Hoffer’s imagining such a leader in 1951 is not that surprising (although still brilliantly done). He did have certain role models that appeared in the 30’s and 40’s. A disaffected populace will always fall in behind such a person. It’s not all bad. He or she is democratically elected because he or she is a unifier and not an agent of chaos. People atavistically like a strong leader. It can be good or bad.
@Bari Weiss: Can you please start giving your Employees time off for holidays? To be with their families. Please give your Employees all Federal holidays off, including Christmas.
Please do not publish on Federal holidays. Instead, you should send this message "We will not publish tomorrow, because it is Christmas Day & we want to give our employees time with their families.". This should be done for All Federal Holidays. This would Set a good example. Please don't be a Workaholic or a Scrooge. Time off from Publishing is very important.
This is an attack on our constitution and free speech. The law mentioned here needs teeth. If someone violates this law, they need to serve prison time, not in Club Fed but in a supermax prison, where they take long hot showers with a mussled-up, tattooed thug named Knuckles.
It's no secret what they did. We don't want to prosecute it because we're too embarrassed by how gullible and pliable we proved ourselves to be. Better to just pretend it kinda didn't really happen.
I'm ashamed of how spineless we've become. I'm old, so maybe that's part of it. But seriously, we are watching our rights being consumed by some pretty evil people, and being bilked of our money in the process. But content with our bread and circuses, and meds, we just watch it happen.
Thanks, but Eric Hoffer did not predict Donald Trump; the passage you quote is a description of Adolf Hitler as if Hitler were an ideal type of savior-dictator-predator. I formerly was a fan of Hoffer's, because leftist journalists sold me on his work, but now I see his work as social science with no or bad data. There is a reason leftist journalists only advertised The True Believer -- it corresponded to their obsession with fascism. We hardly ever find any mention of The Ordeal of Change, which I enjoyed long ago as philosophy and now find entertaining nonsense. The Ordeal of Change is closer to a negative criticism of Communist expansion in the Far East.
Can we please dispense with the Trump is so cunning and Dem candidates are white as snow no matter what? Being a successful politician like on the take Biden is not an honorable profession.
I've never met such fervent American Patriots as Cubans who've attained US citizenship, the same applies to many naturalized US citizens, especially those coming from communist or socialist countries.
My partner, who is a high school French teacher, tell me year after year how she sees the children of immigrants far surpass the kids from Americans born and raised here.
I don't know why so many people aren't learning from this.
"My partner, who is a high school French teacher, tell me year after year how she sees the children of immigrants far surpass the kids from Americans born and raised here."
This has to do with how children are raised. I'm a pediatrician (and an immigrant) and I see the same things. So many American kids are spoiled. They are allowed to Disrespect their parents & elders & authority. They are allowed to break rules without consequences. They are given too much stuff. Too many rewards. Parents give in to the kids' demands & let the kids walk all over them. Most immigrants don't do this. They punish their kids, harshly when needed. They enforce rules & respect. So kids are very behaved at all times.
Many Americans also raise their kids right. Particularly I see this with more traditional & religiously observant Americans. Kids are respectful & follow the rules.
> Sooner or later, infrastructure collapse will trigger political collapse. . . . Cuba will come back to life.”
Cuba would come to life right now if the Yanks would lift their disgusting embargo. America is on cordial terms with far worse dictatorships than Cuba's. Trump is good buddies with Putin and Kim, who have vastly more blood on their hands than poor bumbling Raul. Perhaps if he contributed a few million to Trump's inauguration? Perhaps free vacations for all GOPers? All inclusive, including whores of course. Surely business can be done?
Well, there was a lot of corruption, gambling, prostitution, cigars and rum. See, I mentioned one or two good things. Maybe a bunch of big hotel chains could get together and just buy the island.
Cuba has plenty available from Europe, Canada, and the rest of Latin America. Its leaders choose not to avail themselves, running as they do an "antiquated" regime, exactly as Gurri says.
The US embargo should be lifted, in exchange for some concessions. It should have been so lifted in the 1990s. (It was partially lifted back then. It's nowhere near as strict an embargo as it was in the Cold War.)
I'd bet if the embargo was lifted, and Americans were thick on the streets of Havana and Cubans likewise were busy milling around Miami, that the ancien regime would collapse like Assad's in Syria -- in a matter of a few days. Nuts, the Cuban government might even try to manage their own replacement -- try to end their reign trying to look like part of the solution. An orderly process would be in everyone's interest, no?
The best education an American can get is to travel the world. I have done so throughout my career. I have learned about myself, and that I am fortunate to be an American. It makes no difference where I have traveled even if it is a paradise I always treasure returning home.
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!
Let us not forget that it was a humble Jewish carpenter who shook the world.
Let us not forget the Hostages for they deserve to be home with their families. Peace!
Those savages in Gaza have moved the goalposts again. We are all praying for the return of the Israelis who were taken from their homes. Also the return of the Israelis to their homes who have been displaced by these savages. Please God let it happen before President Trump’s inauguration it will be a wonderful start to 2025! God bless America and yes you right we live in the best country on planet earth🇺🇸🇮🇱
Ms. Conklin's essay was "nice" for the most part; but why in God's name did she feel it necessary to recite Eric Hoffer's decades-old words solely in order to include a truly hateful screed against our incoming president-elect? And to do so on, of all days, Christmas Day? Can't Ms. Conklin's TDS rest for even a single day? Incredibly disappointing.
There’s just *too much* good stuff to read here! I kid (kind of) but it feels like there’s an abundance of good writing in the Free Press and I sometimes wonder (especially on a working weekday) when I’ll have time to consume it all. Thankfully, today is Christmas Day so im going to spend the next hour reading these articles. Thanks FP.
We‘ve always had good times & bad times as individuals & as a nation. What we’re experiencing is novel only to the young. Historically I see so many threats to our country which at times I find frightening, particularly the overt intolerance. It may sound corny but I still believe in the American dream, Mom, Apple Pie & the Washington Nationals. Isn’t Jayden Daniels something to behold?
You said Hoffer predicted Trump. I think he predicted Obama, a charismatic black man who couldn't string words together without a teleprompter. Who won the Nobel Peace Prize simply because he was black.
A man who promised to bring the US together racially but instead divided us even more.
Thank you for mentioning Eric Hoffer - a long time hero - prescient in many ways
My best Christmas surprise was from Margi Conklin!
Happy Day!
Hoffer’s imagining such a leader in 1951 is not that surprising (although still brilliantly done). He did have certain role models that appeared in the 30’s and 40’s. A disaffected populace will always fall in behind such a person. It’s not all bad. He or she is democratically elected because he or she is a unifier and not an agent of chaos. People atavistically like a strong leader. It can be good or bad.
@Bari Weiss: Can you please start giving your Employees time off for holidays? To be with their families. Please give your Employees all Federal holidays off, including Christmas.
Please do not publish on Federal holidays. Instead, you should send this message "We will not publish tomorrow, because it is Christmas Day & we want to give our employees time with their families.". This should be done for All Federal Holidays. This would Set a good example. Please don't be a Workaholic or a Scrooge. Time off from Publishing is very important.
We'd be a thousand years behind if it weren't for the workaholics. Complacency never really revolutionized anything. Let the hard workers...work hard.
I don't know how to contact Bari but I think this topic is right up TFP's alley:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/deeply-troubling-when-josh-hawley-grilled-the-biden-administration-over-covid-19-origins/vi-AA1woasG?ocid=msedgntp&pc=EDBBAN&cvid=6c1bd2bc36e543daa81d39c4f4ece95a&ei=46
This is an attack on our constitution and free speech. The law mentioned here needs teeth. If someone violates this law, they need to serve prison time, not in Club Fed but in a supermax prison, where they take long hot showers with a mussled-up, tattooed thug named Knuckles.
It's no secret what they did. We don't want to prosecute it because we're too embarrassed by how gullible and pliable we proved ourselves to be. Better to just pretend it kinda didn't really happen.
I'm ashamed of how spineless we've become. I'm old, so maybe that's part of it. But seriously, we are watching our rights being consumed by some pretty evil people, and being bilked of our money in the process. But content with our bread and circuses, and meds, we just watch it happen.
100% Agree. They need to come clean. The American people deserve to hear the truth. Expose Fauci's crimes.
Thanks, but Eric Hoffer did not predict Donald Trump; the passage you quote is a description of Adolf Hitler as if Hitler were an ideal type of savior-dictator-predator. I formerly was a fan of Hoffer's, because leftist journalists sold me on his work, but now I see his work as social science with no or bad data. There is a reason leftist journalists only advertised The True Believer -- it corresponded to their obsession with fascism. We hardly ever find any mention of The Ordeal of Change, which I enjoyed long ago as philosophy and now find entertaining nonsense. The Ordeal of Change is closer to a negative criticism of Communist expansion in the Far East.
Lovely thoughts, glad Bari was in a good mood and left the soft stuff in. No offense Bari I was one of your first subs and think you are great.
Such a beautiful Christmas Day gift. Thank you, Margi, and Merry Christmas!
Can we please dispense with the Trump is so cunning and Dem candidates are white as snow no matter what? Being a successful politician like on the take Biden is not an honorable profession.
I've never met such fervent American Patriots as Cubans who've attained US citizenship, the same applies to many naturalized US citizens, especially those coming from communist or socialist countries.
My partner, who is a high school French teacher, tell me year after year how she sees the children of immigrants far surpass the kids from Americans born and raised here.
I don't know why so many people aren't learning from this.
Merry Christmas everyone!
"My partner, who is a high school French teacher, tell me year after year how she sees the children of immigrants far surpass the kids from Americans born and raised here."
This has to do with how children are raised. I'm a pediatrician (and an immigrant) and I see the same things. So many American kids are spoiled. They are allowed to Disrespect their parents & elders & authority. They are allowed to break rules without consequences. They are given too much stuff. Too many rewards. Parents give in to the kids' demands & let the kids walk all over them. Most immigrants don't do this. They punish their kids, harshly when needed. They enforce rules & respect. So kids are very behaved at all times.
Many Americans also raise their kids right. Particularly I see this with more traditional & religiously observant Americans. Kids are respectful & follow the rules.
"So many American kids are spoiled..." So are their dogs.
> Sooner or later, infrastructure collapse will trigger political collapse. . . . Cuba will come back to life.”
Cuba would come to life right now if the Yanks would lift their disgusting embargo. America is on cordial terms with far worse dictatorships than Cuba's. Trump is good buddies with Putin and Kim, who have vastly more blood on their hands than poor bumbling Raul. Perhaps if he contributed a few million to Trump's inauguration? Perhaps free vacations for all GOPers? All inclusive, including whores of course. Surely business can be done?
Ah, Cuba in the good old days.
Well, there was a lot of corruption, gambling, prostitution, cigars and rum. See, I mentioned one or two good things. Maybe a bunch of big hotel chains could get together and just buy the island.
Cuba has plenty available from Europe, Canada, and the rest of Latin America. Its leaders choose not to avail themselves, running as they do an "antiquated" regime, exactly as Gurri says.
The US embargo should be lifted, in exchange for some concessions. It should have been so lifted in the 1990s. (It was partially lifted back then. It's nowhere near as strict an embargo as it was in the Cold War.)
I'd bet if the embargo was lifted, and Americans were thick on the streets of Havana and Cubans likewise were busy milling around Miami, that the ancien regime would collapse like Assad's in Syria -- in a matter of a few days. Nuts, the Cuban government might even try to manage their own replacement -- try to end their reign trying to look like part of the solution. An orderly process would be in everyone's interest, no?
The embargo of Cuba is the elites doing not the people who supported Trump . The people who enacted the embargo would be Kami voters
The best education an American can get is to travel the world. I have done so throughout my career. I have learned about myself, and that I am fortunate to be an American. It makes no difference where I have traveled even if it is a paradise I always treasure returning home.
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!
Let us not forget that it was a humble Jewish carpenter who shook the world.
Let us not forget the Hostages for they deserve to be home with their families. Peace!
Those savages in Gaza have moved the goalposts again. We are all praying for the return of the Israelis who were taken from their homes. Also the return of the Israelis to their homes who have been displaced by these savages. Please God let it happen before President Trump’s inauguration it will be a wonderful start to 2025! God bless America and yes you right we live in the best country on planet earth🇺🇸🇮🇱
Ms. Conklin's essay was "nice" for the most part; but why in God's name did she feel it necessary to recite Eric Hoffer's decades-old words solely in order to include a truly hateful screed against our incoming president-elect? And to do so on, of all days, Christmas Day? Can't Ms. Conklin's TDS rest for even a single day? Incredibly disappointing.
True, Ray Andrew and Conklin’s TDS on full display today on TFP.
There’s just *too much* good stuff to read here! I kid (kind of) but it feels like there’s an abundance of good writing in the Free Press and I sometimes wonder (especially on a working weekday) when I’ll have time to consume it all. Thankfully, today is Christmas Day so im going to spend the next hour reading these articles. Thanks FP.
We‘ve always had good times & bad times as individuals & as a nation. What we’re experiencing is novel only to the young. Historically I see so many threats to our country which at times I find frightening, particularly the overt intolerance. It may sound corny but I still believe in the American dream, Mom, Apple Pie & the Washington Nationals. Isn’t Jayden Daniels something to behold?
You said Hoffer predicted Trump. I think he predicted Obama, a charismatic black man who couldn't string words together without a teleprompter. Who won the Nobel Peace Prize simply because he was black.
A man who promised to bring the US together racially but instead divided us even more.
We truly are A Nation of Sheep.
Indeed you are, and about to be fleeced by a conman.
Yeah, the ever senile Joe is a paragon of virtue.
Well, you already have been, so I guess if it's my turn I can take it