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Gullibility and Cynicism

01/04/20 | by [mail] | Categories: culture/news

Written in 1951 by Hannah Arendt who fled Germany after being imprisoned by Hitler’s Gestapo:

A mixture of gullibility and cynicism had been an outstanding characteristic of mob mentality before it became an everyday phenomenon of masses. In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, that everything was possible and that nothing was true. The mixture in itself was remarkable enough, because it spelled the end of the illusion that gullibility was a weakness of unsuspecting primitive souls and cynicism the vice of superior and refined minds. Mass Propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness. (Hannah Arendt, On the Origins of Totalitarianism, pp. 38)

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1 comment

I hope you repent and get your faith reinstated. I see that 1 John 5:27 was a late insert into the Latin Vulgate in the 2nd century. People trying to control, upset doctrine or counterfeit has been a huge problem in Christianity for a long time now. You may want to pray then google and read the free ebook God’s Plan for All. Christianity is the real thing, I think, that’s why so many people try to attack and counterfeit it and set up false religious systems in this world instead of allowing people to buildi a genuine relationship with God. What if this world seeks to break people’s relationship with God? Or obstruct it before it can get going? That makes seeking important. If you want to get some where on life’s major existential questions then persevering in seeking and in refining your knowledge on spiritual matters might be best. It does say God will open the door if people persist in seeking, asking and knocking. Is a relationship with God suppose to be easy? It might be easier for some to maintain than others. Most of the really important things in life seem to require persistent effort. So when you achieve them they have meaning. Thanks for reading, don’t doubt…because God can make a way for you! God bless!

By the way, yes I am exhorting you to more effort…if you’ve fallen can’t you get back up again….so no need to argue with me. I hope you see my point. Enlightenment is sought. Like any truly good relationship is. You don’t argue people into enlightenment.


Susan [Visitor]09/17/20 @ 02:52


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