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suzc's avatar

This is from a piece in Orion magazine which I read earlier today and I think it applies here:

"Eugène Ionesco’s Rhinoceros written in 1959 tells the story of a village in which all except one of the citizens succumb to “rhinoceritis,” turning into belligerent beasts that rush about recklessly, following the herd. I took it to be a satire on fascism, communism, and other mass delusions that only afflicted other nations. Three years later, when Merton’s essay reminded me of the play, I knew better. I knew that Americans could succumb to mass aggression as readily as people anywhere. In “Rain and the Rhinoceros,” Merton invoked Ionesco’s play as a caution not merely against totalitarianism but against all forms of “collective thinking,” especially those that derive their power from channeling contempt toward people defined as Other. “Collectivity needs not only to absorb everyone it can,” he wrote, “but also implicitly to hate and destroy whoever cannot be absorbed. Paradoxically, one of the needs of collectivity is to reject certain classes, or races, or groups, in order to strengthen its own self-awareness by hating them instead of absorbing them.”

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rlritt's avatar

That's excellent. I'll for that story. I agree that the current right wing seems fanatical.

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suzc's avatar

Conscience and Resistance (current issue Orion)

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