Quote:
Originally Posted by Itse
One of the things that make the far-left and far-right so opposite is their relationship to violence.
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Yet they have so much in common.
- Dogma rooted in a simplistic and emotionally-satisfying narrative that eschews complexity and nuance.
- Striving for an idealized state of society where everyone will conform to that dogma.
- Dehumanizing some entity (Jews, Communists, Whites, Muslims, Capitalists, etc.) and blaming them for all the world's ills.
- Belief that the Cause is so vital, and the Enemy so ruthless, that freedoms and tolerance must be abandoned.
“Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all the unifying agents. Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a god, but never without a belief in a devil.”
“The permanent misfits can find salvation only in a complete separation from the self; and they usually find it by losing themselves in the compact collectivity of a mass movement.”
“All mass movements, irrespective of the doctrine they preach and the program they project, breed fanaticism, enthusiasm, fervent hope, hatred, and intolerance.”
― Eric Hoffer, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements