The Politics of Hope

If you've read my profile, you know that one of my favorite books is The True Believer, by Eric Hoffer, the so-called "longshoreman philosopher." This is a small, but extremely interesting and important book which, although a little dated, contains important insights into understanding why people become religious or political fanatics and follow mass movements.

One of Hoffer's key insights is his recognition of the role of hope in mass movements. He writes, "It matters not whether it be hope of a heavenly kingdom, of heaven on earth, of plunder and untold riches, of fabulous achievement or world dominion. If the Communists win Europe and a large part of the world, it will not be because they know how to stir up discontent or how to infect people with hatred, but because they know how to preach hope."

Hoffer wrote these words in 1951, when Communism was the prevailing threat in the world. Today, of course, the prevailing threat is radical Islam, but the role of hope is still a key to understanding and combatting the threat.

In the Middle East, the quality most lacking is hope for the future. The Palestinians have little hope that the Israelis will accommodate their desire for an independent homeland. The Israelis have little hope that the Palestinians can become trustworthy and non-threatening neighbors. Islamists lack hope in the temporal world's ability to sufficiently worship and submit to God as they believe God demands. Islam rejects the temporal world and offers the promise of a wonderful paradise in the next world...a compelling message to people without hope for a better future, and one the people are likely to accept unquestioningly for lack of a viable alternative.

Hoffer writes, "When hopes and dreams are loose in the streets, it is well for the timid to lock doors, shutter windows and lie low until the wrath has passed. For there is often a monstrous incongruity between the hopes, however noble and tender, and the action which follows them. It is as if ivied maidens and garlanded youths were to herald the four horsemen of the apocalypse."

If there is any chance for peace in the Middle East, it lies in the politics of hope. We must offer a viable temporal alternative to the sterile and empty promise of paradise in the hereafter peddled by those who would force their religious beliefs on all of us. Hope - real hope for a real future here on earth - is our most potent weapon, if we can avoid the "...monstrous incongruities between the hopes...and the action which follows them," and convince a jaded population that it is better than the false hopes and hatreds of the Islamists.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo