The goo that binds them together

 One of the epigraphs of Eric Hoffer’s True Believer is from the biblical story of Tower of Babel: 

And slime had they for mortar.

 

The slime that Hoffer wrote about in his analysis of mass movements is the stuff that oozes out of frustrated personalities — fear, ill will and suspicion. These things act as a “marvelous slime to cement the embittered and disaffected into one compact whole.”

People who are susceptible to mass movements are unhappy. They are not destitute but feel they should have more — usually more of what those people have. (Feel free to insert any of the movement’s scapegoats here.) 

People who are susceptible to mass movements are dissatisfied. They feel they are less than they should be. They feel keenly what’s wrong within themselves and so they are vigilant in looking for what’s wrong with everyone else.

Hoffer says the surprising thing is that this mistrust leads not to dissension but to conformity. In the current mass movement, it’s not good enough to just be a patriot; you must be a great patriot. You not only drink the leader’s Kool-Aid; you buy his merchandise.

 

Strict orthodoxy is as much the result of mutual suspicion as of ardent faith.

 

Democracies and free societies are based on trust. For decades, we’ve had people whispering and then shouting that you can’t trust anything, especially experts. Not those in charge of public health. Not those in charge of national defense. So we have people in charge now who ignore the advice of physicians and who fire competent military officers who want to maintain a diverse force.

Suspicion might be a cohesive force, but it also makes that force weak. It’s not a recipe for being great. It’s a recipe for being easy prey.

• Sources: Eric Hoffer, The True Believer; Time Incorporated, 1963, p. 128. If you know the book by sections, the quotations are from §100. The biblical story is in Genesis, Chapter 11.