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TreasonousBastard

(43,049 posts)
37. I can't help but to go back to Hannah Ahrendt and...
Wed Dec 19, 2012, 08:40 AM
Dec 2012

her description of the "banality of evil."

She's been slammed over the years from many quarters, but her essential point that what we may consider "evil" can become the norm, and it's a fundamental human concept that we can become conditioned to it and see it as normal. Then, of course, we have to question if it is still evil if it becomes a norm. Which leads us into questions of the origins of ethics, justice, and all that. (Which, eventually, leads us into madness if we don't watch it.)

But, then there is that "unspeakable" which is so out of the norm that it demands attention. For the Nazis, who condemned millions to death without a qualm and conducted an aggressive war with more millions dead, murder for profit, revenge, or the other usual causes of murder was an outrage and relentlessly punished. Taking the jewelry of the victims of the death camps for the state was normal and accepted, but sticking a gold ring or two in your own pocket was punishable by death. Yeah, even the Nazis could have their own "unspeakables."

Here and now, we have a dull background of unspeakable deaths, but by starvation, neglect, terrible neighborhoods, low income, and the occasional murder... and who raises the alarms and call for action? One cluster of deaths by a presumed mad man and we finally notice, as well we should. But we still don't rise up against the daily carnage.

A Raid on the Unspeakable [View all] H2O Man Dec 2012 OP
I hope you are right about the President tk2kewl Dec 2012 #1
Right. H2O Man Dec 2012 #2
k&r... spanone Dec 2012 #3
Thanks! H2O Man Dec 2012 #5
Thank you, H2O Man... OneGrassRoot Dec 2012 #4
Thank you. H2O Man Dec 2012 #6
K&R Solly Mack Dec 2012 #7
Thanks! H2O Man Dec 2012 #10
In recent history another person who fits this profile is our former Cleita Dec 2012 #8
For a brief moment, H2O Man Dec 2012 #11
Not to mention Madeline Albright Fumesucker Dec 2012 #21
Robert McNamara. H2O Man Dec 2012 #24
Thank you for this post Lifelong Protester Dec 2012 #9
In school, we had H2O Man Dec 2012 #12
We didn't have a drill that day. leftyladyfrommo Dec 2012 #32
Erich Fromm is the author of The Sane Society and .... DreamGypsy Dec 2012 #13
Yikes! I should H2O Man Dec 2012 #15
Thank you for a very thoughtful post malaise Dec 2012 #14
Thank you! H2O Man Dec 2012 #16
thanks H2O Man Voice for Peace Dec 2012 #17
Very good! H2O Man Dec 2012 #20
It always seems to boil down to a change in the heart of man. zeemike Dec 2012 #18
Right. H2O Man Dec 2012 #22
Agree, but not so much to change the heart Voice for Peace Dec 2012 #27
This is just incredible mainstreetonce Dec 2012 #19
Thanks. H2O Man Dec 2012 #23
Thank you so much, H2o Man ReRe Dec 2012 #25
Very good! H2O Man Dec 2012 #26
+1 MissMarple Dec 2012 #28
Thanks! H2O Man Dec 2012 #38
Only Love can defeat the Unspeakable. Octafish Dec 2012 #29
Douglass writes: H2O Man Dec 2012 #39
Brilliant Piece Me. Dec 2012 #30
Thanks. It is no H2O Man Dec 2012 #40
As To The Muppet Me. Dec 2012 #42
KnR to read A Raid on the Unspeakable in full later Hekate Dec 2012 #31
Thanks. H2O Man Dec 2012 #41
K&R I want to read this again later! LongTomH Dec 2012 #33
Your essays are like gifts voteearlyvoteoften Dec 2012 #34
My sentiments exactly n/t coeur_de_lion Dec 2012 #36
I would like to be able to say something profound or meaningful about this tragedy coeur_de_lion Dec 2012 #35
I can't help but to go back to Hannah Ahrendt and... TreasonousBastard Dec 2012 #37
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