Abandoned by its mother who may have come to grief at the hands of hunters, a baby orang hutan clings to the leg and later bosom of one of its caretakers, Michelle Yeoh, even if only during her brief for-the-media visit to Sepilok, Sabah. Feeling orphaned and inadequate, the baby orang hutan readily transfers her need for a mother figure to any surrogate mother that is any human who shows care and concern. This need and trait is common to most if not all primates, the biological order of which we are a member.
Similarly, a human who feels overwhelmed by the vastness and complexities of existence, not to mention his own personal inadequacies and shortfalls, would seek and cling to a cause, group, tribal identity or mass movement to sink and hide his sorrows in. The psychological benefits he gets from being a joiner of the cause or mass movement such as political parties, religions or racial identity are that other members would approve and clap his words and actions. He may also gain status, a position of power and influence stemming from the group.
As a member he is required to have the same beliefs and opinions on most if not all issues. Anyone who expresses conflicting beliefs and opinions are labeled heretics and become liable or fair game for persecution. A cadre with an eye for a higher position, popularity with his peers or approval from higher ups will expose and denounce the heretic, making a song and dance of it if not a career.
A common tactic is to appeal to peers and get them to clap or at least utter, "Attaboy, Mommy boy! Here's my tommy-gun to add gum to your chew!" Or words to that effect.
In the extreme form, these cadres are the fanatics who would die for their cause than be labeled a heretic, an outcast, or be insulted by one such as the body guard who shot his protege because the latter made a heretical statement appealing for the life of a woman who had been given the death penalty for insulting a mass movement of which the guard was a member. In another case, a cadre says, You may cut my neck off, but don't cut my hair please. Why? Because having his hair snipped is tantamount to having his manhood razored off. This is the belief of the cause or mass movement of which he is a member. Suicide bombers are spawned from the same zealot lot, or should I say, milked from the same ilk.
Many a movie and novel has played up this theme - I apologize for not being able to give any examples right now - but there is one non-fiction work that I know which explores this deep psychological sickness in the human psyche: The True Believer, by Eric Hoffer. Just google it.
Similarly, a human who feels overwhelmed by the vastness and complexities of existence, not to mention his own personal inadequacies and shortfalls, would seek and cling to a cause, group, tribal identity or mass movement to sink and hide his sorrows in. The psychological benefits he gets from being a joiner of the cause or mass movement such as political parties, religions or racial identity are that other members would approve and clap his words and actions. He may also gain status, a position of power and influence stemming from the group.
As a member he is required to have the same beliefs and opinions on most if not all issues. Anyone who expresses conflicting beliefs and opinions are labeled heretics and become liable or fair game for persecution. A cadre with an eye for a higher position, popularity with his peers or approval from higher ups will expose and denounce the heretic, making a song and dance of it if not a career.
A common tactic is to appeal to peers and get them to clap or at least utter, "Attaboy, Mommy boy! Here's my tommy-gun to add gum to your chew!" Or words to that effect.
In the extreme form, these cadres are the fanatics who would die for their cause than be labeled a heretic, an outcast, or be insulted by one such as the body guard who shot his protege because the latter made a heretical statement appealing for the life of a woman who had been given the death penalty for insulting a mass movement of which the guard was a member. In another case, a cadre says, You may cut my neck off, but don't cut my hair please. Why? Because having his hair snipped is tantamount to having his manhood razored off. This is the belief of the cause or mass movement of which he is a member. Suicide bombers are spawned from the same zealot lot, or should I say, milked from the same ilk.
Many a movie and novel has played up this theme - I apologize for not being able to give any examples right now - but there is one non-fiction work that I know which explores this deep psychological sickness in the human psyche: The True Believer, by Eric Hoffer. Just google it.
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