Americans are radicalized, not because they care too much about politics, but because they’re bored. In our culture, stripped of meaning, community, and restraint, politics has become a substitute for dealing with yourself.
Eric Hoffer, the longshoreman, autodidact, and moral philosopher, was deeply suspicious of the hunger for belonging. In his must-read book, The True Believer, he argues that mass movements — left, right, or religious — are fueled less by ideas than by boredom, bitterness, and the desire of frustrated and shallow individuals to fulfill themselves. “Freedom aggravates at least as much as it alleviates frustration,” he writes. “Freedom of choice places the whole blame of failure on the shoulders of the individual.” This is about as conservative a statement as one can make.
