Eric Hoffer

Perhaps you've heard of Eric Hoffer. I did about six decades ago when I read his book, The True Believer, while in college. I've reread it since. It certainly changed the way I think of fanatics and, indeed, my fellow man.

He wrote several books afterward and I'm in the midst of reading some of them. They're not nearly as famous as his first, but I'm learning from them as well. Hoffer was an autodidact who lacked formal education, but was wiser than almost anyone else. He was a product of the period of the Second World War and the world it yielded. He spent his life as a longshoreman, hobo, and doer of odd jobs. And he read and wrote. His style of writing (in addition to the wisdom of his words) reflected his peripatetic life-style (a term not current so many decades ago) and his varied experiences. He was a man of strong opinions and his ideas were expressed succinctly – in short bursts that were to the point and clear. And then he moved on to the next idea, which was often related to the one that preceded it, but not always.

Though compact, his writing wasn't usually the “twenty-five words or less” [sic – “fewer” is the correct word, not “less”] style so much in vogue in the past when there was a competition of some sort. It's a kind of writing that appeals to me because I appreciate someone who makes a point and moves on. That's the way I try to write, though I lack Hoffer's intellect. So rather than try to imitate him or improve on his words, I want to simply present some of his thoughts. I won't cite the sources (though The True Believer is not one of them – I urge you to read that yourself). It doesn't matter. There's no specific theme nor order. I'll include some comments when they might help.

One of the surprising privileges of intellectuals is that they are free to be scandalously asinine without harming their reputations. The intellectuals who idolized Stalin while he was purging millions and stifling the least stirring of freedom have not been discredited. They are holding forth on every topic under the sun and are listened to with deference. … The metaphysical grammarian Noam Chomsky, who went to Hanoi to worship there at the altar of human rights and democracy, was not discredited and silenced when the humanitarian communists staged their nightmare in South Vietnam and Cambodia. Is there a greater freedom than the right to be wrong?

[Hoffer was not a fan of “wise” men. He was more interested in what they had to say.]

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I cannot see myself living in a socialist society. My passion is to be left alone and only a capitalist society does so. Capitalism is ideally equipped for mastering things but awkward in mastering men. It hugs the assumption that people will perform tolerably when left to themselves.

[I, too, want to be left alone. I must be a capitalist. But I don't assume that people will perform tolerably under any system.]

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I have a hunch that the Arabs will use their oil billions not to modernize their countries but to redress the balance between the Christian West and the Islamic East. … Idi Amin is a Moslem hero kept in power by Arab money in largely Christian Uganda. … The Islamization of Africa is a dream to fire Arab hearts.

[This was written in 1974, but things haven't changed. Except that they've expanded the they've scope of their dreams. Hoffer's hunch was prophetic.]

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A world that did not lift a finger when Hitler was wiping out six million Jewish men, women and children is now saying that the Jewish [emphasis added] state of Israel will not survive if it does not come to terms with the Arabs. My feeling is that no one in this universe has the right and the competence to tell Israel what it has to do in order to survive. On the contrary, it is Israel that can tell us what to do. It can tell us that we shall not survive if we do not cultivate and celebrate courage, if we coddle traitors and deserters, bargain with terrorists, court enemies and scorn friends.

[Also from 1974. The more things change, … Incidentally, Hoffer wasn't Jewish.]

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It is now fashionable to contrast authority with human rights. But we are learning that the moment authority becomes ineffectual most of our rights are nullified by the many-headed tyranny of anarchy.

[Nowadays we face the tyranny of the protest mob and its demands. We give them free rein and advertise their views as if they represent what is right or what we all believe. Our rights are nullified.]

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A revulsion from work is a fundamental component of human nature. It is natural to feel work to be a curse. A social order that grants only minimal necessities but asks for little effort will be more stable than a system that offers superfluities but demands ceaseless striving. One reason that communist governments seem so stable is that they no longer insist on hard work. Islam too is markedly stable because it functions tolerably well in an atmosphere of indolence.

[In our own society in the twenty-first century (and before) the goal has been the “superfluities” without the striving. They're entitled. Someone who's rich will pay.]

It would be hard to hide my admiration for Hoffer, and I do not intend to do so. I fear, however, that his hunches and prophesies will be overlooked or ignored by a world that needs to confront them. I'll continue his ideas and aphorisms next week.

Sliced Bread

 

“It's the greatest thing since sliced bread!”

That's what some of the enthusiasts said about a singing group that was to be the attraction at a fund-raiser they were planning. I'm sure it was intended as a compliment.^i,ii I'm equally sure that those using the expression were unfamiliar with freshly-baked, warm, crisp, uncut bread of the kind that doesn't come in packages and that lacks the additives now used to increase shelf-life.

Statements like that – substitutions of trite aphorisms and words for more original thoughts – are too commonly heard, especially in the Twitter generation.

And that's the way it is with many expressions currently in use. People, thinking themselves clever, mouth clichés which may have no particular concrete associations for them, but which they learned long ago and have used without thought ever since. In the urban society in which most Americans live, most of us have never seen a haystack, but we know with certainty how hard it would be to find a needle hidden in one. And we're always able to spot someone wet behind the ears even if we've never seen a newborn farm animal. And many of those who do a Houdini don't understand where the term arose. And they're surely even less certain about the situation of someone with the Midas touch who is as rich as Croesus.ⁱⁱⁱ They probably wish they were he. But should they? Ancient history and mythology are low priorities in our twenty-first century education, so these expressions will likely die out soon.

But some persist, and they color and, to a degree, confuse our thoughts. No Brit would want to be sent to Coventry, but an American would view it as a trip to see a world famous cathedral. And we wait for the day when, in respect to our enemies, the shoe will be on the other foot, not realizing that this would mean an improvement for them.

Some aphorisms, however, go further and may be used to control us. The worst of these^iv is the caution against reinventing the wheel. The idea is one that, in addition to being a denigration of original thinkers, inhibits unconventional thought. The implication is that the use of a previously perfected method will save time and effort – that someone has already spent the time working out the problem and you can save yourself the effort if you follow his way.

Of course inherent in such an idea is the assumption that you want a wheel – that it is best suited to solve the problem you are facing, whatever it is. But that isn't always the case, so by preventing you from thinking about new approaches to the problem, the speaker ensures a lack of progress. It's all well-intentioned, but it may be ill-considered.

There's a lot to be said for^v clichés. But their use tends to limit rather than to extend our ideas on particular subjects. When we use expressions uncritically, we may sound as if we understand what we are saying, even as their use allows us to speak without thinking. A hackneyed phrase,^vi if it new to the listener, may seem fresh and clever as he extends its life another generation. But more often, it sounds trite, even if it is understood by the audience. Consequently it doesn't impress those who hear it. The speaker doesn't sound clever. Rather, the words are likely to be recognized as an expression of laziness and rhetorical poverty. It's better to experiment with new ways of saying something rather than to rely on the wheel alone.

Oh. And as for the singing group, I prefer fresh, crisp, unsliced bread.^vii

Next episode: “Reign, Reign, Go Away” – Fa, la, la, la, la, la.

i     “The greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped.” That was the advertising slogan of the Chillicothe Baking Company, the manufacturers of Kleen Maid Sliced Bread, in 1928.

ii     Actually the group is quite popular.

iii    Some terms, like boycott, Oscar, and mesmerize, which derive from more recent figures, will probably persist.

iv     In my view. Actually you know that from last week's harangue.

v     And against

vi    What American, though familiar with the term “hack,” as in “hack stand,” knows what a hackney is or, for that matter, where Hackney is?

vii    Preferably with butter and salt.