EXCERPT FROM -- "MIRROR OF THE PSYCHE"

 

EXCERPT FROM – “MIRROR OF THE PSYCHE”

 

 James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.

© November 4, 2020

 

 

Hoffer has an individualistic perspective on fanaticism which is consistent with the collective approach of The Fisher Paradigm©™ in terms of A Sense of Self, Sense of Place & Space & A Sense of Self-Worth. 

 

Both Hoffer and Fisher look at fanaticism and its consequences through the  prism of the “Mirror of the Psyche” but differently: Hoffer from the inception of mass movements to their psychic character and pervading spirit to what generates and sustains them to fruition; The Fisher Paradigm©™ looks at the corporation as a holistic class & cultural mass movement, which is not often so designated, as the corporation has risen quietly and unobtrusively to its present dominance over the past century dictating cultural/economic life, not only in these United States but across the world, a presence as real in Russia as China, Iran as India, which has become the civil religion behind the democracy of the United States, Western Europe, India and Israel, but also behind the theocracy of Iran, communism of China, totalitarianism of North Korea, and autocracy of Russia. 

 

Complicating the world situation further, this Cyber Age has embodied the skullduggery and duplicitous intrigue of a Cold War spy novel of John LeCarre, as the world has been reduced to a board game with 8 billion citizens’ pawns in a chess game of a handful of cyber fanatics.

 

Whereas the fanaticism of Hoffer’s mass movements is palpable, visible and demonstrable, cyber security specialists who turn to cybercrime represent a fanaticism even more crushing and consequential with advanced phishing kits with four new malware samples created every second capable of attacking the personal use of smartphones (i.e., spear phising, malware attacks), but also the privacy of homes, industries, businesses, commercial establishments, and governments by compromising intellectual properties, exploiting the Internet of things, and manipulating artificial intelligence for nefarious purposes.   

 

This is beyond the purview of The Fisher Paradigm©™ which focuses instead on the “social termites” primarily associated with the passive behaviors of professionals who burrow within the soft tissues of the corporate organization destroying it within often only to be detected too late for damage control. 

 

Although much of these high jinx occurred after Hoffer’s time, as the New Information Age was just revving up, he understood that fanatics were of the same cloth as saber-rattling warmongers who are capable of erasing humanity from this earth, not necessarily by thermonuclear weapons, but by simply shutting everything down.

 

Hoffer writes:

 

The fanatic is perpetually incomplete and insecure. He cannot generate self-assurance out of his individual resources, out of his rejected self, but finds it only in clinging passionately to whatever support he happens to embrace. This passionate attachment is the essence of his blind devotion and religiosity, and he sees in it the source of all virtue and strength. Though his single-minded dedication is a holding on for dear life, he easily sees himself as the supporter and defender of the holy cause to which he clings. And he is ready to sacrifice his life to demonstrate to himself and others that such indeed is his role. He sacrifices his life to prove his worth.

 

It goes without saying that the fanatic is convinced that the cause he holds on to is monolithic and eternal – a rock of the ages. Still, his sense of security is derived from a passionate attachment and not from the excellence of his cause. The fanatic is not really a stickler to principle. He embraces a cause not primarily because of its justness and holiness but because of his desperate need for something to hold on to. Often, indeed, it is his need for passionate attachment which turns every cause he embraces into a holy cause.

 

The fanatic cannot be weaned away from his cause by an appeal to his reason or moral sense. He fears compromise and cannot be persuaded to qualify the certitude and righteousness of his holy cause. But he finds no difficulty in swinging suddenly and wildly from one holy cause to another. He cannot be convinced but only converted. His passionate attachment is more vital than the quality of the cause to which he is attached (The True Believer, pp. 80-81).