"About Evil".....I never really understood all the furor and worldwide "horror" and allegations against HA. I completely understand HA and can appreciate all her post explanations.
1. the tone, the irony: if you are not receptive to irony, you will not understand it. HA had to laugh because of Eichmann's simple one-dimensionality and she responded in writing with irony. That was her tone. The "tone" of voice is unique to all of us. It is your, it is my voice. This is, by the way, also a proof and indication of plurality. One is not able to defend against ad hominem accusations. That is so, one is helpless.
2. bureaucracy: "as a deadening form of thought that prevents people from holding themselves accountable." -
Full of clichés and platitudes. -Unable to speak independently combined with the inability to think from another's point of view.
3. stubbornness - like talking to a brick wall. - Yes, and this is not demonic - this is banal!
Pts. 2 and 3 I can credibly add.... In my younger years - between 15 and 25 - I received a long, highly qualified training as an administrative official and also did this job. I therefore know exactly what qualities one must have, either personally or professionally, to be the ideal Eichmann. I can confirm that bureaucracy and bullheadedness are the ideal breeding ground for personalities like Eichmann. And: perhaps the most important thing for a witness in this matter: I am German and born early enough to allow myself a politically sound judgment on the last 50 years in Germany.
What remains? I am not sure. And sometimes perplexed and sometimes despondent. And not very optimistic. "Can thinking prevent evil". If Eichman could not think, then the world today is full of potential Eichmans. That is the problem. That is what worries. The resume of the Jünger story is not enough ...... "This story illustrates what Arendt means by imagining the world from the perspective of another. It is an empathetic act of the imagination. And for Arendt, it is a radically human act that attends to the plurality of all living beings. Men and not man inhabit the earth and build the world in common. And because this is precisely what Eichmann was incapable of doing in her view, he was guilty of crimes against humanity, for violating this principle of plurality."
The damned question is, what do we have to do practically to bring this principle at least back into view? I pray that it is not already too late.
---Thx to the author. Valuable contribution. As always. ❤️
"About Evil".....I never really understood all the furor and worldwide "horror" and allegations against HA. I completely understand HA and can appreciate all her post explanations.
1. the tone, the irony: if you are not receptive to irony, you will not understand it. HA had to laugh because of Eichmann's simple one-dimensionality and she responded in writing with irony. That was her tone. The "tone" of voice is unique to all of us. It is your, it is my voice. This is, by the way, also a proof and indication of plurality. One is not able to defend against ad hominem accusations. That is so, one is helpless.
2. bureaucracy: "as a deadening form of thought that prevents people from holding themselves accountable." -
Full of clichés and platitudes. -Unable to speak independently combined with the inability to think from another's point of view.
3. stubbornness - like talking to a brick wall. - Yes, and this is not demonic - this is banal!
Pts. 2 and 3 I can credibly add.... In my younger years - between 15 and 25 - I received a long, highly qualified training as an administrative official and also did this job. I therefore know exactly what qualities one must have, either personally or professionally, to be the ideal Eichmann. I can confirm that bureaucracy and bullheadedness are the ideal breeding ground for personalities like Eichmann. And: perhaps the most important thing for a witness in this matter: I am German and born early enough to allow myself a politically sound judgment on the last 50 years in Germany.
What remains? I am not sure. And sometimes perplexed and sometimes despondent. And not very optimistic. "Can thinking prevent evil". If Eichman could not think, then the world today is full of potential Eichmans. That is the problem. That is what worries. The resume of the Jünger story is not enough ...... "This story illustrates what Arendt means by imagining the world from the perspective of another. It is an empathetic act of the imagination. And for Arendt, it is a radically human act that attends to the plurality of all living beings. Men and not man inhabit the earth and build the world in common. And because this is precisely what Eichmann was incapable of doing in her view, he was guilty of crimes against humanity, for violating this principle of plurality."
The damned question is, what do we have to do practically to bring this principle at least back into view? I pray that it is not already too late.
---Thx to the author. Valuable contribution. As always. ❤️
Now I can't get the image out of my head of Hannah Arendt reading over the 3600 page Eichmann transcript and being like "lol"