Don't forget that she put forward the concept of "evil mediocrity", arguing that "the most extreme evil is the hand of the most ordinary people." "Just like you and me.

Today's Google Doodle and the atmosphere! Do you know the woman with a shallow smile, a little frown, who is writing a pen?

She is a political theorist of Hanna Hannah Arendt, a German Jew, today is her 108 birthday anniversary!

Speaking of the Hannah Arendt of Hanna, many people should first emerge from "Hanna: The Truth Without Fear," the film fragment, but also will not forget her proposed "evil mediocrity" (the banality of evil) concept, arguing that "the most extreme evil, from the most ordinary person's hand." "Just like you and me.

Let's go back to the time and look at the background of Hanna's theory. As a German Jew, Hanna was exiled to the United States during World War II by escaping the threat of Nazi concentration camps. Then, after World War II, public opinion rallied to lambasting the German massacre of Jews in defiance of humanity, the same as the Jewish people of Hanna, then volunteered to Jerusalem in Israel to attend the Nazi German high officials Eichmann (Adolfo Eichmann) Final judgment.

She looked at the "Final Solution" in the Holocaust, known as "The Executioner of Death", and was surprised to find that he was no longer mediocre, but in the face of all the charges, only the "All is in accordance with orders of superiors" response. The trial in Jerusalem changed the way of Hanna, and she began to think, "Why would a man so mediocre commit such a cruel crime?" 」


Picture Source: Source

The epochal significance of being a "Jew" did not allow her to be blinded by her own experience of victimization (Hanna was imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camp in France in the 1940 's), but it made her see things clearer. With the blood of the Jews, Hanna wrote an interview with a fearless pen in the New Yorker, defending the Nazi German official, Eichmann Adolfo Eichmann, in the 1960 's, alleging that

Instead of hating Jews or killing thousands Jews because of their nature, Eichmann did his duty, just as ordinary bureaucrats do, and every day without thinking blindly following the routine of his superiors.

Eichmann is not a demon, but a clown in the system.

The problem behind Eichmann is that he's not a psychopath or a sadist, he's such a mediocre person, like you and me, and that's really scary. From our legislative mechanisms or from the moral and ethical level, such mediocrity is more frightening than the collection of all atrocities.

"The trouble with Eichmann is precisely so many were like him, and that many were, neither perverted nor sadistic , that they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal. From the viewpoint of my legal institutions and of our moral standards of judgment, this normality is much more terrifyi Ng than all of the atrocities put together.

Article once published, all walks of life lambasting of the noise, Choufso, Han Na-Lan was other Jews as dissidents and traitors, at that time she was under the pressure of the heart, imagine. But in fact, if it were not for the Jewish identity, how could she point to the core of the Jewish and Nazi proposition, and then put forward such profound speculation? thinking is a razor, and "evil mediocrity" stands for "the incompetence of thought".


"Hanna: The Truth Without Fear" film stills

Hanna has said: "Understanding the facts is not equal to forgiveness." "Seeing through the nature of evil and the position of Eichmann in the system does not mean forgiving Eichmann for what he has done," he said.

The most wicked things are done by those who have not thought they can choose to be "good" and "evil". This is the most sad fact.

"The sad truth is this most evil is doing by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil."

In such a background of the Times, Hanna in one-sided Qiu Deshu thinking, stubborn stand out said not to hear words, defying the pressure of public opinion, grasping the importance of "thinking". Whether or not to agree to her "evil mediocrity" argument, we should thank at the time, there is such a fearless voice, told us: "The greatest evil of mankind, is not to think, only know blindly follow." "(same field Gayon: Nine Philosophers said:" Without thinking, not to walk through life ")

The more chaotic the times, the clearer the voice of the outspoken.

In response to recent events in Taiwan, it is as if the food and security crisis is endless, "he did so I also did, what's the big deal?" The blind mind, perhaps on such a day, in the 108 years of Hanna's anniversary, we are well suited to think of such a fearless political theorist, and also to find the body as a person, " Thinking "of the ability. (Recommended reading: Taiwan is not the most lack of capable people, but can be responsible for the people )