The True Believer Essay

The True Believer by Eric Hoffer is a book that deals with the nature of mass movements. The author examines past mass movements and dissects them to try and fully explain to the reader what a mass movement is, who leads mass movements, who partakes in mass movements, and ultimately why mass movements are used. In this journal entry, I will discuss how The True Believer relates to terrorism and what we have learned thus far in this class.

In the first part of Eric Hoffer 's book he writes about the appeal of mass movements. He explains to us readers why there is a desire for a mass movement. Throughout the first part, he describes the desire people feel as a attraction by the prospect of sudden and spectacular change in their condition of

Hoffer believed that when the time is right, a fanatic is the only one who is able to hatch a mass movement (Hoffer 143). Fanatics love the chaos of a mass movement, but are a danger. There is a possibility that a fanatic would not be able to calm the storm when the movement is won. After Hoffer writes about mass movement leaders, he speaks on the good and bad mass movements. He writes about the active phase and then once mass movements become social institutions. When a mass movements leaves the active phase, their communal framework is collapsed and they no longer feel the sense of security and certainty. He speaks about how the beginning of a mass movement can determine the outcome of said movement. After reading this section, I connect fanatic leaders to terrorism. I believe that many terrorist leaders can be labeled a fanatic. Often times you hear the media refer to terrorist leaders as "extremists", a synonym to fanatic. For example, Osama bin Laden was labeled an Islamic extremist. This shows you that Hoffer was spot on with his belief in possible