The P. who hated Jazz part two

[KXX4493553 at aol.com]

2.) It does not employ discursive logic but in rather, particularly in 
oratorical exhibitions, what might be called an organized flight of ideas. 
The relation between premises and inferences is replaced by a linking-up of 
ideas resting on mere similarity, often through association which are 
logically quite unrelated. This method not only evades the control mechanisms 
of rational examination, but also makes it psychologically easier for the 
listener to "follow". He has no exacting thinking to do, but can give himself 
up passively to a stream of words in which he swims.
...Even if it is true, however, that the mentality of the fascist agitator 
resembles somewhat the muddle-headedness of his prospective followers, and 
that the leaders themselves "are hysterical or even paranoid types", they 
have learned, from vast experience and from the striking example of Hitler, 
how to utilize their own neurotic or psychotic dispositions for ends which 
are wholly adapted to the principle of reality... Conditions prevailing in 
our society tend to transform neurosis and even mild lunacy into a commodity 
which the afflicted can easily sell, once he has discovered that many others 
have an affinity for his own illness. The fascist agitator is usually a 
masterly salesman of his own psychological defects...
Just as the housewife, who has enjoyed the sufferings and the good deeds of 
her favorite heroine for a quarter of an hour over the air, feels impelled to 
buy the soap sold by the sponsor, so the listener to the fascist propaganda 
act, after getting pleasure from it, accepts the ideology represented by the 
speaker out of gratitude for the show. "show" is indeed the right word. The 
achievement of the self-styled leader is a performance reminiscent of the 
theatre, of sport, and of so-called religious revivals. It is characteristic 
of the fascist demagogues that they boast of having been athletic heroes in 
their youth. This is how they behave. They shout and cry, fight the Devil in 
pantomime, and take off their jackets when attacking "those sinister powers".
... They violate the taboos which middle-class society has put upon any 
expressive behaviour on the part if the normal, matter-of-fact citizen. One 
may say that some of the effect of fascist propaganda is achieved by this 
break-through. The fascist agitators are taken seriously because they risk 
making fools of themselves...  But it is a deceptive idea, that the so-called 
common people have an unfailing flair for the genuine and sincere, and 
disparage fake. Hitler was liked, not in spite of his cheap antics, but just 
because of them, because of his false tones and his clowning..."   
kwp
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