Truly, for those who have never read his books, Hoffer is a great treasure who should be discovered. His books are short and accessible and filled with great insight.
He ranks up there with Lin Yu Tang among the great neglected thinkers of the 20th Century. Can’t wait to read more of him.
Perhaps now more than ever Hoffers books should be compulsory reading.... in non government schools
I cat find it presently but I loved his presentation of the young nazi’s statement about why he had joined the nazi party.....to BE somebody...
Perhaps this thread, should it continue on long enough will end up as a big fat google reference to Hoffer...and a few not utterly commited obama zombies may be HELPED!
His works are a standard in my hard copy library.
"It has often been said that power corrupts. But it is perhaps equally important to realize that weakness, too, corrupts. Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. Hatred, malice, rudeness, intolerance, and suspicion are the faults of weakness. The resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done to them but from their sense of inadequacy and impotence. We cannot win the weak by sharing our wealth with them. They feel our generosity as oppression."
Our ruling class are all enablers of the tyranny of the weak; they use it to their advantage.
The problem is getting his books. So far, other than True Believer....the small collection of his books that I have...are mostly prints from the 1970s. You can’t find anything much today. I would think some foundation would pick up his cause, and market the books for the modern age.
I will say this...once you analyze his history....he was entirely self-taught. He read a minimum of one book per day for his entire life, and probably had a better understanding of history and the movements that came and went....than the vast number of historians that we have around today. I would also say that he had a marginal personal life, and most of his hours were spent either in physical work or reading, with almost no social life or pleasures other than reading.