“The Temptation of Lightness”

“Perhaps this is the first scientific book about fanaticism published in Russian. With characteristic German meticulousness, the author analyzes this socially dangerous phenomenon in detail, in detail.

A fanatic (and a fan as its less brutal and more mass variety) is a person with ideals, which he himself is always proud of. However, his ideals do him a disservice by shutting him off from reality and depriving him of the ability to think in any objective way. Reverence for one, often really worthy value leads to the depreciation of everything else in this world.

The one who has found for himself the final and unchanging truth has nothing more to strive for in this life. And it would be possible to die already, but fanatics more often prefer to kill others. As Peter Konzen notes, fanaticism is the rationalization and disguise of hatred under the guise of ideals. And the reason for hatred is rooted in the fact that without the object of his worship, the fanatic turns into nothing, he has nothing else in him. Therefore, he is ready for any reckless step for his ideal, for him it is really a matter of life and death.

Peter Konzen shows that the problems of fanaticism are rooted in the area of ​​identity, finding the answer to the question “who am I?” that everyone needs. For a person who is not ready to make efforts to look for an individual answer, the easiest way (Merab Mamardashvili called it “the seductive abyss of lightness”) is to find a banner under which one can stand in the general ranks.

The author distinguishes two different types of fanaticism – primordial and induced. The former has more to do with the idea that inspired the person, while the latter has more to do with finding a community in which they can feel meaningful by adopting a unifying goal. At the same time, the idea itself is secondary – in the brilliant film by Yuri Mamin “Whiskers” (1990), the mechanism of the formation of fanaticism and totalitarian dictatorship on a local scale (and fanaticism and dictatorship are inseparable from each other) is shown on material of such seemingly obvious value as Pushkin’s poems, – even from it you can mold a destructive cult.

Separate chapters of Konzen’s book are devoted to analysis – from the history of Hitler and National Socialism to terrorist groups at the beginning of the XNUMXst century, which gives the work a disturbing relevance.