The Frustrated Masses

The Frustrated Masses

From the time when man begun to form societies and civilization and realized that the cultivation of plants was an easier method to get fed, mass movements of the human population have existed. In every human, there’s the ideology to better one’s self and our surroundings so that some day, there will be a perfect utopia. Even though most mass movements can lead to a better life, some mass movements are only used to get what other people want and take advantage of a weak society. In the book, “The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements,” Eric Hoffer tries to explain the motives behind mass movements, what type of people join, and what kind of people lead or encourage mass movements. Hoffer proposes many interesting thoughts, ideologies, and visions throughout his book that some times, his great power of word usage was beyond my comprehension. Although this book goes in many different directions, Hoffer still keeps to the main point: What makes a True Believer?

During the course of the book, Hoffer doesn’t really define what a mass movement is. In all fairness, when Hoffer is talking about a mass movements, he’s including all forms of mass movements such as religious, social, economical, and all out revolutions but, believes that some are more beneficiary in the long term then others. Basically, a mass movement starts when a vision or an idea is given to a group of people who are craving a change. All mass movements are started by defying and overthrowing a long-establish authority and the more defiant and vivid it is in the public’s memory, the more likely it will succeed. Also, what it really boils down to is the fact that mass movements that have freedom as their ultimate goal are most likely to attract more followers. Hoffer goes on to elucidate by stating, “Where freedom is real, equality is the passion of the masses. Where equality is real, freedom is the passion of a small minority.” Also, “Equality without freedom is creates a more stable social pattern than freedom without equality.”(Ch.29, pg.33) All mass movements have to be “competitive” and “interchangeable” in order to gain the populations adherents. In addition, to further clarify what a mass movement is, it’s a “migration-a movement toward the promise land.”(Ch.17, pg.20)

Consequently, it is only inevitable to talk about what types of people join these mass movements. People or members of a mass movement join such activities not because they believe in any particular idea or goal but they do not believe in themselves. According to Hoffer, “Unless a man has the talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden…we join mass movements to escape from individual responsibility or, in the words of an ardent young Nazi, ‘to be free from freedom’”. (Ch.26, pg.31) It is the poor, the misfits, outcasts, minorities, adolescents youth, the ambitious, those in the grip of depression, the impotent, the selfish, the bored, and the sinners that get themselves involved because basically, they need someone or something that will give them hope and a brighter future. Most of these people, the Bourgeois, that are so frustrated because they have to live in the present and hope that the present stays the same so that they can get enough food on their table to make it t the next day. When the people start thinking about the future, their “frustration becomes greater” and there want becomes greater than if they had “nothing and want[ed] some.”(Ch.23, pg.29) Frustration by the oppressed is the main reason and types of people that get involved with mass movements and even though it can be religious, social, economical, or a revolt, mass movements only need to have a motivation behind it.

During his book, Hoffer makes clear as the motivation behind the frustrated masses is that “a rising mass movement attracts and holds a following not by its doctrines and promises but by the refuge it offers from the anxieties, barrenness, and meaninglessness of