Dear Reader,
Welcome to #20Tuesdays: 20 lessons from Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism.
As we barrel toward another election, I wanted to create a space for people to come together.
Thinking back on the past ten years of teaching Origins, I’ve made a list of the most important lessons from Arendt’s work that students return to time and again. From now until November 5th, I will share one lesson with you on Tuesdays.
You can find past posts here.
Until Tuesday,
Sam
Lesson #2: Lies are more plausible and appealing to reason than reality.
Key quotes:
Lies are often much more plausible, more appealing to reason than reality, since the liar has the great advantage of knowing beforehand what the audience wishes or expects to hear.
Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.
Truthfulness has never been counted among the political virtues, and lies have always been regarded as justifiable tools in political dealings. (from “Lying in Politics”)
Core idea:
Totalitarian thinking simplifies the complexity of human relations. And politicians use lies to appeal to the human desire for simplicity, predictability, and an inner sense of moral righteousness. Because of this, lies are much more appealing to reason than reality. Reality is messy. Reality is unpredictable. Reality is the complex web of human relations, which requires us to share the world together. And in order to win the masses the liar must create contempt for “the facts.” They create contempt for the facts by fabricating an alternate reality, one that is often marked by a promise of order. And that alternate reality is not a lie at all in the traditional sense—it’s their future public policy program.
Relevance for today:
The political utility of lies
In The Origins of Totalitarianism, Arendt argues that totalitarian leaders want victory at the expense of reality, and that this victory institutes a “lying world order.” To live in a lying world order is to live in world of radical deception, which leads to suspicion, cynicism, a loss of faith in political institutions, and one another. And in this way lying isolates individuals from one another. No one is to be trusted, nothing is real.
Falsehood is the opposite of truth, and deliberate lies intentionally hide reality.
It’s dangerous to conflate reality with truth. Politicians discovered that the conflation of reality with truth meant that all one had to do was fabricate the truth (not the facts) in order to create a new reality.
And so, fascist propaganda has never been satisfied with merely lying, the lie is simply an instrument used to create a new reality—to bring about a new order.
Fascism lies the truth. Here’s the example Arendt gives: One cannot reason with a potential murderer about whether or not their victim is dead. All the potential murderer has to do to bring about the reality of their lie is to shoot the victim. That is, they state the lie as though were already reality to create the conditions to make it a reality.
One way politicians get you to buy their lies:
Mass movements are fueled by contempt. And mass leaders use propaganda to make people feel contemptuous. Today, this is called the “outrage economy.” Contempt destroys the ability to think clearly. Clearly means that one is able to ground oneself before responding. Our current political climate relies upon people responding re-actively instead of intentionally. It’s a reaction climate, literally. Social media depends upon reactions to content to generate revenue. And the most infuriating thing you can do to someone who is trying to get you to react is to say: “I’m going to think about that.” Because what they are counting on you doing in that moment is not thinking about it. The last thing they want you to do is to think about it.
One way to stop it:
The next time a news segment or a conversation starts to raise your blood pressure, instead of responding from a reactive place, take a moment for yourself. That is a red flag. Turn off the TV. Excuse yourself from the conversation. Put down the phone. Be curious about what has caused the reaction inside of you and ask where it is coming from. Odds are, if its related to politics, that reaction was the intended outcome.
Questions for conversation:
What does contempt feel like to you? What does it look like?
Imagine yourself at your angriest and most contemptuous. How do you make decisions during moments of overwhelm?
Imagine yourself at your best and most peaceful. How do you make decisions during moments of calm?
When was the last time you went 24 hours without opening a computer, turning on a television, or looking at a phone?
Thank you for reading!
Next week: Why mass leaders rely on propaganda.
Until Tuesday,
Sam
From the archive:
Great idea, Samantha! I shared this on my Facebook page, in the hope of finding you a few new readers.
Staggering in its resemblance to our situation today