SUGGESTION AND THE MASSES
The important rôle of suggestion in relation to social, religious and
political phenomena is only beginning to be generally recognized.
Louis Satow has performed a very useful service in emphasizing this
aspect of the subject. As he so well points out, “many of the ideas
and conceptions which the individual believes himself to have adopted
independently and without constraint are no more than the effect of the
mass mind, which manifests itself in manners and customs and education.
On the other hand, the individual mind, especially that of the leader,
investigator or moralist, has a stimulating effect upon the mind of the
crowd.”
The mind of the crowd exercises, in certain directions, a beneficial
effect upon the progress of civilization, while in many other cases
the opinions of the crowd tend to obstruct the development of the more
progressively-minded individuals. The modern national arrogance and
national egoism, factional exclusiveness, religious bigotry, etc.,
“once more plainly demonstrate that it will be long indeed before the
mass mentality corresponds with the highest humanity and its many-sided
intellectual culture.”
Altogether too many individuals, from whom one might reasonably expect
better things, fall a prey to mass suggestion--or, less elegantly,
“follow the band-wagon.” The better-educated individual, as a member of
the crowd, often acts in direct opposition to what are normally his
own feelings and opinions.
It is doubtful, however, if persons of real culture ever so far succumb
to mob psychology as to join in tar-and-feather parties, assaults upon
working-class gatherings, or lynchings and mass atrocities. The power
of suggestion in such cases is, no doubt, very strong, especially in
its influence upon persons whose moral foundations are not too sound,
causing them to be carried away from their moorings by the more or
less contagious mob psychology. Men who are, as individuals, naturally
cowards, are apt to take advantage of the feeling of invincible power
conferred upon them for the moment by the solidarity of the crowd,
fused into a psychological unit. In many so-called “civilized” human
beings the instincts of the brute lie not very far from the surface,
only awaiting an opportunity when it will be safe to release impulses
bordering upon the sadistic.
“Merely as a result of the imitative instinct,” remarks Satow, “which
is innate in man, and plays a great part even in the animal world, the
crowd displays a much greater susceptibility to suggestion than the
individual.”
We must admit with Bechterow that, “without knowing it, until we reach
a certain level we acquire for ourselves the emotions, superstitious
ideas, opinions, tendencies, intentions and even singularities of
character of the individuals with whom we most commonly associate.”
The power of the press to produce a desired frame of public mind,
merely by the endless repetition of certain carefully chosen phrases,
was well illustrated before and during the World War. The masses are
inclined to believe anything which is suggested with sufficient force
and continued repetition. The principle was well understood by the
crafty old politician Cato, who, as is well known, concluded all his
public speeches with the phrase, “_Delenda est Carthago_” (Carthage
must be destroyed). Today we are quite familiar with equally effective
slogans, endlessly repeated. The mere name of a candidate for political
office on the wind-shield of countless automobiles is but a form of
suggestion--and it works! It is the device alike of demagogue and
plutogogue, of progressive and reactionary. Mass suggestion everywhere;
whether in peace or in war; in politics or in religion!
Many phenomena--political, social or religious institutions--can be
understood only in the light of suggestion--_suggestive compulsion_.
But here let me quote an eloquent and instructive passage from Satow’s
chapter on hypnosis and suggestion in religion (which the reader would
find it well worth while to consult):
“From the lowest forms of religion--from the belief in magic [its
earliest phase], animism, fetichism, daemons and spirits, by way of
polytheism, to monotheism, and even beyond; beneath the embittered
spiritual and material conflict between the various religions,
confessions, sects and philosophies, an eternally tedious and extremely
involved development has taken place, which has often led to the most
grievous errors and abuses. But without the omnipotent factors of
hypnosis and suggestion the psychological processes of this religious
evolution will always be a riddle. But for an insight into the peculiar
medley of the spiritual attributes of humanity, which, in addition
to, and in spite of, its intelligence exhibits an almost morbid
credulity and incapacity to form an independent opinion; but for the
hysterical excitability of the nervous system; but for the phenomena
of auto-hypnosis and auto-suggestion, mass susceptibility and mass
hallucination, religious belief would remain utterly inexplicable.
Whether we consider the Indian yogis, the Buddhist priests, the
Egyptian, Chinese, or Persian sages, the pagan, or Jewish, or Christian
hierarchies, and whether the events in question occurred in a hoary
antiquity or only yesterday, the picture is always the same: the
masses, by all possible means, are kept in bondage to superstition and
ignorance, and then a net of suggestion is dropped over their heads, so
that the power of priestcraft may be maintained.... By most people the
dangers of ecclesiastical suggestion are either underestimated or are
simply not recognized at all.”
Throughout the long history of man’s inhumanity to man, we see in
operation the forces of hypnotism and suggestion. Prof. Otto Stoll,
while recognizing, for example, that the Crusades had their roots in
economic and political, as well as religious, conditions, nevertheless
contends that “all the attempts of the historians to point to movements
of this character as the logical consequence of the motive forces
issuing from the ephemeral but universal conditions of the age,
are powerless to explain, in a satisfactory manner, without the
all-significant factor of suggestibility, either their extent or the
direction which they assumed.”
The direction which the piety of the Crusades at the first capture of
Jerusalem took was to tear babes from the breasts of “infidel” mothers
and dash their brains out against the walls; to ravish every woman
seized; rip open the abdomens of men to see whether they had swallowed
any money; drive the Jews into their synagogues and burn them to death;
slaughter others even in the churches; and massacre in all 70,000 men,
women and children--“for Christ’s sake.” An archbishop chronicles with
evident satisfaction: “Surely have these things happened in accordance
with the righteous judgment of God.”[7]
[7] Quoted by Satow, _Op. cit._, Pages 191-92.
Such are the fruits of mass suggestion! Nor need we go back to the
Middle Ages for examples. Some of us still remember the Ludlow
massacre, the Everett mass-murder, and other exhibitions of “idealism”
and “patriotism” under suggestion.
Now comes Mr. William Jennings Bryan reiterating daily through the
press and on the platform that the theory of evolution is based upon
the “mere unsupported guesses of biologists and psychologists,” and
that only men and women who accept “the word of God”--as revealed in
the Book of Genesis--are fit to teach in our schools and colleges. By
the law of suggestion, acting on minds with as little knowledge of
science as is possessed by “the great commoner” himself, a wave of
reaction is sweeping the country; and nine states have already made
“Bible reading” compulsory in our public schools. The end in view is,
of course, to _suggest_ to the rising generation that the so-called
Books of Moses are authoritative works of science, derived directly
from Jehovah. Meanwhile, Mr. William Sunday has been appealing to a
still lower order of intelligence with his assertion that “Charles
Darwin is in hell,” and _suggesting_ that all who accept the doctrine
of evolution in preference to the legends of the ancient Babylonians,
Assyrians and Armenians are destined to join him in a hell quite
unknown to these ancient poets and chroniclers.[8]
[8] The writers of the Old Testament speak only of “Sheol” (Job X,
21)--a great pit under the earth, derived from the Babylonian “Arallu”
and akin to the Greek “Hades”, where the spirits of the dead--good,
bad or indifferent--went. “Hell-fire” and “brimstone” are a much later
invention.
It has been alleged by many prominent writers of the day that a
movement is on foot to arouse a spirit of militarism in the United
States, in the interest of imperialist finance, which, it is pointed
out, needs a strong army and navy. Can it be that we are being
prepared--by _suggestion_--for the next “war to end war”? Let us hope
that this fear is groundless, that “Defense Day” meant only what it was
asserted to mean, and not--“Delenda est Carthago”! It would surely be
deplorable if a war psychology were permitted to gain even the smallest
momentum. Otherwise the few lessons learned from the recent World War
would soon be lost in a deluge of _suggestive_ propaganda.
“Over and over again,” truly remarks Satow, “has the question been
asked: How was it that the war was so terribly widespread, the armies
so enormous? Of course, numerous well-founded reasons have been
found--historical, political and economic--but none of them suffices
unless we take into account the great, the truly powerful factor: _Mass
Suggestion!_... The partial and exaggerated sense of nationality,
national arrogance and national covetousness, on which the mass
suggestion thrives so exuberantly, furnish a fruitful soil for the war
mentality.”