How the ideas of the “banality of evil” and “gray zones” challenge the hero/villain model. Throughout the history, evildoers were thought to have a certain abnormal psychological traits that were enabling them to defy morals, in order to reach their objectives. Those who perpetrated crimes against humanity were considered to have their evilness attributed to them at all times. Thus, the popular concept of heroes opposed to villains is being formed and it dominated peoples perception in how they assessed reality, right to the end of Second World War. After horrendous crimes, perpetrated by Nazis against Jews and other nations, were being discovered, many people were shocked by the fact that those responsible for implementation of genocidal policies, appeared to be not a monsters but a regular individuals, without any pathological inclinations. Slowly, people began to realize that embodied evil doesnt necessarily have to appear charismatic in any respect the horror lies in the fact that it can be very banal. In Hanna Arendts book Eichman in Jerusalem: A report on the Banality of Evil, she tells us a story of Adolph Eichmans trial in Jerusalem in 1961, after he was being kidnapped by the Israeli secret agents in Argentina. During the Second World War, SS Sturmbanfuhrer Eichman was responsible to transportation of Jews to the extermination camps in Poland.
It is alleged that there 5 million of Jews are being transported to their deaths, while he was in charge. Although many modern historians discharge this number as being overly exaggerated, still there is no doubt that great many Jews were killed after being evacuated under Eichmans supervision. Little scrawny man, insignificant and pitiful thats how Hanna describes Eichman. It appears that he was just a burocrat, preoccupied with making career. He never hated Jews and those who had known him, described former Sturmbanfuhrer as perfect father to his children and great animal lover. All this just doesnt fit into image of monster, responsible for the deaths of millions. Levi Primo in his The Gray Zone asserts that while being kept in camp during the war, he realized that it was getting harder and harder for him to draw line between black and white.
The Essay on Evils of War 2
I always perceived war to be glorious and honourable. However, as time passed by and change has come about, my thinking has also transformed. No longer is war the glorious thing it once represented to me. Instead, it has become a monstrosity, a miserable excuse for murder, monetary gain, bloodshed and a means of justifying pride in one’s country. Soldiers are just like the pawns of their ...
He tells us of a gray zone, which defined his existence there, where definitions of right and wrong are being mixed to such degree that it was getting to be impossible to distinguish one from another. The paradox here lies in the fact that evil often had an attributes of good and vice versa: It is a gray zone, poorly defined, where the two camps of masters and slaves both diverge and converge…. The harsher the oppression, the more widespread among the oppressed is the willingness … to collaborate. We live in time when classical definitions cannot be applied to describe the essence of the subjects that we used to associate them with. For example, it is much more appropriate to discuss politics with the means of economical terminology now these days. In its turn, economy is best described with the help of criminal slang The definitions have been shifted since the advent of modern era and thats why classical ways, of how we percept good and evil, cannot guarantee any degree of objectivity.
Another book that needs to be mentioned here to illustrate this thesis is Alexander Hintons Why Did You Kill?. In it, he tries to analyze the psychology of those responsible for mass killings in Cambodia in 1975-1978 during the reign of Pol Pot. Author shows us that decision to physically eliminate the large portion of Cambodian population had only ideological reasons and was made in a cold blood. Pol Pot never aspired power for his personal needs, actually he was a revolutionary idealist and firmly believed that elimination of the whole classes of Cambodian society was crucial for building the communist paradise on Earth. 8 million people were being killed under Pol Pot. He was only the communist leader who applied Marxist concept to his own people the way it intended to be applied by its creator. Sharing wives, elimination of money, working for food for those who say now that Marxs ideas has been misinterpreted throughout the history Id like to refer to Hintons book.
The Essay on Good People Evil America One
"All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing." People look in the face of evil like it does not affect their daily life. Why do people stand aside while evil is in their midst? In this essay, I will show that it is unfortunately common for people to remain quiet while injustice flares up like wildfire. A good person who does nothing to help and improve on the wrongs of man is ...
Interestingly enough, neither of those responsible for mass killings during the Second World War or during ethnic cleansings in more recent times, had any bad conscience about what theyve done. They all thought that there was a good justification for their actions they were just carrying out orders of higher authority. In his book Behavioral Study of Obedience Stanley Milgram refers to the effect of so-called Deindividuation. This is a psychological defense method for those who participated in acts of genocide person, who wears standard uniform and gets his orders from some remote authority like everyone else, feels itself as just a little particle of a huge mechanism. And thats why we see that there is usually no remorse on the part of those who perpetrated crimes against humanity. It is logically explainable once person realizes that there is nothing depends on him, he will never have any bad conscience when it comes to participating in muss murders.
He simply doesnt have a choice. All totalitarian states practice this simple psychological technique, in order to turn its soldiers into human robots. During executions by firing squad, one rifle used to be loaded with blanks, so every executioner subconsciously hoped that there is not blame on him for killing, as it mightve been him who just fired blank. The concept of evil has been altered to a large degree lately. It is no more a villain with a bloody knife in his hand that represent the ultimate menace to us, but a faceless burocrat with a pen and suitcase, who has an immense power over peoples lives. In democratic societies there is a danger of governments being alienated from those who had elected them, over an increased anonymity of how decisions are made that affect people. In my opinion, we need to be aware that it is more likely that we will find ourselves confronted with banal evil rather than with classical one as time goes by, although it doesnt make it less dangerous for us as society.
The Term Paper on Madison Square Garden People York
Old Madison Square Garden: Fond Recollections of a True Landmark From the world cup of soccer to the superbowl, people all throughout the world have dreams of being sport stars or even just meeting their favorite athlete. It is in some peoples mind, the ideal american dream. In a time known as the roaring twenties, people throughout New York were working toward the american dream. This dream ...
Bibliography:
Arendt, Hannah.
Eichman in Jerusalem: A report on the Banality of Evil New York: Penguin, 1989. Pp.91-100 Levi, Primo. The Gray Zone New York: Fertig, 1978. Pp.83-90 Ferguson, R. Brian. Tribal Warfare.
Sterling, VA: Pluto, 1999. Pp. 69-73 Borowski, Tadeusz. This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, New York: Holt 1948. Pp. 109-117 Zinn, Howard.
Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress. Chapter 1 in A peoples History of the United States. http://www.udel.edu/educ/socstuds/Zinn.htm 22.10.2004 Milgram, Stanley. Behavioral Study of Obedience Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998. Pp. 145-149 Hinton, Alexander Laban. Why Did They Kill?: Cambodian in the Shadow of Genocide. Berkeley: U of California P, 2004. Pp 157-168.
