass movements these days, though we have plenty of poor and plenty of idle rich kids. The counter-culture of the sixties was the product of several different factors culminating in what is considered a single "movement" these days--though it really wasn't.

I do somewhat agree with the "rite of passage" theory, however. I think that if society doesn't create one, there are those who will create their own. I know I did.

[WHAT]

2. fascinating...

guy. I met him in Oakland, once...mid 60's. He was a longshoreman.

[Adsos Letter]

3. I read "True Believer"....

..I think some of Hoffer's ideas about why people join mass movemnts make a lot of sense...

[formercia]

4. Good Book

a must read.

[Jacobin]

Extremely good book

It'll keep you out of crowds and group think, after reading that.

[saltpoint]

8. Absolutely right.

I second your endorsement.

[H2O Man]

10. I was thinking

it sounded pretty good. But now that all of you are saying that ..... (grin)

[izzie]

5. Many years ago

Guess it is time to re-read

[GTurck]

6. The True Believer

There are indeed mass movements today. Fundamentalists in all the monotheistic religions; right-wingers; extreme lefties. These are all about fanaticism and making a lot of other people submit or die. Karl Rove has been trying to build a mass movement of Republicanism since the 1970's. These are not marching in the street movements but they require a single mindedness and self-righteousness that is staggering.
"Those who see their lives as spoiled and wasted crave equality and fraternity more than they do freedom" p. 33
"The technique of a proselytizing mass movement aims to invoke in the faithful the mood and frame of mind of a repentant criminal" p. 54
"A glorification of the past can serve as a means to belittle the present." p. 71
There are so many good quotes but I hope you get the idea that this little book is worth reading. It may help us find a way out of this morass of fear and inanity we are in.

[rzemanfl]

7. Way back when. n/t

[bemildred]

9. Yeah, they ought to keep him in print. nt

[MikeDuffy]

11. He was quoted at the end of last night's "Masters of Science Fiction"

but I cannot google up (or remember) what the quote was...
(I could not understand how the quote was apropos btw.)