Friday, November 30, 2012


What is the role of fanaticism in the application of programs for change?
Does fanaticism succeed in making a change?

First of all, the phrase : “I want a change” means : I refuse and reject a view or position, I do not accept the world and civilization as they are created (in general or in part).
I do not agree with the means and ways of acting and behaving that this world has established and I am trying to establish new means and ways.
Sophocles’ Electra longs for change as we can see in these lines: l.165 “...He (Orestes) who unwearyingly waits for him...” , l.173 “... did not have the chance to show me...” , l.303 “... and me, constantly waiting for Orestes to end all this.” It looks like change is a vital need for Electra because it satisfies her desire for freedom.
A change that will save her from boredom and the emptiness of her soul. These two had destroyed all the goals she had in her life (l.166 “... I go on without destiny and without a husband”). Her only goal now is becoming a mechanical character in action.
Electra’s fanaticism
Fanaticism is a curious combination of passion and virtue. We would say that it is a bond of contradictory elements that cannot coexist in theory. It contains qualities worthy of admiration but also evils that threaten to cause the most terrible disasters.
In order to grasp its content, let’s think of the fanaticism of Islam (in the text of Sophocles we come across fanaticism under the name of TRIAL)
The core of fanaticism is a stable, rigid, uncut faith in the value of an ideology aiming at the progress of society.
Clytemnestra believes in this Ideology, worships it as a god and promotes it as the savior of mankind. It is a program with specific rules, commands and actions that demand absolute application, execution to the letter and blind obedience.
Electra answers to her mother in lines 578-583: 
“...Did he have to die by your hand? Be careful, by giving out this law, you place a hot knot around your neck and you will be sorry for it. If you must kill each other, you first will die due to this law.”
However, we come across the element of fanaticism in Electra too. Anything foreign to her own truth, whether it is a person or an ideology, must be destroyed. (l. 115 “... Come, help, pay for my father’s murder.”, l.348-349 “... I think about my father and you don’t help me and you turn me off my path.”)
This viciousness often exceeds the limits of muscular ferocity and always causes horrific disasters, like the hideous crime at the end of the play: matricide. Electra believes that in order to combat her mother’s cruel and rigid attitude she will need a new change. In the dialogue between mother and daughter the fanaticism of conservation (Clytemnestra) is confronted by the fanaticism of change (Electra).
Ancient tragic poets believed that change comes at a price for peoples, but, through destruction, progress timidly appears and mankind moves forward at a slow pace.
A vicious circle, then.
Without fanaticism it is hard to have a change and with fanaticism, a new narrow-minded conservative spirit takes over the adjustment of society.
Changes are always planned by theoretical minds (that may not have the power to enforce them). The devoted followers play their role.
Fanaticism cultivates in Electra the spirit of heroism and self-sacrifice, coating the purpose with sacredness. 
It creates groups with common ideas and goals (l.343-344: “... All your advice is her own saying, not even a word is yours...”, l.358: “... However, in reality, you’ve made up with the killers...”)
It makes imminent the reality of the purpose – it fills hearts with enthusiasm and makes the soul eager for action.
It makes fighters strict and rigid, determined to kill and be killed with no mercy. “Hit again, if you can! (l.1417).  “Courage! We are almost at the end” (l.1435). For those that possibly have not examined  this point of view I add an extract from Eric Hoffer’s “The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements”:
“Though there are some obvious differences between a fanatic Christian, a fanatic Muslim and a fanatic nationalist, the fanaticism that characterizes them can be considered as the same. This is also true about the force that pushes them towards expansion and worldwide domination. All kinds of faith, devotion, ambition, unity and self-sacrifice, share some similarities. Although there are some great differences in the content of every “sacred cause” or theory, we constantly discover correlations between the factors of this cause or theory that support their influence. Whoever – like Pascal – finds out the real reasons for the effectiveness of communist, National Socialist and nationalistic dogma. No matter how different the “sacred cause” that people sacrifice their lives for, they may actually be dying for the same thing.
Judging from the fact that the first followers of every mass movement are recruited mostly by all kinds of disappointed people, and that they join the movement voluntarily, we reach the conclusion that: 1) Failure and disappointment can create most of the characteristics of the “orthodox”.  2)An effective technique for influencing public opinion is the assimilation of the disappointed...”

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