The psychology of the masses - Dar Al Saqi

The author believes that the masses do not think, as they reject ideas or accept them equally, without engaging in discussion. And what the leaders say to them quickly invades their minds, so they tend to turn it into movement and action, and what they imply to them elevates it to the level of an example, then they impulsively push it toward self-sacrifice. They know nothing but intense emotion, so their empathy soon turns into worship, and they hardly dislike something until they rush to hate it. In the mass state, the capacity for thinking decreases, and the different dissolves into the similar, while characteristics originating from the unconscious dominate. And even if the masses are secular, they still have religious reactions, leading them to worship the leader, fear his wrath, and blindly submit to his will, so his words become dogma that is not to be discussed, and the desire to generalize this dogma arises. As for those who do not share the masses’ admiration for the leader’s words, they become enemies; there are no masses without a leader, just as there is no leader without masses. Written by Le Bon a century ago. For the best-selling books, click here.