Eric Hoffer: RW, wasnt he?

[oscar111]

wasnt he held up by the RW as a

working class conservative?

what is the story on him?

[amber dog democrat]

1. I see him as more of a libertarian - who did not have it all mapped out

but his book the Temper of Our Time makes some very clear arguements about the juvinile nature of passionate adherents of any stripe. His lack of formal educations, combined with a probing intellect and influenced by his reading... what was it Montaignes Essays ? ... early in his adult life made him into an independant and very opionated person. I have a huge respect for his 30,000 ft perspective on man's social behavior.

[oscar111]

8. Libertarians are RW, in my opinion.

i am saddened when folks think Libertarians are somehow LW.

They want to end regulations that protect consumers, dont they?
I need regulations.. I dont have the ability to inspect food packing plants. Or test cars for safety. Or .. on and on.

Lib. want to end the protective function of government.

[Last Lemming]

2. Favorite of LBJ

and of my father long ago--he was part crackerbarrel philosopher, part sociologist. Worked full time as a stevedore (that's how I learned the meaning of the word and its odd pronounciation) Not a radical, that I recall. A working man's philospher, entirely self educated

[Jack Rabbit]

3. Eric Hoffer was politically mainstream in his time

Eric Hoffer, the "longshoreman philosopher", benefited from the New Deal and thought well of LBJ.

He was something of an anti-intellectual intellectual. He was very much a democrat (small d-) in that he believed the wisdom inherent in the common man was sufficient to solve great problems; he thought that much of American history is evidence of that.



From http://www.valleyofchicago.org/Publications/Echoes/Echoes%202004/2004-04-01%20Echoes%20From%20the%20Valley.htm

[eallen]

4. His primary message was anti-ideological...

Where today's right wing is extremely ideological.

[mikehiggins]

5. He was very popular in the 60's and 70's

Wrote something that always stuck with me

Something about how when a crusade becomes a job it loses all of its validity. Looking at professional labor leaders and professional politicians I came to see just how right he was/is. When one of the worst and most oppressive employers in New York is a non-profit supposedly working for the common good, it has to make you stop and think.

Hoffer's TRUE BELEIVER is a book everyone should HAVE to read in ninth grade, and again in the freshman year of college.-

on edit: if that rule had been in place maybe we would have been spared someone like Tucker Carlson

[Snap]

7. True Believer

I remember getting that book as a birthday gift when I was a little kid. I was given the impression that it was THE font of knowledge for a small town patriotic liberal DFL kid.

[pretzel4gore]

6. you know what rightwing means?

(of course you do)
rightwing means the privileges of the few must trump the needs of the many....leftwing means the opposite....and never the twain shall meet...in the years hoffer was writing, the world seemed headed leftward, to a socialist permanance (this must be remembered discussing ayn rand too)...the extreme left was represented by the communist societies, flawed as they might have been, with the centre held by the scandinavian countries, and the right by liberl democratic US Britain Europe Japan etc....the 3rd world would enter international (global economy) through one of them templates....left, farleft or extreme left. As you can see, someone misunderestimated the reactionary pigs (that's why 'reactionary ALWAYS meant rightwing; most social/economic trends worldover were toward a public (socialist) voice in national/internat policies)....certainly never expected them to resort to outright fraud, murder and lies (ooops, what about nazism? it was defeated...Oh? oh yeah!)

[oscar111]

9. What social benefits did he favor? I got the impression he advocated

live on less and be content with that.

He seemed to hold poverty up as a good thing. I would like to end it.

PS
As to TRUE BELIEVERS...i dont mind fanatics driven by odd psychological factors, as long as they help people, not harm them.

the NONfanatics of the GOP do harm folks.

Fanaticism is a minor thing. Not a good thing, but minor by comparison to the disorientation of the GOP. The main thing is, .. is one reducing sufering or increasing it.

A LW fanatic is far better to have around, than a calm freeper.

TRUE BELIEVER seems aimed at getting the LW to fight among itself. Over which leader is too much a fanatic, and which to boost up to replace him.
The RW must love to watch that.

[pretzel4gore]

10. it's been so long....

i can't recall what hoffer's main thesis were...i simply remember him as a workman philosopher, which implies a lw slant(?)....and the suggestion that he was a rw'er inspired my response....i'll need to brush up on him....

[oscar111]

11. anti-union? i seem to recall that too

and

'be satisfied with poverty'

also comes to memory.

i saw his interview with eric Severid on tv. I was repelled at the time, by hoffer's views.

but my memory of hoffer is fuzzy.

can you clarify hoffer for me?