Putnam-1
The Potential Converts
The Role of the Undesirables in Human Affairs--
There is a tendency to judge a race, a nation, or any distinct group by its least worthy members. Unfair as that may be, there is some justification for it at times. Therefore, the character and destiny of a group are often determined by its inferior elements. The giant middle class of any group is often overlooked. It is the extremes at each end that we most often remember and affect our attitudes the most. The discarded and rejected people are often the raw material of a nation's future. Ironically, it was--for the most part--the dredges of European society who came to this country and created America. So, who are these undesirables?
The poor--
(a)The new poor--their poverty is relatively recent; the memory of better things is still in their minds; they are the disinherited and the dispossess who usually respond to every rising mass movement. The present day working person in the Western world feels unemployment is a degradation and is willing to listen to those who call for a new deal. Misery is often the highest when conditions have been improved somewhat so that the ideal seems almost within reach.
(b)The abject poor--those who toil from sunrise to sunset to make a bare living; they nurse no grievances and dream no dreams. Those who have been down for so long and with no hope of improvement will seldom rise up for a mass movement.
(c)The free poor--those how have crafts either with their hands or mind that are denied access to use them. For example, a writer who cannot be published because the system will not accept his work or the government will not allow to be aired or read.
The misfits--
People who have not found their place in life but still hope to find it. Adolescent youth, unemployed, college graduates, war veterans, new immigrants, and the like may fall into this category. They are all restless, dissatisfied and haunted by the fear that their best years will be wasted before they reach their goal in life. They are often receptive to charismatic features and ideas, but do not always make staunch converts. They are not totally lost yet so the slightest improvement in their lives and the movement loses its appeal to them. These are the temporary misfits.
The permanent misfits are those who lack talent in mind and/or body and cannot find any real sense of achievement in their lives. They can find salvation only in the complete separation of themselves in the mass movement. By renouncing individual will, judgment, ambition, and dedicating their powers to the service of the eternal cause, they are last lifted off their endless treadmill that could never lead them to fulfillment. The most incurably frustrated and thus the potentially most dangerous and violent are those with unfulfilled creative work (writing, painting, etc) and they have always failed in their efforts. They sense their last chance may have passed them by with never tasting victory or success. These misfits are likely to immerse themselves into the cause and are the most apt to become violent extremists in the service of what they perceive as the holy cause.
The inordinately selfish--
These people are susceptible to frustration. The more selfish a person is, the greater and more personally painful are his disappointments. Often they lose faith in themselves either due to innate shortcomings or external circumstances. And then they attach on to the holy cause; though they are seldom loving or humble in their behavior.
Minorities—
Often pitted against some type of prejudice or discrimination; and frequently burdened with a sense of guilt and frustration. Those who are least successful on assimilating into mainstream society are most successful at responding to the appeal of the mass movement.
The Bored—
When any society has a large number of unrelieved bored people, it is ripe for some type of mass movement. In virtually all movements, we see sympathy and support amongst the bored in society. By embracing a so-called holy cause and dedicating their energies and substance to its advancement, they find new life and purpose to life. Interestingly, Hitler made full use of German “society ladies” who were sick of empty lives and thirsting for adventure.
The Sinners—
It seems that mass movements are custom made for the needs of the criminal. Not only for the catharsis of the soul, but for the exercise of his talents. A mass movement can offer a cure for the malady ailing these people. An effective mass movement cultivates the idea of sin. It depicts the autonomous self not only as barren and helpless but also as vile. Crime is to some extent a substitute for a mass movement. When mass movements grow (religious, patriotic, or revolutionary) common criminal activity declines.