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Friday, July 24, 2015

ISIS and Eric Hoffer

Two things Eric Hoffer said struck me as particularly relevant to the ISIS phenomenon.

From Wiki:
Hoffer argued that fanatical and extremist cultural movements, whether religious or political, arose under predictable circumstances: when large numbers of people come to believe that their individual lives are worthless and ruined, that the modern world is irreparably corrupt, and that hope lies only in joining a larger group that demands radical changes.

And something he's quoted as saying-
"You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you."

So the ISIS tactic of public atrocity and public execution, and their taking and selling their female captives as chattel, is a good indicator that it is precisely such things that they fear most.

5 comments:

Leah said...

Second comment is highly interesting, to say the least. Based on this, the next thing that comes to my mind is Hitler,ymv'c, and his henchmen must have feared mass extermination and being singled out anf placed in barracks etc....

Eliezer Eisenberg said...

I agree, Leah. I also think that they had a pathological fear of inferiority, so they cast their victims as subhuman. Why did they fear inferiority? Because they felt in their hearts that life was a contest, and if you didn't win, you were a loser. They judged their success by the failure of others.

Mr. Cohen said...

Israel is being buried-alive under an
avalanche of media bias and false accusations.

These web sites can help refute those
biases and false accusations:


************************************************
HELP DEFEND ISRAEL FROM UNFAIR MEDIA:
************************************************


www.camera.org

www.DanielPipes.org

www.FactsAndLogic.org

www.HonestReporting.com

www.memri.org

www.memriTV.org

www.MideastReporter.com

www.MythsAndFacts.org

www.TheIsraelProject.org

www.BBCwatch.org

www.jhrw.com

www.PalWatch.org

www.UKMediaWatch.org NEW

www.aish.com/jw/mo/4-Reasons-Why-the-Media-is-Biased-against-Israel.html

************************************************
HELP SUE THE TERRORISTS:
************************************************


www.IsraelLawCenter.org

************************************************
HELP FIGHT ISRAEL-BASHING ON-CAMPUS:
************************************************


www.CameraOnCampus.org

www.DavidProject.org

www.Israel-Academia-Monitor.com

www.IsraCampus.org.il

www.JewHatredOnCampus.org

www.SSImovement.org

www.TheIsraelGroup.org

https://twitter.com/cmaccabees

************************************************
HELP-ISRAEL ORGANIZATIONS TO JOIN:
************************************************


www.afsi.org

www.IronDomeAlliance.com

www.IsraelBonds.com

www.KeepJerusalem.org

www.rza.org

www.vfi-usa.org

www.zoa.org


************************************************
JEWISH VICTIMS OF ISLAMIC TERRORISTS:
************************************************


www.Terror-Victims.org.il

www.VictimsOfArabTerror.co [not com]

************************************************
ARABS AND MUSLIMS WHO BECAME PRO-ISRAEL:
************************************************


www.ActForAmerica.org

www.ArabsForIsrael.com

spacedoutBT said...

See Eric Hoffers essay The True Believer.

Eliezer Eisenberg said...

Thank you, spacedoubt.