The Banality of Evil: How Ordinary People Do Terrible Things?

In this deeply thought-provoking video, we explore the disturbing concept of 'the banality of evil,' coined by philosopher Hannah Arendt after witnessing the trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann. Arendt's work forces us to confront the truth that even ordinary people can commit monstrous acts when they surrender their critical thinking and moral compass. We'll examine how systems can corrupt, the dangers of blind obedience, and the importance of cultivating empathy, questioning authority, and maintaining our individual responsibility in a complex world.
#philosophy #motivation #life #selfimprovement #selfawareness #growth #history #evil #nazis #hannahrendt #morality #ethics #conscience #responsibility #obedience #propaganda #systems #truth #questioneverything

[@charleskesner1302]

She speaks to us today. Thanks.

[@astaneidenisa]

"Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating." - Simone Weil

[@elainefell7943]

Thank you so very much for writing that quote - it is wonderful.

[@astaneidenisa]

@@elainefell7943 You're very welcome. Although her legacy is controversial, I find some of her ideas truly compelling

[@markantrobus8782]

Thank you for her observation.

[@Ravenelvenlady]

Stanley Milgram's social experiment, which he wrote about in the book Obedience To Authority, demonstrated how this banality of evil can come about.

[@jeffwhite2511]

Silence is complicity

[@Jalcolm1]

Evil, the crushing of innocence, can never be banal. It is a failure of imagination to think otherwise

[@simarjitkaur3411]

Small space between us and bureaucracies committing atrocities....we literally live, shop and sleep in them.

[@pjmlegrande]

Substantive essay on Arendt’s ideas. Thanks

[@francessiranovic4088]

Not seeing the humanity of those who disagree with us … it’s happening now

[@suzettespencer]

Mind blowing. Thank you. I used to see this in my own workplace before I was removed.

[@colleenorrick5415]

This so pertinent today. Thank you for posting it.

[@K-Arya]

The most needed concept to be talked on mainstream in today's time... Without this concept pushed to main stream thinking, the world will again become a piece of shit place gradually, like it was during the last millennia..

[@SkyRied1]

Not "will". It is already. Mainstream media and mass media doesn't care and neither want to push concepts like this upfront. There's alot to be said but if I would link back to this video, I'd say that our politicians (who are just puppets), school (at any level), mainstream media and mass media just wants obedience, numbing of our thoughts, following orders as we are told, finally creating or participating in the "banality of evil" ourselves.

[@K-Arya]

@@SkyRied1 indeed right, it's so sad to see people say things like, whatever the courts decide(as if god is making judgement), its written in the constitution(as if it has got mega brain and calculated the best on behalf of all of us), giving god like respect to authorities like police, officers, etc even if they are utterly and openly crossing every limits of basic decency... Its sad the problem is so widespread, out open in the daylight and everyone once in their lifetime have directly or indirectly experienced it, yet nobody is able to split the dichotomy... I think the fear subtles their instinct and they don't want/can to fight a battle just for a cause...

[@K-Arya]

In simple words a monarchy-hangover... People want to remain the same damm people 😊

[@Robjay1795]

Sie war einer der größten Köpfe des 20. Jahrhunderts.

[@RicNut]

You male a good point, with introspection would i knowning the presures excerted would simply fold due to self presevation. 🧐🤔

[@That_Freedom_Guy]

Never forget Solomon Ashe and his "conformity to the majority" experiments with line lengths or the famous prisoner/guard Stanford experiment of Philip Zimbardo that had to be called off because of the "Lord of the flies effect" when the guard students started to identify with their assigned roles and began harming the prisoner students, each taking on the assumed role! The so-called authorities today know very well what psychological effects they have on people under this hierarchical system.

[@Joeyjojoshabbadoo]

Exactly. Hierarchies, fundamental to all organized human endeavour, inherently allow for exploiting obedient underlings who unfortunately tend to do what they're told, and refuse to mutiny unless subject to extreme conditions. And so the power corrupts. It's certainly not unique to nazi Germany. At least the Nazis would murder people who disobeyed. Not always but it was a real threat. Most people abandon their morality and self-respect over nothing, worried that people might laugh at them, or similar such peer pressure. Upshot being the so-called banality of evil is one of the most baseline of human character traits. It's only a matter of where people draw the line, and what the consequences for any insurbordiation. And kudos to this video for recognizing that.

[@pjmlegrande]

Question authority

[@nicolasdelaforge7420]

evil" then is just "my good" - Milton may have explained the notion of "evil". My good that cancels the consequences on others. I know drone operators - they just do it. It's the machine in them. They're the apparatus.

[@simarjitkaur3411]

She had to make such a stance, to really highlight a truth. it would have been easier to not question, philosophise further to understand genocide

[@Elmer_Badly]

She got out of Europe one jump ahead of the Nazis. Her dissertation supervisor and sometime lover was Martin Heidegger, who became a Nazi-he didn’t try to protect her. This was very real to her

[@markantrobus8782]

The Church enacted a crushing of morality during the inquisition.

[@shivamib]

remember the covid regime? pepperidge farm remembers

[@pamelastorer8570]

Ayn Rand wrote the same thing. As one of her heroes stands up to Evil and sees it collapse, he feels like a man who has sought a massive terrifying terrible thing, and tracking it down sees a dirty rat, scurrying away in terror of the light and a mans footstep; he saw not huge and awe inspiring, but as banal, petty, dirty and nothing.

[@arturodiaz1063]

Like Israel is doing right now in Gaza.

[@garyhuber3578]

The difference is that the European Jews did nothing as opposed to the Gazans supporting Hamas. Big difference

[@jeffwhite2511]

@@garyhuber3578 Hamas was supported and funded by the Israeli government in order to fail and then use Hamas as an excuse for genocide - Hitler would love Netanyahu

[@simarjitkaur3411]

She wouldn't have appreciated any systems of monstrosity...ie Israel's genocidal attack to justify the suffering of the Jewish massacre on its soil

[@Elmer_Badly]

There is no country in the world that would not respond as forcefully as possible to an attack on its civilians like the one on October 7. Not only that, but Hamas made it plain that they intended to do it again. Hamas also spent years building a tunnel system to protect its combatants and launch attacks but nothing for the civilians in Gaza. Who then is responsible for the deaths and destruction in Gaza? Just because an entity appears weaker does not automatically make them moral.

[@jeffwhite2511]

@@Elmer_Badly Learn some history - 70 years of occupation has been endured by Palestinians, they have been systematically suppressed, deprived, beaten and murdered for 70 years. October 7th pales in comparison to what they have been through. Would you trade places with any Palestinian? You would have been building tunnels if you lived in a concentration camp. Israel and the US are the ONLY countries in the world that have not sign the UN declaration on human rights that protects people from genocide regardless of who they are. Have some empathy for oppressed people not just Zionist apologists

[@stianmyhre8540]

🦆☯ 🎈🧱 🐐🛎

[@pc_phage8500]

Can actions designed to prevent extinction be reduced to the banality of evil? I think not. Since 1948 Arab sentiment has been for Israel’s total extinction. In 1980 Iran joined the chorus. What Israel is doing in Gaza is to strengthen its internal security in order better defend itself against designs of Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran. These designs are well known.