And so
where masses of people must cooperate in an uncertain and eruptive
environment, it is usually necessary to secure unity and flexibility
without real consent. The symbol does that. It obscures personal
intention, neutralizes discrimination, and obfuscates individual
purpose. It immobilizes personality, yet at the same time it
enormously sharpens the intention of the group and welds that group,
as nothing else in a crisis can weld it, to purposeful action. It
renders the mass mobile though it immobilizes personality. The symbol
is the instrument by which in the short run the mass escapes from its
own inertia, the inertia of indecision, or the inertia of headlong
movement, and is rendered capable of being led along the zigzag of a
complex situation.
2
But in the longer run, the give and take increases between the leaders
and the led. The word most often used to describe the state of mind in
the rank and file about its leaders is morale. That is said to be good
when the individuals do the part allotted to them with all their
energy; when each man's whole strength is evoked by the command from
above. It follows that every leader must plan his policy with this in
mind. He must consider his decision not only on "the merits," but also
in its effect on any part of his following whose continued support he
requires. If he is a general planning an attack, he knows that his
organized military units will scatter into mobs if the percentage of
casualties rises too high.
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