Mark describes how most all people who do evil think they are doing good. And that lack of critical thinking and applied reasoning and common sense, lazily following others and orders issuing dictats for a declared greater good is where evil originates. Totalitarian regimes come to power and commit the worst evil with the help of good family men (and women), job holders, who care most about their family's security. I.e. most of us. When we obey, when we consent to authoritarian edicts and unquestioningly do our part that is expected of us we become the greatest force of evil the world has ever known. Coordinated masses believing they are doing good, doing their jobs, are responsible for the most reprehensible evil the world has ever known.
The Origins Of Totalitarianism
by Hannah Arendt (1951)
Excerpt found between pages 325-362
"...Absence of scruple, on the other hand, was not restricted to the mob either and, in any event, could be taught in a relatively short time. For the ruthless machines of domination and extermination, the masses of coordinated philistines provided much better material and were capable of even greater crimes than so-called professional criminals, provided only that these crimes were well organized and assumed the appearance of routine jobs.
It is not fortuitous, then, that the few protests against the Nazis' mass atrocities against the Jews and Eastern European peoples were voiced not by the military men nor by any other part of the coordinated masses of respectable philistines, but precisely by those early comrades of Hitler who were typical representatives of the mob. Nor was Himmler, the most powerful man in Germany after 1936, one of those "armed bohemians" (Heiden) whose features were distressingly similar to those of the intellectual elite. Himmler was himself "more normal," that is, more of a philistine, than any of the original leaders of the Nazi movement.' He was not a bohemian like Goebbels, or a sex criminal like Streicher, or a crackpot like Rosenberg, or a fanatic like Hitler, or an adventurer like Goring. He proved his supreme ability for organizing the masses into total domination by assuming that most people are neither bohemians, fanatics, adventurers, sex maniacs, crackpots, nor social failures, but first and foremost job holders and good family men.
The philistine's retirement into private life, his single-minded devotion to matters of family and career was the last, and already degenerated, product of the bourgeoisie's belief in the primacy of private interest. The philistine is the bourgeois isolated from his own class, the atomized individual who is produced by the breakdown of the bourgeois class itself. The mass man whom Himmler organized for the greatest mass crimes ever committed in history bore the features of the philistine rather than of the mob man, and was the bourgeois who in the midst of the ruins of his world worried about nothing so much as his private security, was ready to sacrifice everything — belief, honor, dignity— on the slightest provocation. Nothing proved easier to destroy than the privacy and private morality of people who thought of nothing but safeguarding their private lives. After a few years of power and systematic coordination, the Nazis could rightly announce: 'The only person who is still a private individual in Germany is somebody who is asleep." In all fairness to those among the elite, on the other hand, who at one time or another have let themselves be seduced by totalitarian movements, and who sometimes, because of their intellectual abilities, are even accused of having inspired totalitarianism, it must be stated that what these desperate men of the twentieth century did or did not do had no influence on totalitarianism whatsoever, although it did play some part in earlier, successful, attempts of the movements to force the outside world to take their doctrines seriously. Wherever totalitarian movements seized power, this whole group of sympathizers was shaken off even before the regimes proceeded toward their greatest crimes. Intellectual, spiritual, and artistic initiative is as dangerous to totalitarianism as the gangster initiative of the mob, and both are more dangerous than mere political opposition. The consistent persecution of every higher form of intellectual activity by the new mass leaders springs from more than their natural resentment against everything they cannot understand. Total domination does not allow for free initiative in any field of life, for any activity that is not entirely predictable. Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty."
That last sentence describes most of the Biden's political appointees, from the tranny health czar to his dimwitted SCOTUS appointment to his clownish press secretary. And far too many climbers to power we suffer under the heavy hands of. Chosen for their loyalty, not their intelligence or talent. Because they know they are nothing but bottom-feeders without their benefactors in power who see something in them that nobody else does. Because it isn't there. Perfectly placed for authoritarianism to reign.
Evil is ultimately irrationality -- being illogical and ignoring evidence. Yet people have be taught that irrationality is a virtue. Ergo the widespread evil.
As someone that lost her husband because he was murdered with REMDESEVIR - your theory is BULLSHIT! The powers that be knew damn well that the medicine they were giving AND ARE STILL GIVING is not effective and would do more damage than good! They withheld life saving measures to further their ineffective vaccine program while lining their pockets in the process. If that is not evil I don't know what is !!! Thousands lost their lives to deadly hospital protocols that are still going on today so spare me "the good intentions" bullshit!
Mark describes how most all people who do evil think they are doing good. And that lack of critical thinking and applied reasoning and common sense, lazily following others and orders issuing dictats for a declared greater good is where evil originates. Totalitarian regimes come to power and commit the worst evil with the help of good family men (and women), job holders, who care most about their family's security. I.e. most of us. When we obey, when we consent to authoritarian edicts and unquestioningly do our part that is expected of us we become the greatest force of evil the world has ever known. Coordinated masses believing they are doing good, doing their jobs, are responsible for the most reprehensible evil the world has ever known.
The Origins Of Totalitarianism
by Hannah Arendt (1951)
Excerpt found between pages 325-362
"...Absence of scruple, on the other hand, was not restricted to the mob either and, in any event, could be taught in a relatively short time. For the ruthless machines of domination and extermination, the masses of coordinated philistines provided much better material and were capable of even greater crimes than so-called professional criminals, provided only that these crimes were well organized and assumed the appearance of routine jobs.
It is not fortuitous, then, that the few protests against the Nazis' mass atrocities against the Jews and Eastern European peoples were voiced not by the military men nor by any other part of the coordinated masses of respectable philistines, but precisely by those early comrades of Hitler who were typical representatives of the mob. Nor was Himmler, the most powerful man in Germany after 1936, one of those "armed bohemians" (Heiden) whose features were distressingly similar to those of the intellectual elite. Himmler was himself "more normal," that is, more of a philistine, than any of the original leaders of the Nazi movement.' He was not a bohemian like Goebbels, or a sex criminal like Streicher, or a crackpot like Rosenberg, or a fanatic like Hitler, or an adventurer like Goring. He proved his supreme ability for organizing the masses into total domination by assuming that most people are neither bohemians, fanatics, adventurers, sex maniacs, crackpots, nor social failures, but first and foremost job holders and good family men.
The philistine's retirement into private life, his single-minded devotion to matters of family and career was the last, and already degenerated, product of the bourgeoisie's belief in the primacy of private interest. The philistine is the bourgeois isolated from his own class, the atomized individual who is produced by the breakdown of the bourgeois class itself. The mass man whom Himmler organized for the greatest mass crimes ever committed in history bore the features of the philistine rather than of the mob man, and was the bourgeois who in the midst of the ruins of his world worried about nothing so much as his private security, was ready to sacrifice everything — belief, honor, dignity— on the slightest provocation. Nothing proved easier to destroy than the privacy and private morality of people who thought of nothing but safeguarding their private lives. After a few years of power and systematic coordination, the Nazis could rightly announce: 'The only person who is still a private individual in Germany is somebody who is asleep." In all fairness to those among the elite, on the other hand, who at one time or another have let themselves be seduced by totalitarian movements, and who sometimes, because of their intellectual abilities, are even accused of having inspired totalitarianism, it must be stated that what these desperate men of the twentieth century did or did not do had no influence on totalitarianism whatsoever, although it did play some part in earlier, successful, attempts of the movements to force the outside world to take their doctrines seriously. Wherever totalitarian movements seized power, this whole group of sympathizers was shaken off even before the regimes proceeded toward their greatest crimes. Intellectual, spiritual, and artistic initiative is as dangerous to totalitarianism as the gangster initiative of the mob, and both are more dangerous than mere political opposition. The consistent persecution of every higher form of intellectual activity by the new mass leaders springs from more than their natural resentment against everything they cannot understand. Total domination does not allow for free initiative in any field of life, for any activity that is not entirely predictable. Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty."
That last sentence describes most of the Biden's political appointees, from the tranny health czar to his dimwitted SCOTUS appointment to his clownish press secretary. And far too many climbers to power we suffer under the heavy hands of. Chosen for their loyalty, not their intelligence or talent. Because they know they are nothing but bottom-feeders without their benefactors in power who see something in them that nobody else does. Because it isn't there. Perfectly placed for authoritarianism to reign.
Question: can revenge be driven by “good” intentions? Ie: intending to do harm in order to get “even?”
Evil is ultimately irrationality -- being illogical and ignoring evidence. Yet people have be taught that irrationality is a virtue. Ergo the widespread evil.
As someone that lost her husband because he was murdered with REMDESEVIR - your theory is BULLSHIT! The powers that be knew damn well that the medicine they were giving AND ARE STILL GIVING is not effective and would do more damage than good! They withheld life saving measures to further their ineffective vaccine program while lining their pockets in the process. If that is not evil I don't know what is !!! Thousands lost their lives to deadly hospital protocols that are still going on today so spare me "the good intentions" bullshit!