Fanaticism
 

A "fanatic" is a person who. . .

 

  
  • Allows his/her beliefs to dominate all other aspects of life
  • Ignores signs that contradict his/her beliefs
  • Deserts earlier alliances
  • Ignores feelings of compassion
  • Obeys his/her leader
  • Replaces individuality with allegiance to a group of co-believers
  • Sees the world in only two categories:  Those who are with him/her and those who are against him/her
  • Go from having several identities to having a single one
  • Reduce contact with persons of different opinion
  • The most important thing for a fanatic is belonging to a group.  This is how he/she will seek affirmation of ones existence.

 

  
For a fanatic, the saying "I think, therefore I am" transforms into "We are, therefore I am"

 

  
   
The following quote by Freud helps explain a fanatic:

 

  
" . . .a religion, even if it calls itself the religion of love, must be hard and unloving to those who do not belong to it.  Fundamentally indeed every religion is in this same way a religion of love for all those whom it embraces; while cruelty and intolerance towards those who do not belong to it are natural to every religion."

 

  
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This is a site created for Biotechnology and Human Values (ISSI470), an academic course at Monmouth College.