It seems the social media age has sparked a movement in contrast to the fanatical True Believer, as described in Eric Hoffer’s book (1). Today seems to be the time of the Self Believer. Social media gives a platform for people to spew out egotistical, narcissistic, self celebrating crap at a rate unimaginable in pre smartphone times. These self believers want to create their own mini cults of personalities. They believe so sincerely in what they say. Their self delusion invites us in. They betray no self doubt or reasonableness. We must stand guard against these fanatics (2).
(1) The True Believer, Eric Hoffer, 1951. I have recently read the excellent Eric Hoffer: The Longshoreman Philosopher by Tom Bethell. This is a great introduction to Hoffer’s work which reveals that Hoffer never intended for his book to be titled The True Believer. In fact the main focus of the book is on mass movements, e.g. Facism and Communism. But the true believer is such a great title! Bethell’s book also reveals Hoffer’s love of quotations, that he collected on notecards. He planned to write a book called Conversations with Quotations. I love that title and am tempted to steal it for my blog. Obviously there were plenty of great quotations in this book. Hat tip to Ryan Holiday for introducing me to notecards https://ryanholiday.net/the-notecard-system-the-key-for-remembering-organizing-and-using-everything-you-read/
(2) Obviously not everyone online is a fanatic (I’m not. Honest!) This is aimed at the cult of the influencer. I will write about all the wonderful people online in the near future.
Conversations With Quotations 