Hannah Arendt on Eichmann, Banality, Guilt & Obedience (1964)

Clips of Hannah Arendt from a 1964 interview with Joachim Fest. This is a version of a former upload from the other channel. The translation is my own.
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[@mrndjl]

The whole transcript of this interview was published in the book, “Thinking Without A Banister”

[@Robjay1795]

Danke fürs hochladen! Hannah Arendt ist einer der größten Denker des 20. Jahrhunderts. Ganz tolle Frau!!!

[@graysonharrisful]

Absolutely superb, enlightening conversation. Can and should be applied directly to what has taken place post 2020 regarding the "pandemic".

[@aquariandude3195]

Thanks for translating...This was deep, insightful thinking from a great intellect!

[@johnnyroycerichardsoniii3273]

Excellent! Thanks so much for sharing!!!

[@jantelopez5626]

i love her.

[@christiangarciaaguilar2837]

Thank you!

[@chantalderementeria]

Muchas gracias desde Chile

[@chopin65]

Amazing. Every young person should read Arendt.

[@ihsahnakerfeldt9280]

Absolutely fascinating

[@pasquino0733]

Why aren't we as societies REALLY absorbing and thinking about Hannah Arendt?

[@damienflinter4585]

Might it be because reflective thinking is not conducive to indu$tria£is€d productivity??

[@kellyw8017]

Because she's female.

[@Rnankn]

She always comes back to being human as thinking. And from thinking to acting and being responsible. But she does not permit exception to those who choose not to think, but thoughtlessly act as still responsible. It is a nice formulation for the holocaust. What about the 21st century? How does it apply to shareholders with limited liability? Or North Americans who spend a lifetime burning carbon into the atmosphere? How do we also hold ideas, ideologies, institutions, and systems as responsible? While it may ultimately be humans, it seems that a great many can live and die without thinking or facing responsibility for their actions - and an entire superstructure of tacitly evil non-human forces is their legacy.

[@abcrane]

Veganism is a good example. Everyone today knows how much this eliminates emissions, diseases, cruelty, but so few "take responsibility." This is why Wilhelm Reich is a critical voice on fascism. With this so called banal "going along with" of murder, there is indeed a psychological albeit subconsciously driven sadism at play. I think many people only look at the surface "polite" or "docile" shell, but often bitter rage seethes under the mask. The part one plays in systemic mass murder can be self-excused without revealing the sadistic nature hidden under a pressed suit and polished loafers. Conformists are often polite in public, vicious behind closed doors.

[@kellyw8017]

Anyone who blindly follows, including blindly following without true analysis of contrary views, is doing exactly the same thing. Hitler excited the masses into repeating his ideas about what was good for society. Everyone went along thoughtlessly. Murder became "good" for society, according to Hitler. And the masses stupidly, thoughtlesdly repeated it. Have you bothered to research contrary scientific opinion about global warming?

[@kellyw8017]

CO2 is what every animal exhales and what allows plants to live and thrive. It's not a "pollutant."

[@rommulus]

The banality of evil Commiting murder without taking any responsibility by hiding within the machine, the organization. Cowardly and despicable

[@nutznchocolates56]

Watch it again. Without judgment. Just listen. Think about it.

[@jantelopez5626]

its almost as if not having to be responsible for thinking is like a reward for these people .. like they struggle to evaluate information.. engaging in politics needs some minimum standards .. we can't keep pretending that people don't need to prove they can do the job of voter or representative

[@kellyw8017]

This is the same excuse given by everyone who goes along with bullies.

[@olap8475]

Ich war 1 jahr alt, Się hatte Recht es kommt wieder....

[@Robjay1795]

Btw: the translation is in some cases incorrect.

[@VenenoLuna]

Handeln Sie entsprechend, anstatt Ihre "Btw" Fähnchen zu schwenken.

[@wanTANdan]

둘 다 정의하지 마십시오! 💋💜

[@damienflinter4585]

Is bestiality, rather than banality, not a better term for this herd-compliant, personal comfort-seeking, mindless callousness? I've always felt banality too neutral a word for the consequences of this conformity, despite its horrifying ubiquity. Nor is it confined to the Germans..it is more an ideological militarist-cultural vacuity than an ethnic failing. The English are renowned, not least to themselves, for their sense of 'duty'.

[@kellyw8017]

And are blindly obedient Chinese or strict Muslims also in the same category? How about blindly obedient followers of a political party who ALLOW themselves to be thoughtlessly, emotionally amped up and rage against the "deplorables"?

[@damienflinter4585]

@@kellyw8017 As I wrote...'vacuity'... i.e. thoughtless, and motivated by instinctive reaction rather than consideration of counter-arguments against their jumped to conclusions. Its not confined to creed or ethnicity. Group-think trumping the individual conscience, which I believe is the faculty that humanises our simian inclinations.

[@kellyw8017]

@@damienflinter4585 Individual conscience guided by individual analysis of all competing arguments so that the conclusion isn't subjective.

[@damienflinter4585]

@@kellyw8017 I think thats our best shot for achieving an approach to inclusive objectivity...basically what is referred to as 'the scientific method', as opposed to seat-of-the-pants knee-jerk gut reaction for individual self-preservation, Eichmann's downfall and surrender of humanity. And the trouble with our predicament is that if we sidestep the conscientious effort to evolve our latent humanity we don't just fix at animal ignorance, but degenerate towards monstrosities, either as individuals or collectively as with the various strains of fascisms. And then... "Fascism is not in itself a new order of society. It is the future refusing to be born." Aneurin Bevan

[@kellyw8017]

@@damienflinter4585 Fascism and communist are both totalitarianism. And both are loser ideologies.

[@castelodeossos3947]

Mdm Arendt's insights are certainly profound. But to say that kind of stupidity is especially German is IMHO itself stupid, since Solzhenitsyn describes it in his 'Gulag Archipelago', and it can be found in all cases of totalitarianism with its institutionalised criminality. The prime example today is, of course, the bureacrats who have developed the sophisticated apparatus of oppression in the only democracy in the Middle East. It is also that kind of stupidity that allows well-educated Jews on the one hand to extol that democracy, and on the other hand to support its totalitarian policies. There is certainly none of the 'civic courage' that the judge in Eichmann's trial blamed Eichmann for not having. And it was the same stupidity that allowed those who prosecuted Eichmann not in any way to understand him, nor to understand Mdm Arendt's cogent analysis of him and his actions: what she says is 'the unwillingness to imagine what the other person is going through'.

[@robertburatt5981]

Only by stupid acceptance of the state as the absolute arbiter of law--is eichmann not a criminal.

[@Helga7850]

You start by imitating others. "The other Nazis do those atrocities, so must I". "So can I". "It's okay as long as others are doing it". Like stupid brainless sheep who follow fellow sheep. Man has become more and more primitive and stupid.

[@olap8475]

Unmacht, glaube nicht passt nicht

[@nonserviam751]

Is there any more info on Heydrich being remoresful at his deathbed? I've never heard that elsewhere.

[@aronollerer5745]

she said "maybe"