Hoffer's Unexpected Stances

 One of the most fascinating facets of Eric Hoffer's essays is his sharing an unexpected or initially counterintuitive assertion that is actually true.

It is hard to explain why this is the case, but I offer some suggestions below and then offer a quote as an example of his unexpected observations, conclusions and suggestions.

First, Tom Shactman writes that Hoffer exaggerates, and that I suggest is more rhetorical and stylistic than actual, but the melodramatic tone that Hoffer sometimes shares with the reader is shocking as he turns popular myths and generalizations on their head, to discover what is true instead.

Second, Hoffer is genuinely conservative, and he dispels many Leftist and liberal narratives and talking points accepted as fact.

Third, he sees people as they are, groupist, altruistic, selfless, potential true believers that mouth platitudes and popular "certainties' that are sentiment and opinion, and not much beyond that.

Fourth, explicitly or implicitly he regards traders as more intellectual and tolerant than intellectuals and cultural elitists who favor conformity and uniformity of thought, not genuine diversity of ideas shared in the market place of ideas.

Fifth, implicitly or explicitly, he regards middle class and working class people living and producing goods and services in a free market economy as more kind, decent, tolerant and much less corruptible than the educated and aristocrats, for elites always assume they have a right to rule the masses, and their addiction to power over others sickens all they they do, think and are.

Hoffer The Moderate

 I just uncovered another line written by Eric Hoffer, which I believe, is a postulate of his about moderation serving as a fundamental ethical and metaphysical rule governing the universe.

In that published collection of his newspaper essays, entitled The Syndicated News Articles, Page 234. Hoffer writes: "In human affairs every solution only serves to sharpen the problem, to show us more clearly what we are up against. There are no final solutions."

There is no infallible truth, no indubitable ideology, no incorrigible version of how reality works. At least there are none--at least for now and likely never will be--intelligible and translatable into plain, clear, concise human language.

Inconsistent propositions teach us truth as well as monistic claims to one point of being absolutely true and its opposite viewpoint being completely false and erroneous.

The Bias

 In his self-help books, Jordan Peterson sagely advises people not to share good news with those that do not wish one well, and that is not to share bad news with people that do not wish one well.

I think this set of warnings is consistent with my observations about most people, born wicked, non-individuating, self-less, self-loathing and conforming to the cliques to which they belong as group-livers.

Group-livers wish to exalt members of their own group, and to humble those that are loners or belong to rival groups.

They exalt the victories of their friends and celebrate the defeats and setbacks of their enemies. The victories of their friends are attributed to their friends’ merited success, or that they deserve the good fortune that they are enjoying. 

The suffering, humiliation and defeat experienced by their enemies is attributed to their deserving setbacks, or that it is their fault that they have failed, whether that is true or not.

If their friends are fortunate, it is not due to favoritism or good luck, but because these friends earned it, whether that is so or not.

If their enemies are fortunate, it is not due to meritorious effort on their part, but due to who they know, or being just lucky.

Group-livers exalt their friends, whether they deserve such favor or not. They debase and humble their enemies whether they deserve it or not.

In the eyes of group-livers outlier can do not right and are not smart at all. In the eyes of group-livers, insiders can do no wrong, and their success is always due to their superior character and effort.

Considering the world being run by group-livers, it is small wonder that Peterson admonishes his followers to take care in selecting who they share either good news or bad news with.

Be Ambitious

 Jordan Peterson recently announced that personal ambition is good and is not corruption.

He is right for the most part, as long as ambition is to make money (honestly) but not to have power nor financial monopoly over others.

If one's ambition is to maverize as well as become wealthy, that is morally acceptable, I assume.

Racial Preference

 Many conservatives do not like affirmative action, and they are right. For schooling, to get hired or promoted at a job should not be based on racial preference, but solely on individual performance, who has merited being hired or promoted as an individual.

Racial and ethnic or protected class preferences can now fade away unless there is pure discrimination or blocking equality of opportunity going on.

To Despair

 To despair is natural. To fight this temptation and overcome its corrosive influence is where maturity come in. Pain, sadness, loss and suffering are still integral parts of life, but there are not the whole story, let alone the final chapter of the novel about one's life, a book that one must write for oneself to have lived it to the fullest.

The Problem

 Is existence a problem? It can be but the optimist in me rather concludes that it is an opportunity, an opportunity to see what one can do with one's life in appreciation for the Divine Couple having given oe life.  To live as a act of thanksgiving and offering the self to them for their honor and glory is to put one's hope in them.