{"id":2873,"date":"2012-05-05T20:11:41","date_gmt":"2012-05-06T03:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/2012\/05\/05\/the-desire-for-substitutes\/"},"modified":"2012-05-06T05:29:13","modified_gmt":"2012-05-06T12:29:13","slug":"the-desire-for-substitutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/2012\/05\/the-desire-for-substitutes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Desire for Substitutes"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>&#8220;The Desire for Substitutes<\/p>\n<p>There is a fundamental difference between the appeal of a mass movement and the appeal of a practical organization.\u00a0 The practical organization offers opportunities for self-advancement, and its appeal is mainly to self-interest.\u00a0 On the other hand, a mass movement, particularly in its active, revivalist phase, appeals not to those intent on bolstering and advancing a cherished self, but to those who crave to be rid of an unwanted self.\u00a0 A mass movement attracts and holds a following not because it can satisfy the desire for self-advancement, but because it can satisfy the passion for self-renunciation.<\/p>\n<p>People who see their lives as irremediably spoiled cannot find a worth-while purpose in self-advancement.\u00a0 The prospect of an individual career cannot stir them to a mighty effort, nor can it evoke in them faith and a single minded dedication.\u00a0 They look on self-interest as on something tainted and evil; something unclean and unlucky.\u00a0 Anything undertaken under the auspices of the self seems to them foredoomed.\u00a0 Nothing that has it roots and reasons in the self can be good and noble.\u00a0 Their innermost craving is for a new life\u2014a rebirth\u2014or, failing this, a chance to acquire new elements of pride, confidence, hope, a sense of purpose and worth by an identification with a holy cause.\u00a0 An active mass movement offers them opportunities for both.\u00a0 If they join the movement as full converts they are reborn to a new life in its close-knit collective body, or if attracted as sympathizers they find elements of pride, confidence and purpose by identifying themselves with the efforts, achievements and prospects of the movement.<\/p>\n<p>To the frustrated a mass movement offers substitutes either for the whole self or for the elements which make life bearable and which they cannot evoke out of their individual resources.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Eric Hoffer, <em>The True Believer <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>What <em>irremediably spoiled<\/em> past life is Obama <em>substituting<\/em>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The Desire for Substitutes There is a fundamental difference between the appeal of a mass movement and the appeal of a practical organization.\u00a0 The practical organization offers opportunities for self-advancement, and its appeal is mainly to self-interest.\u00a0 On the other hand, a mass movement, particularly in its active, revivalist phase, appeals not to those intent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-cult-politics","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}