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The Mass Psychology Of Fascism

The Mass Psychology of Fascism

Consider the following quote and place your thoughts:

"Under the influence of politicians, masses of people tend to ascribe the responsibility for wars to those who wield power at any given time. In World War I it was the munitions industrialists; in World War II it was the psychopathic generals who were said to be guilty. This is passing the buck.

The responsibility for wars falls solely upon the shoulders of these same masses of people, for they have all the necessary means to avert war in their own hands. In part by their apathy, in part by their passivity, and in part actively, these same masses of people make possible the catastrophes under which they themselves suffer more than anyone else. To stress this guilt on the part of the masses of people, to hold them solely responsible, means to take them seriously. On the other hand, to commiserate masses of people as victims, means to treat them as small, helpless children. The former is the attitude held by genuine freedom fighters; the latter that attitude held by power-thirsty politicians."
-- Wilhelm Reich, The Mass Psychology of Fascism

Fascism Psychology Mass The

I do not agree with this at all. The responsibility for war on the shoulders of the people? Rubbish, I say! The masses only go to war when the politicians/monarchs/chieftans/dictators say. In the representative democracy that is America, if nobody signs up for war, the government forces them to at random. The same has happened in many past and present civilizations, and if it weren't for the government systems, a product of society, there would be no mass war. Man may still resolve his conflicts with force if he has no ruler, but he does not do it on so large a scale. The blame for the wars should be placed solely upon the people who decide to fight them in the first place, and if you think that's the general populus, look again.

p.s. I didn't mean you as in the poster, I meant you as in whoever's reading this.