The Hate Merchant
by Niven Busch
The Hate Merchant, published in 1953, is a novel about a charismatic pitchman named Caspar Damion Splane who discovers he can manipulate people by selling them hate, turning a revival meeting into a profitable, hate-fueled movement. The book explores themes of manipulation, power and the dangers of unchecked rhetoric, as Splane uses his persuasive voice to exploit the loneliness and suffering of others for personal gain, becoming rich by selling fear and division.
note: And this is the latest book I picked up at a library sale and just began reading. An early 1950's novel that appears to prophesize 2026 American leadership.
After only two chapters, nineteen pages into reading, and the author has clearly exposed deficiencies in the protagonist Splane. He is not a kind-hearted man but one who is in desperate need of getting revenge for slights real or imagined. Perhaps this story will slowly reveal all that has led up to Splane becoming Splane.
Was it a broken childhood home, a failed business venture, a spurned love interest, or just a warped egotistical outlook on life and the world. The horror would be if he, or any human being is born with such a need to feel right and superior at the detriment of others.
"The Hate Merchant" looks to be a story about a man who plots and plans chaos, fear and destruction due mostly to his own shortcomings and lack of empathy. Its apparent his main issue is he hates himself. He is the hate that hate gives and feeds on. And Splane is clever enough to find a public platform for spewing out hate on a fearful, receptive audience.
Yes, Splane fits the manipulative, self-centered narcissist who would rather burn down society than fix it or seek help to fix himself.
So, I come to this character analysis on what to expect after reading only nineteen pages. Well, let's see just how it plays out and if fiction has predicted future realities.
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And here it is. Only a little over one-hundred pages into the novel. Our protagonist Splane, while speaking on a platform promoting Christian values and salvation, has stumbled upon the food of hate in his message to a revenge-hungering evangelical audience.
". . . and to those powers," he finished, "the evil and conniving men and women, betraying this fair land for profit in her hour of greatest need - to the treachery of the betrayer, yes, to the wiles of Satan himself and his colleagues in Washington, D. C., and elsewhere we throw down the gauntlet. Let them do their worst. We shall prevail."
Not long after vilifying politicians in their capital with characterizations of evil, conniving, treacherous betrayers for profit to the wiles of Satan, Splane grabs onto one listener's antisemitic remark aimed toward the local department store Silversteen's, named for its Jewish owner. And with clever, cunning ease the once street hawker of cheap goods has the ideal merchandise for the ripe and ready consumer. Hate!
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