Hannah Arendt, a political theorist and Holocaust survivor, was sent to Jerusalem by The New Yorker in 1961 to cover Adolf Eichmann’s trial, a high ranking SS-Officer in Nazi Germany, widely regarded as the primary bureaucratic architect behind the Final Solution.
Evil comes from a failure to think. It defies thought, for as soon as thought tries to engage itself with evil and examine the premises and principles from which it originates, it is frustrated because it finds nothing there. That is the banality of evil.
Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil
Arendt’s report on the Eichmann trial sparked a furious controversy. Readers expected the depiction of a monster, a cruel, inhumane, insane murderer. Somebody evidently not like them, a stark contrast.
Instead, Hannah Arendt reported,
The trouble with Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic; they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal.
Eichmann’s terrifying normalcy transcended the atrocities for which he was eventually sentenced.
A weak, passive, unimaginative, obedient bureaucrat, not a fanatic, Eichmann probably would have done whatever job he was given in any system, fascist or democratic.
[…]he had no motives at all… He merely, to put the matter colloquially, never realized what he was doing… It was sheer thoughtlessness[…] That such remoteness from reality and such thoughtlessness can wreak more havoc than all the evil instincts taken together which, perhaps, are inherent in man — that was, in fact, the lesson one could learn in Jerusalem.
Subsequently, Arendt’s report became pivotal in comprehending the totalitarian system, in which evil is a mere banality.
In war, truth is the first casualty. The propaganda of any totalitarian state nourishes its power like a parasite, a virus contaminating the passive, numb individual mind.
But to be passive, thoughtless, in the face of evil is not to be innocent.
After the war, the Allied Council attempted to identify the individual degree of guilt in a process called Denazification.
There were 5 categories, ranging from major offenders to exonerated individuals. The 4th category, ‘Mitläufer’, applied to the vast majority.
While they were not necessarily fervent supporters of the regime, they were followers of a system dependent on their passive obedience, thoughtlessness.
It is one of the triumphs of the human that he can know a thing and still not believe it.
John Steinbeck, East of Eden
My grandmother grew up in Hitler’s Germany. Her generation was exempt from Denazification on the basis of being brainwashed.
Yet, the guilt remained with her for the rest of her life, and it was a rare occurrence to hear her speak about her personal experience.
‘People disappeared and they never returned. We saw trains, filled with women, children, they told us they were sending them to work in the east.’
There was enough to see for the mind to know the truth. Ignorance is a conscious choice, made once and then locked away in the roaring depth of the guilty subconscious.
Truth is often inconvenient. It’s easier to side with the majority. To see the truth and to choose not to believe it, it may not make you guilty, but it certainly doesn’t make you innocent.
It’s a betrayal of a man’s mind to feed it with lies. The guilt is permanent. You don’t recover from accepting propaganda. It’s a cruel seed planted in the mind.
The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
We have power over our mind. We can be in control of our thoughts. But the brain is ultimately a muscle. If not trained rigorously, it fades, crumbles, deceives — an error in the system, a failure to think.
To be resilient, the mind needs to be held accountable, challenged and shaped, rigorously, nourished with discipline, courage, and curiosity.
To resist misinformation, we need a disciplined mind, and discipline is a virtue not inherent to man. Yet, it is the path to freedom, and peace.
To be human in this new artificial world, is to think.
About the Creator
Anna
Nomadic writer from France, currently embracing life in Asia. Seeking inspiration off the beaten path. When I'm not writing, you'll find me in the water.
Red Shelves
Death is a black hole. Think about it. A black hole is the corpse of a star, something once warm and bright, now come to the end of its life cycle. But some will argue that the cycle of life does not end with death. That death is merely another path we must walk once our bodies expire and our souls ascend. In that moment, when the fuel in the star’s chemical tank hits empty and the shiny matte coat explodes into supernova, the mass left behind – the corpse – becomes a black hole. We understand that, around such a vast cadaver, dimensions work a little differently in death to the way we’re used to in life. For example, light cannot escape the pull of a black hole when it hits the point of no return. That’s where it gets its colour. Space itself is contorted by a black hole. That’s where it gets its funny shape. Even time. Time slows right down the closer you get to it. The closer you get to a black hole. The closer you get to death.
By Matthew Curtisabout 3 hours ago in Humans
Why are young people addicted to e-cigarettes?
Hello everyone and everyone who has come to the group 247 program in recent days, the story about electronic cigarettes like VP and the post is a huge concern, not only for parents and teachers. Teachers, schools, and even the people who run the country are feeling extremely insecure today. The Prime Minister personally had to take action to suppress this because of electronic drugs. If it's true as advertised, then It's not as harmful as the regular kind, but when it comes back to Vietnam, it's transformed into countless different forms, even one that removes stimulants inside. There's no way to know what the guy selling it is advertising. The guy who buys it sounds right and just puts it in his mouth and smokes it, but he doesn't know what its chemical structure is. That's why it's extremely dangerous. The whole country is now full of idiots, so I don't know when it will develop. Okay, e-cigarette e-cigarette e-cigarette essential oils have a very diverse scent, including citrus, jackfruit, coconut, melon, pear, apple, guava, and sometimes even the smell of burning grass. Oh my gosh, that's so strange. That's the question. Why do young people today like these e-cigarettes? Why don't they smoke traditional cigarettes or pipe tobacco? Like the old people, what is the cause of this disease? Find out the cause. Only then can we come up with a solution. The answer is: There are three main reasons causing this situation. The first reason is young people. They have a strong belief that e-cigarettes is less harmful to health than regular cigarettes. This is an extremely difficult belief to shake and I don't understand what scientific reason people can come to such a conclusion. Is this a media trick of the government? e-cigarette industry or not? The second reason is that e- cigarettes are cheaper than regular cigarettes and the best thing is that whoever smokes them doesn't invite anyone's family to crave cigarettes, but now you After spending it alone, he started smoking without inviting him, but suddenly he felt shy, but if he invited her, he would waste money because of his fat dog mouth, how much could he ask for? VP V That po belongs to whoever he smokes, but he has no concept of asking for anything. It's extremely convenient. Not to mention that when you smoke, once you light it, you have to use it. You can't stop it anymore. The cigarette he took was only two puffs, but it was all burned and wasted. It's useless, my disciple. If you smoke it, you can smoke it in one puff and pay for it. It's extremely cheap and the reason is that. Dad makes young people like e-cigarettes. That's because its smoke is not as annoying as regular cigarette smoke. That's why you should smoke it. In air-conditioned spaces, there are old and young people. very comfortable, don't worry about discrimination from people around, it doesn't have bad breath, it doesn't get stuck on clothes like cigarettes. In addition, its taste also suits each person's preferences and it It's so pleasant. That's why almost everyone who has tried it is addicted. He likes the apple flavor, but it has an apple flavor. He likes the mint flavor, not the mint. He likes the vanilla flavor, but it doesn't have any. Van Ni always has everything, it's personalized to each person, not like smoking Thang Long. There's only Thang Long, there's no such thing as Thang Long. Hanoi and Thang Long sold in Saigon all have the same smell, there is no personalization for each person at all. That's why young people don't like to smoke traditional cigarettes and have their own reasons. There are three main reasons why young people like to smoke e-cigarettes: one is that they believe it is not as harmful as the traditional type, the second is that the cost of use is cheaper, and the third is that it personalizes its smoke to each person. The discomfort doesn't affect the people around. Overall, it's much better than cigarettes, and here I'm talking about genuine electronic cigarettes, not the kind that are laced with stimulants. That's why the current solution for item one is the belief that e-cigarettes are less harmful than traditional cigarettes. This must be for reputable scientists to conclude and publish. I can only confirm it, but now it's all people without expertise saying it, so it's extremely difficult to know if it's a media trick of traditional tobacco companies, so why do they have to let the manufacturers know? Only with reputable science do we know which is more harmful? As for the cost of smoking e-cigarettes, which is lower than traditional cigarettes, the best solution is to heavily tax both of them. That's it, they've been doing this tax game in foreign countries for a long time, like in China, which borders our country. A pack of cigarettes is cheap, but it costs 2,300 thousand, but it's not much, it's 10 times more than the price to buy cigarettes in Vietnam. Vietnam, I'm not stopping you from smoking. If you want to smoke, give me the money and I'll let you smoke. If you smoke for a while, if you think it's too expensive, you'll have to quit. It does n't matter. I have to forbid you to smoke anything. But these toxic products are taxed heavily and that's it, we can't let this very paradoxical situation in Vietnam: the price of milk and the price of medicine are so expensive, while the price of alcohol, beer and Cigarettes are so cheap, it only applies to genuine e-cigarettes. There's no need to ban that, just tax it heavily, whoever has the money, I'll let them smoke it and that's it. As for the modified e-cigarettes, the type that has essential oils mixed with drugs, those people don't need to ban them anymore, they have to punch them, they have to bury them, otherwise they will die. destroying an entire generation of our country and returning to e-cigarettes, only through these events can we see how our elders used to play, they are real playboys, right? Young people nowadays smoke with po, but for the elderly, it's just Chip Hoi, don't talk about the drug on the lamp table, just talk about pipe tobacco and you'll see that it's less harmful. New tobacco in writing my brothers are smoking a lot, everything is natural and grown Organic 100 ph, but what are the ingredients of pipe tobacco? What are pipe tobacco leaves and then what is a pipe smoking pipe? It's a bamboo pipe Oh my god, there's nothing artificial, no wonder why our elders talk nonsense like dragons Oh my god, it smells good, nourishes the lungs and destroys tuberculosis. Their pipe tobacco is like a drug addict. Nowadays, Cuban chicken is rolled with pure cigar leaves, not which leaf is used to make the skin, which leaf is used to make the flesh, which leaf is used to make the burning bone. How to create a Smell? If you wrap it too tightly, the breath won't be able to suck in like a punch in the mouth, but if it's too loose, the vapor will get in a lot and it'll make your mouth hot. They're actually hobbyists, they smoke burning leaves, not to mention the When smoking a cigar, they don't inhale it into their lungs, they just inhale it into their mouth and then exhale through their nose. That's why cigars are so expensive. That's why a genuine fan smokes about 2-3 million a cigar. It's as light as a Hong's feather. Anyone who smokes dick will ruin their image and harm their health. Now you smoke dick. Do you know what substances are in that essential oil? That's it. Cigarettes are the same, in essence, cigarettes are not that harmful because they are also made from tobacco plants and are also natural, but the only thing about the cigarettes I smoke is the filler. on the inside and the wrapping paper on the outside, that's what's so disgusting. Manufacturers often have to add extra skin to preserve the flavor for a longer time. The color quality of the tobacco fibers is even changed. Completely changes the perceived quality of cigarette smoke, proving that cigarettes also have a mint flavor, that's why it's so toxic. Not to mention the cigarette rolling paper, Oh my god, that's extremely toxic. Because it is a special type of paper to qualify for cigarette rolling paper, it needs to be thin and flammable, but it must burn slowly. The burning speed of the rolling paper must be equivalent to the burning speed. Is there a cigarette inside? Now, take the newspaper and start rolling that cigarette in. You'll try smoking it. Oh my gosh, he's denying it so much. If you don't believe it, just ask fellow anglers and you'll know it's not natural. Fellow anglers, they don't have to buy their own rolling paper. That's why Cigarette rolling paper consists of many ingredients. The main ingredients include softwood pulp and hardwood pulp. In addition, It consists of the main additives, which are fillers, fire aids and CaCO3 starch, which are raw materials to make fillers, put into the rolling paper in a certain ratio so that when it is sucked, the amount of air will be removed. If it's too little, it won't taste good, but if it's too much, it'll be hot. In traditional language, people call it the air permeability. The second is the fire aid, which is citrate, and the last is sodium citrate. Starch is also added to the rolling paper to increase the binding ability between the pulp and the G additives are added mainly because of the G additives in the core as well as the additives above. That's why Cigarettes are known as the world's leading killer. According to BBC statistics, they have calculated that the three inventions that cause the most deaths in humankind in modern history. The nuclear bomb only won third prize, but the AK47 gun only won second prize. It's a traditional cigarette, but traditional cigarettes kill people worse than AK47 guns and nuclear bombs. Of course you I'm not saying this to advise you guys to quit because I'm also a smoker, but what I want to say is that if you keep cursing young people in that one- sided way, I'm afraid it's not okay. Why do I curse people? Let's say the toxicity of e-cigarettes is equal to the toxicity of traditional cigarettes. Then as long as the smoke element alone doesn't cause discomfort to people around you. It's just that e- cigarettes have surpassed regular cigarettes. That's why, if we look at official e-cigarettes alone, young people are more civilized than our brothers. We smoked cigarettes when we died. After my mother had done that, the cigarette ash that was sprinkled out was dirty. It just looks like the ashtrays of drug addicts Oh my gosh. Sometimes it makes me sad to look at it. That's why if I had the money, I would I just smoke cigars, it's less harmful to my health and it shows me off. This is a hobbyist, but there are things like cigarettes with that aspect, so stop quitting it. Let's give it some medicine to make it healthy. Now it's also laced with all sorts of things, so it's not as pure as the old people used to smoke it anymore, it's very toxic. I really advise you guys to quit smoking, I promise. I'll quit tomorrow too. The most important thing is how long can I quit smoking? I understand, I'm not joking, but I really advise you that you must quit smoking, not only is it good for your health, guys? You have to live to have views, right? Dong, not to mention that you guys quit smoking, just quit for a month and you'll have enough money to buy a Xiaomi TV from dad's prbs, right? That's it, that's it. I'll give you an example like that. I mean, I mean, if you quit smoking, you'll be able to save some money. I mean, that amount of money to buy a TV, Then you all know what to do,
By Mai Văn Hòaabout 5 hours ago in Humans
Vocal Bonus Leaderboard: 05/08/2024
Welcome to the weekly update of the Leaderboard! We're thrilled to showcase Vocal's most discussed stories, popular picks, and rising stars. Let's dive into this past week's standout contributors and their remarkable achievements.
By Vocal Team7 days ago in Resources
Comments (1)
Profound ideas, beautifully delivered. This made a mark on me!🙌🏾