Destruction mania

By: Elias Canetti
Translated by: Aristidh Ristani

It is often spoken of as a mania that has measures to destroy: Such a mania is its first conspicuous characteristic, and it cannot be denied that it is found everywhere, in the most diverse countries and civilizations. This mania, which is the truth, is noticed and condemned, but it is never properly explained.

Mass likes to destroy houses and things more. Since it is often about breakable items, such as glass, mirrors, vases, paintings and plates, people are inclined to believe that it is precisely this fragility of the items that entices the masses to destroy them.

Certainly the noise of destruction, the breaking of dishes, and the tinkling of glasses, do much to increase the pleasure: They are the strong vital sounds of a new creature; are the cries of a newborn.

The ease with which they are obtained makes these sounds even more pleasant, all the noises come and join in one uturi, and the tinkling is the clapping of things. A special need for this kind of noise seems to appear at the beginning of events, when the crowd does not yet consist of many people and when little or nothing at all has happened. The noise heralds the arrival of expected reinforcements, and bodes well for future exploits.

But it would be a mistake to believe that the ease of breaking is the decisive element in this case. It has happened that people attacked the sculptures of solid stone and did not calm down before mutilating and disfiguring them until they were completely unrecognizable. The heads and wings of the Greek gods have been destroyed by Christians.

Sculptures of saints have been toppled by reformers and revolutionaries, sometimes from heights at the risk of life, and often the stone they tried to break was so strong that they were forced to abandon their work halfway through.

The destruction of sculptures that symbolize something, embodies the destruction of a hierarchy that people no longer recognize. Commonly established distances are violated, distances that are visible to all humanity and that have universal value. The strictness of such distances has been an expression of their durability; they are thought to have existed for a long time, so upright and immovable from the land, and it was impossible to approach them with hostile intent. But now they have collapsed and turned into ruins. This action represents the completion of the download process.

The most impressive of all the means of destruction is fire. He appears from afar, attracts other people and destroys irreparably. After a fire, nothing remains as it was before. The mass that sets fire calls itself invincible. Everyone will join him as the fire starts and burns. He will destroy everything hostile to her. As will be seen below, fire is the most powerful symbol there is for mass. After every destruction, the fire must also be extinguished as the mass dissolves.