The Banality of Evil

 

The other day I wrote about the re-emergence of anti-Semitism in Hungary and there were several thoughtful responses. All of us wonder how movements like this rear their ugly heads, and what motivates hatred.

Following that blog I read a review of a new film, a dramatization of the life of Hannah Arendt. I saw a trailer for this film Hannah Arendt and it immediately intrigued me. Arendt came to prominence writing a series of articles which became a book called Eichmann in Jerusalem, which were about the trial of the infamous Nazi war criminal.

Arendt was struck by the bureaucratic blandness of Eichmann, captured in her phrase “the banality of evil.” The review in the New York Times offers "her description of Eichmann as a thoughtless, bloodless functionary rather than a monster led to accusations that she was defending him, just as her discussion of the role of Jewish leaders in the destruction of their communities provoked charges of victim blaming." With the passage of time most have come to see that Arendt as historian, journalist and philosopher was attempting to delve into the darker recesses of a terrible evil.

To complicate matters, Arendt was the lover of philosopher Martin Heidegger who was a member of the Nazi party and never repented of that involvement.

We see repeatedly that warped religion, false nationalism, and the lure of financial gain, can lead ordinary people into extraordinary wrongdoing. What a reminder that we should be deeply suspicious of any invitation to do harm in God's name, and that we need to "test the spirits," to ask whether our suppositions about others are motivated by love or hatred, as banal as either might seem.

I hope I have a chance to see this film although it is unlikely to come to "a theatre near you" or me.

Any further comments on the nature of evil and how we see it expressed?