the Wave: by Todd Strasser and Morton Rhue.

I remember seeing a short film on television some time ago about this, I remember being horrified as the story progressed since it was obvious where it was going, I remember we were impressed in many ways including about the teacher who knew how easy it was to start a mass movement and how it simply caught on and had a life of its own no matter how false the premises and how worthless the ideas.

It all started when a high school class of students of history questioned how a whole nation could be mesmerised into so false a set of ideas making an ideology into thinking and resulting horrendous actions as the nazi movement, and the teacher thought it was a matter of mass psychology - it is easier to follow the crowd, and most people do, discarding the evidence or experiences or logic that goes counter to the mass and joining in putting away any doubts, no matter how horrible the actions required of them in order to continue.

It is interesting to read a bunch of opinions and reviews about this book on a site for readers, seemingly from a requirement in a high school class, and see the variety of praise and discomfort, reasons given for either or none given. Almost an experiment parallel to the story of the book - and if one went behind the subconscious reasons of discomfort behind the reviews that dislike this book and are uncomfortable or worse about having to read it and write about it, one would find a truth easy enough to see.

It is not merely fascism or nazi movement that were supported with mass hysteria and need to conform for security, giving up all thought and logic and evidence around. This applies to all totalitarian thought, including but not limited to communism.

This applies to any and all faiths or religions that require total unquestioning belief along lines prescribed by a central authority, in a book and an institution that limits independent inquiry.

It applies to fashion, school groups, modes of thought prevalent (such as anyone who thinks and reads is a nerd while bullies must be kowtowed to and sport jocks get everything they ask or don't even ask including droit de seigneur through school and forever) and more.

Naturally there are bound to be people uncomfortable with this book, and perhaps those that expressed a positive opinion are merely going along with a requirement - at least some of them - while some discomfort expressed is due to a subconscious realisation of quite how much the uncomfortable one is aware that they and their society are not that different in following a pied piper or a bunch of them.

Few religions or faiths encourage or even allow independent thought, and those that do are usually at receiving end of much disapprobation by members of other faiths due to lack of a fixed authority, a central institution, the very tolerance that allows thought and independent realisation by anyone and everyone within the religion so victimised in name of monotheism.

For any faith that professes monotheism usually also insists that its own version, name, description of the said monotheo is the only real one, and another one professing equal but different monotheism therefore is suitable for a war waged understandably by both. But another faith or religion or culture that allows respect for any and every possible name or form or appearance or descent of the Divine makes such conversionist religions and their followers extremely uncomfortable, and this results in propaganda against the tolerant faith and culture - a propaganda consisting of lies, vicious lies and muck with much ignorance about higher realms, and a deep seated vicious unwillingness to learn or know or open oneself.

Such attacks in name of monotheism are usually no different from the mass hysteria described in this book against any dissenter.