Murderers!!

"The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil." Hannah Arendt. As Pogo the Possum said, "we have met the enemy and he is us."

From time to time “wise” MEN, our media savants, remind us that elites cause the death of large numbers of people in order to maintain or gain power.  Usually, it has to do with conducting war.  Today, it is said that Republican leaders cynically support opposition to vaccines in order to sabotage the Biden administration and lead to future election victories. 

Note the language. By calling it “cynicism” we avoid out and out shouting “murderer!”  The implication is clear, however.  We live with people who will sacrifice other people’s lives for their own advancement and “glory.”  We not only allow them the privilege of living among us, but we elect them to high office and praise their deeds. 

It is a comforting simple description of a problem that deserves more serious analysis. For it allows us to avoid a more telling explanation, that all of us exhibit the same general unthinking, unblinking, patterns of acting and thinking.  We live the narratives and soothing assumptions of our culture—the gestalt, so to speak, of early 21st century America.  We do what other expect. We do what our “roles” call for us to do. We do the “right” thing, right” in a socially correct way, rather than dwell on “abstract” consequences. 

What I’m suggesting is this. Before we assign evil choices to others (our “enemies” in partisan warfare), consider that we all habitually act as others expect us to act, as practical necessity seems to require that we act. It is both how we “stay out of trouble,” and only in a fogged up rear-view mirror “cause trouble.”

The difference between people in power and the rest of us is that when they follow these same rules, acting in their acceptable self-interest, the consequences can be terrible. Does that make them “evil,” or “cynical,” and the rest of us “innocent?”

Yes, I accept the possibility of dangerously psychotic behavior. And we should avoid electing and following such leaders. But as Hanah Arendt said, what we call evil is on the surface, in most cases, banal (conventional, commonplace). Following the leader, fitting in with the crowd (or mob), not rocking the boat, playing the role in the game that we have chosen or were assigned.

And we can’t effectively oppose evil until we recognize this fact.

Footnote: this could be one of the one of the most important objectives of our educational system.