From the religious to the political, we live in an age dominated by the fanatic. Their conduct can impact us in a myriad of negative ways, from instilling personal apprehension regarding our safety or the larger stability of our institutions, to promoting anger in response to the message, or by preying upon our own bias to move us closer to joining those ranks. Fanaticism alters the nature of our social conventions and public discourse. It can even alter the law that frames our rights.
The strength of the fanatic is that he can and will lump sum your problems, offer a singular vision of their root and how to eliminate the source. It's the Jew, the heathen, or the Infidel, not you. It's the Demoncrat or Republicants, the immigrants or the "Deep State," not you. He offers razor sharp dividing lines between the good A and the cancerous B. Whatever ails you, threatens you, demeans you, you are not responsible for it. Control has been taken from you. It's time to take that control back.
The fanatic plays to your ego. You're special. You see what others can't.
The fanatic plays to your desire for a heroic narrative. You're involved in a war. You're a patriot, a true believer under siege along with every good thing you value and must protect.
He understands your greed. They want what you have, or to spoil it.
He knows the flight or fight response he's whipping up and how to use it. The need for action is now.
The fanatic disconnects you to the thing that could undermine their influence. You can't trust what you hear or read/this is the way to hear and read.
The fanatic knows your weakness is in an inability to clearly see yourself. Most people believe they're smarter than average. Most people cannot be.
The fanatic understands how human nature can be turned into an active hostility toward a group you understand even less than yourself and he will keep you busy fighting that opponent. Because when you're fighting the other you're serving the fanatic and the only thing you're really thinking about is how to beat their enemy and sustain their power. The "enemy" doesn't have to be considered, nor does his lot or the validity of his complaints or position. As importantly, the fanatic's outward focus keeps you from considering him and from self-examination, provides a rote narrative to parrot in its place, the one where you're the victim, the liberator, and the guy who gets it.
What's the answer? Maybe there isn't one. Maybe even beginning with that natural question illustrates a part of the problem. Life is complicated as are most of the worthwhile issues that impact it. Maybe the best we can do is approach it and the fanatic by peeling him from his cause and considering that as we should any idea, demanding and searching for answers that encompass serious, sustained, and (most importantly) rational differences and distinctions. Reaching conclusions about his complaints that are objective is crucial in disarming the worst he has to offer and finding whatever truth there might be in his complaint.
To do that we have to grow comfortable with reading more than our own side of a point, going beyond inclination and/or the first thing we find that confirms it. We have to find and really consider answers that challenge our precepts and respond to them as though we're taking an examination, that we have someone to convince in authority. Because when we speak up we frequently consider and frame far differently than when we talk down. If we can manage that, we can meet the true enemy of everyone, fanatic and non, which is a want of reason, and the poverty of empathy that attends it.
The strength of the fanatic is that he can and will lump sum your problems, offer a singular vision of their root and how to eliminate the source. It's the Jew, the heathen, or the Infidel, not you. It's the Demoncrat or Republicants, the immigrants or the "Deep State," not you. He offers razor sharp dividing lines between the good A and the cancerous B. Whatever ails you, threatens you, demeans you, you are not responsible for it. Control has been taken from you. It's time to take that control back.
The fanatic plays to your ego. You're special. You see what others can't.
The fanatic plays to your desire for a heroic narrative. You're involved in a war. You're a patriot, a true believer under siege along with every good thing you value and must protect.
He understands your greed. They want what you have, or to spoil it.
He knows the flight or fight response he's whipping up and how to use it. The need for action is now.
The fanatic disconnects you to the thing that could undermine their influence. You can't trust what you hear or read/this is the way to hear and read.
The fanatic knows your weakness is in an inability to clearly see yourself. Most people believe they're smarter than average. Most people cannot be.
The fanatic understands how human nature can be turned into an active hostility toward a group you understand even less than yourself and he will keep you busy fighting that opponent. Because when you're fighting the other you're serving the fanatic and the only thing you're really thinking about is how to beat their enemy and sustain their power. The "enemy" doesn't have to be considered, nor does his lot or the validity of his complaints or position. As importantly, the fanatic's outward focus keeps you from considering him and from self-examination, provides a rote narrative to parrot in its place, the one where you're the victim, the liberator, and the guy who gets it.
What's the answer? Maybe there isn't one. Maybe even beginning with that natural question illustrates a part of the problem. Life is complicated as are most of the worthwhile issues that impact it. Maybe the best we can do is approach it and the fanatic by peeling him from his cause and considering that as we should any idea, demanding and searching for answers that encompass serious, sustained, and (most importantly) rational differences and distinctions. Reaching conclusions about his complaints that are objective is crucial in disarming the worst he has to offer and finding whatever truth there might be in his complaint.
To do that we have to grow comfortable with reading more than our own side of a point, going beyond inclination and/or the first thing we find that confirms it. We have to find and really consider answers that challenge our precepts and respond to them as though we're taking an examination, that we have someone to convince in authority. Because when we speak up we frequently consider and frame far differently than when we talk down. If we can manage that, we can meet the true enemy of everyone, fanatic and non, which is a want of reason, and the poverty of empathy that attends it.
