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Joe Harmon, Hannah Arendt and the banality of evil

One of the superb thinkers in philosophy was the German philosopher, Hannah Arendt who was a student of the learned German thinker, Martin Heidegger (see Heidegger’s, phenomenal work, “Being and Time”; for me the best book on philosophy; for a good summary of that text, see, “Existentialism: A Guide for the Perplexed” by Steven Earnshaw).
To understand why ordinary men and women with families that they love and who do not care about fame or fortune become evil, Arendt explains it using a concept she invented and which has found a permanent place in political theory. Arendt, in studying Adolph Eichmann, after covering his trial in Israel, wrote a book on him and coined the term, “banality of evil.”
She broke new ground in the study of the evil mind by arguing that, contrary to popular understanding, evil does not only reside in those who crave power and spend their lives hurting people to get it.
She posited that an ordinary, mundane bureaucrat, without any dreams of wanting to be noticed or be known, could be capable of immense evil because such a mind simply follows instructions.
Arendt experienced immense scholarly attacks for her concept from 1963 when she adumbrated her theory and it continues to this day, (philosopher Alan Wolfe in his 2011 work disagrees with Arendt on her interpretation of evil; see his book, “Political Evil: What It Is and How to Combat It” ). Since 1963, the debate has gone on but there is a middle way that has gained ground thus saving the concept of the banality of evil and giving Arendt credit for inventing it.
The Arendt supporters argue that the concept is valid and workable, only that Arendt misapplied it to a Nazi killer. So while Arendt was wrong to see Eichmann as your typical robotic civil servant, there are in fact robotic, ordinary people who are capable of carrying out horrible acts of murder and they are not predetermined monsters.
Forty years after Arendt looked at Eichmann in the dock in Israel, observed his mannerism, countenance and deportment and came up with the concept of the banality of evil, the Croatian novelist, Slavenka Drakuliæ in 1999 had the same uncanny experience with a war criminal from Serbia in the dock in the Hague. On trial was Goran Jelisiæ, and after observing him at the trial, she brought new life to the 1963 concept of Arendt. Drakuliæ titled her book on Jelisiæ, “They Would Never Hurt a Fly.”
The banality of evil is very much a strong concept in political theory. As we go into a third month of a disastrous attempt to rig the national election in Guyana, the banality of evil is ubiquitous in this country. Enter Joe Harmon.
He said one of the most horrible lies ever told in the history of political competition in this land. Sadly ordinary decent humans who support the PNC and AFC will accept Harmon’s egregious diatribe and could very well hurt other people. This is where the banality of evil comes to Guyana.
Harmon said that the votes of the disciplined forces did not count in the recent election because they were not stamped. This is an unscientific impossibility. Harmon was unleashing a destructive game on Guyana.
It is not scientifically possible to locate the ballots of soldiers and policemen because they were the first citizens to vote before polling day. Then those ballots were mixed on polling day with other ballots across Guyana.
So if you emptied the ballot boxes for Xanadu School and you open them, there was no distinction between a civilian ballot and a military ballot because there were no such different ballots. The counting officer and the presiding officer would not have been able to distinguish a vote by a soldier from a vote by a businessman.
Arendt and Drakuliæ have stated that ordinary people are capable of the massive evil a sick tyrant can heap on others. Since the 2020 poll ran into a rigging cul-de-sac, Guyanese with top class education, housewives who would not harm a fly, policemen who are dedicated civil servants, trade unionists who are well known, university teachers, among other groups of non-political souls in Guyana and the diaspora, have trampled on their conscience and are coming close to manifesting the features of the banality of evil.
Day after day in this country, some of the most incredible lies are regurgitated by people who have refused to recognize the rights of humans to vote and have their vote counted. Decent folks, incapable of killing even a mosquito believe these evil lies. They themselves are evil too.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Nehru, today is June 1, Divestment Day. Django is Numero Uno, Head Honcho, Maharaja. I suspect he may demand that you specify who is evil here. Make sure you omit his name from the grouping. Friendly advice. 😉

FM
@seignet posted:

Freddie reads too many books, he should read the Bible. It explains everything about humanity-problems, solutions and forgiveness. 

Agree. Or he could read the Bhagwat Geeta or the Koran.

Mitwah

The Bible is the MOTHER of ALLLLLL BOOKS-all dem adah books were transcribed from its pages. And the Transcribers had a very personal relationship with the AUTHOR of the BIBLE, the Holy spirit upon the Prophets and Apostles. Those men of scribes believed in the Authority of the Book, plainly, they knew the Author, so revelation showered upon then like rain. They recieved the Baptism of the Holy Spirit-Buddah and the Hindu Saints, Zoaraster, Moses, Mohammad and those of such association.

Praise be to God and His Chosen Savoir of Mankind, The Elect One.

S
@seignet posted:

The Bible is the MOTHER of ALLLLLL BOOKS-all dem adah books were transcribed from its pages. And the Transcribers had a very personal relationship with the AUTHOR of the BIBLE, the Holy spirit upon the Prophets and Apostles. Those men of scribes believed in the Authority of the Book, plainly, they knew the Author, so revelation showered upon then like rain. They recieved the Baptism of the Holy Spirit-Buddah and the Hindu Saints, Zoaraster, Moses, Mohammad and those of such association.

Praise be to God and His Chosen Savoir of Mankind, The Elect One.

the Vedas are older than the Christian and Hebrew Bibles. The Vedas were composed in their entirety from 1700-500 BCE, existing as oral tradition for much of that time. The Hebrew Bible (including the books that now make up the Christian Old Testament) were composed from approximately 500-200 BCE. The Christian New Testament was composed between 50-150 CE.

Religious study.

ROTFLMAO. 

If the Bible is the mother then the Vedas must be the father. 

Mitwah

Hinduism/Etymology of the words Hindu and Hinduism

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/...s_Hindu_and_Hinduism

The word Hindu is derived from the Sanskrit word Sindhu which is the local name for the Indus River that flows through the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent. Sindhu also means sea. The word Hindu or Indu was used by Greeks to denote the country and people living beyond the Indus river. Megasthenes' 'Indica' epitomizes the name for India and Indians around the 4th Century B.C.E. This word was misunderstood to be coined by Zoroastrian Persians, by medieval and some modern Indian Historians. But this was only an extention of the name used by the Greeks. The Arabic term al-Hind, referred to the land of the people who live across the river Indus. By the 13th century, the word Hindustan began to be used as a popular alternative name for India, meaning the "land of Hindus". Towards the end of the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists referred collectively to the followers of the Dharmic religions in Hindustan — which geographically referred to most parts of the northern Indian subcontinent — as Hindus. Eventually, any person of Indian origin who did not practice Abrahamic religions came to be known as a Hindu, thereby encompassing a wide range of religious beliefs and practices.

One of the accepted views is that the ism was added to Hindu in the early part of the nineteenth century by English writers to denote the culture and religion of the high-caste Brahmans. The word Hinduism was soon adopted by the Hindus themselves, as a term that encompassed their national, social and cultural identity.

The original word for the now-so-called Hindus is Sanatan and Arya. The word Hindu is believed to not appear in the Hindu scriptures, viz, Vedas, Upanishads, and Puranas. The contemporary Hindus are believers of and accept the authority of the said scriptures, hence, they are more accurately identified as Sanatanis or Aryans. Another word which is more accurate than Hindu, is Bhaaratiya. People of India are believed to be the descendants of King Bharat. From his name comes the original name of India, Bhaarat, and, those residing in Bhaarat are Bhaaratiya.




Another piece of information , about Hindus ,their scriptures and religion.

Django
@Mitwah posted:

the Vedas are older than the Christian and Hebrew Bibles. The Vedas were composed in their entirety from 1700-500 BCE, existing as oral tradition for much of that time. The Hebrew Bible (including the books that now make up the Christian Old Testament) were composed from approximately 500-200 BCE. The Christian New Testament was composed between 50-150 CE.

Religious study.

ROTFLMAO. 

If the Bible is the mother then the Vedas must be the father. 

That also makes makes the KamaSutra the outside woman.

That book could also be older than the Bible, it taught Jesus how fo prop up the rump an so on.

cain
Last edited by cain
@cain posted:

That also makes makes the KamaSutra the outside woman.

That book could also be older than the Bible, it taught Jesus how fo prop up the rump an so on.

You rass wicked. Seiggy coming fuh rass juss now.

FM

All Religions were made by man.   They keep changing over the years.  Islam is a combination of Hinduism and Christianity, Sikhism is an offspring of Hinduism and so is Jainsim

Hinduism may not even be a Religion but a combination of cultures and tradition brought into this era from another..

R
@Ramakant-P posted:

All Religions were made by man.   They keep changing over the years.  Islam is a combination of Hinduism and Christianity, Sikhism is an offspring of Hinduism and so is Jainsim

Hinduism may not even be a Religion but a combination of cultures and tradition brought into this era from another..

Rama ,there is no "ism" see my post.

Django
@Mitwah posted:

the Vedas are older than the Christian and Hebrew Bibles. The Vedas were composed in their entirety from 1700-500 BCE, existing as oral tradition for much of that time. The Hebrew Bible (including the books that now make up the Christian Old Testament) were composed from approximately 500-200 BCE. The Christian New Testament was composed between 50-150 CE.

Religious study.

ROTFLMAO. 

If the Bible is the mother then the Vedas must be the father. 

The Vedas are from the Book of Enoch. 

It depends on the interpretations of Who God is. He IS when there was NOTHING.

God had Enoch transcribed heavenly Wisom and Knowledge, all mathematically related.

S
@Nehru posted:

BULLSHIT!! The Bible was written long after the Bhagavat Gita and the Koran!!!

Chota Bhai. You have to start behaving like a true Bhaaratiya. 

The original word for the now-so-called Hindus is Sanatan and Arya. The word Hindu is believed to not appear in the Hindu scriptures, viz, Vedas, Upanishads, and Puranas. The contemporary Hindus are believers of and accept the authority of the said scriptures, hence, they are more accurately identified as Sanatanis or Aryans. Another word which is more accurate than Hindu, is Bhaaratiya. People of India are believed to be the descendants of King Bharat. From his name comes the original name of India, Bhaarat, and, those residing in Bhaarat are Bhaaratiya.

Jai Shri Krishna. 

Mitwah
@Ramakant-P posted:

All Religions were made by man.   They keep changing over the years.  Islam is a combination of Hinduism and Christianity, Sikhism is an offspring of Hinduism and so is Jainsim

Hinduism may not even be a Religion but a combination of cultures and tradition brought into this era from another..

Hinduism is way of life.  It is  commonly and erroneously used for Sanatan and Arya.

Mitwah
@seignet posted:

The Vedas are from the Book of Enoch. 

It depends on the interpretations of Who God is. He IS when there was NOTHING.

God had Enoch transcribed heavenly Wisom and Knowledge, all mathematically related.

The Vedas were written before the book of Enoch.  The Vedas are all about Hindu Philosophy. It's the book of life.   The book of ENOCH is an ancient apocalyptic  text ascribed by tradition to ENOCH, the grandfather of NOAH.

R
@Nehru posted:

Joe Harmon, Hannah Arendt and the banality of evil

Jun 01, 2020 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon 0 Comments

One of the superb thinkers in philosophy was the German philosopher, Hannah Arendt who was a student of the learned German thinker, Martin Heidegger (see Heidegger’s, phenomenal work, “Being and Time”; for me the best book on philosophy; for a good summary of that text, see, “Existentialism: A Guide for the Perplexed” by Steven Earnshaw).
To understand why ordinary men and women with families that they love and who do not care about fame or fortune become evil, Arendt explains it using a concept she invented and which has found a permanent place in political theory. Arendt, in studying Adolph Eichmann, after covering his trial in Israel, wrote a book on him and coined the term, “banality of evil.”
She broke new ground in the study of the evil mind by arguing that, contrary to popular understanding, evil does not only reside in those who crave power and spend their lives hurting people to get it.
She posited that an ordinary, mundane bureaucrat, without any dreams of wanting to be noticed or be known, could be capable of immense evil because such a mind simply follows instructions.
Arendt experienced immense scholarly attacks for her concept from 1963 when she adumbrated her theory and it continues to this day, (philosopher Alan Wolfe in his 2011 work disagrees with Arendt on her interpretation of evil; see his book, “Political Evil: What It Is and How to Combat It” ). Since 1963, the debate has gone on but there is a middle way that has gained ground thus saving the concept of the banality of evil and giving Arendt credit for inventing it.
The Arendt supporters argue that the concept is valid and workable, only that Arendt misapplied it to a Nazi killer. So while Arendt was wrong to see Eichmann as your typical robotic civil servant, there are in fact robotic, ordinary people who are capable of carrying out horrible acts of murder and they are not predetermined monsters.
Forty years after Arendt looked at Eichmann in the dock in Israel, observed his mannerism, countenance and deportment and came up with the concept of the banality of evil, the Croatian novelist, Slavenka Drakuliæ in 1999 had the same uncanny experience with a war criminal from Serbia in the dock in the Hague. On trial was Goran Jelisiæ, and after observing him at the trial, she brought new life to the 1963 concept of Arendt. Drakuliæ titled her book on Jelisiæ, “They Would Never Hurt a Fly.”
The banality of evil is very much a strong concept in political theory. As we go into a third month of a disastrous attempt to rig the national election in Guyana, the banality of evil is ubiquitous in this country. Enter Joe Harmon.
He said one of the most horrible lies ever told in the history of political competition in this land. Sadly ordinary decent humans who support the PNC and AFC will accept Harmon’s egregious diatribe and could very well hurt other people. This is where the banality of evil comes to Guyana.
Harmon said that the votes of the disciplined forces did not count in the recent election because they were not stamped. This is an unscientific impossibility. Harmon was unleashing a destructive game on Guyana.
It is not scientifically possible to locate the ballots of soldiers and policemen because they were the first citizens to vote before polling day. Then those ballots were mixed on polling day with other ballots across Guyana.
So if you emptied the ballot boxes for Xanadu School and you open them, there was no distinction between a civilian ballot and a military ballot because there were no such different ballots. The counting officer and the presiding officer would not have been able to distinguish a vote by a soldier from a vote by a businessman.
Arendt and Drakuliæ have stated that ordinary people are capable of the massive evil a sick tyrant can heap on others. Since the 2020 poll ran into a rigging cul-de-sac, Guyanese with top class education, housewives who would not harm a fly, policemen who are dedicated civil servants, trade unionists who are well known, university teachers, among other groups of non-political souls in Guyana and the diaspora, have trampled on their conscience and are coming close to manifesting the features of the banality of evil.
Day after day in this country, some of the most incredible lies are regurgitated by people who have refused to recognize the rights of humans to vote and have their vote counted. Decent folks, incapable of killing even a mosquito believe these evil lies. They themselves are evil too.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.

Freddie Kissoon here trivializes Hanah Arendt concept of the banality of evil.  For those who saw the word evil and chose to run with it I suggest you read Arendt's book.  

On the question of the Disciplined Services  ballots: the DS voted separately and those ballots were mixed in at selected polling stations on elelction day.  The ballots were not stamped when the DS voted as the presiding officers at the selected stations were expected to do that on March 2.  Mr. Harmon is arguing that there is an unusually large number of unstamped ballots being discovered in the recount and these could be DS ballots.  This is a reasonable argument .  Is this what Kissoon is calling banality of evil?  He's got to be nuts!

 

T
Last edited by Totaram
@Django posted:

Hinduism/Etymology of the words Hindu and Hinduism

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/...s_Hindu_and_Hinduism

The word Hindu is derived from the Sanskrit word Sindhu which is the local name for the Indus River that flows through the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent. Sindhu also means sea. The word Hindu or Indu was used by Greeks to denote the country and people living beyond the Indus river. Megasthenes' 'Indica' epitomizes the name for India and Indians around the 4th Century B.C.E. This word was misunderstood to be coined by Zoroastrian Persians, by medieval and some modern Indian Historians. But this was only an extention of the name used by the Greeks. The Arabic term al-Hind, referred to the land of the people who live across the river Indus. By the 13th century, the word Hindustan began to be used as a popular alternative name for India, meaning the "land of Hindus". Towards the end of the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists referred collectively to the followers of the Dharmic religions in Hindustan — which geographically referred to most parts of the northern Indian subcontinent — as Hindus. Eventually, any person of Indian origin who did not practice Abrahamic religions came to be known as a Hindu, thereby encompassing a wide range of religious beliefs and practices.

One of the accepted views is that the ism was added to Hindu in the early part of the nineteenth century by English writers to denote the culture and religion of the high-caste Brahmans. The word Hinduism was soon adopted by the Hindus themselves, as a term that encompassed their national, social and cultural identity.

The original word for the now-so-called Hindus is Sanatan and Arya. The word Hindu is believed to not appear in the Hindu scriptures, viz, Vedas, Upanishads, and Puranas. The contemporary Hindus are believers of and accept the authority of the said scriptures, hence, they are more accurately identified as Sanatanis or Aryans. Another word which is more accurate than Hindu, is Bhaaratiya. People of India are believed to be the descendants of King Bharat. From his name comes the original name of India, Bhaarat, and, those residing in Bhaarat are Bhaaratiya.




Another piece of information , about Hindus ,their scriptures and religion.

There is no hinduism in the true sense. Believers were followers of different Guru. To be particular, they took the name of guru as a sect. Check out the sect of Gandhi. 

S
@seignet posted:

There is no hinduism in the true sense. Believers were followers of different Guru. To be particular, they took the name of guru as a sect. Check out the sect of Gandhi. 

Hinduism is way of life and there are many paths to follow.

Re Guru: Like Christians following their Guru Christ. Perhaps you are a Guru. 

Mitwah
Last edited by Mitwah
@seignet posted:

There is no hinduism in the true sense. Believers were followers of different Guru. To be particular, they took the name of guru as a sect. Check out the sect of Gandhi. 

True,for example Sikhs ,Jains and others.

Django
@Django posted:

Another word which is more accurate than Hindu, is Bhaaratiya. People of India are believed to be the descendants of King Bharat. From his name comes the original name of India, Bhaarat, and, those residing in Bhaarat are Bhaaratiya.



 

Gilbakka is a true Guyanese Hindu. Devoted to Guyana's King Bharat.😉

FM
@Ramakant-P posted:

The Vedas were written before the book of Enoch.  The Vedas are all about Hindu Philosophy. It's the book of life.   The book of ENOCH is an ancient apocalyptic  text ascribed by tradition to ENOCH, the grandfather of NOAH.

Enoch was 7th from Adam, only Adam walked to Sindh at that time-dem Brahmins din come deh yet.

S
  • @Former Member posted:

    Me buddy seh yuh can be atheist and still be Hindu. Doh is true? De only religion holy book me like is karma sutra...hey hey hey. 

    sex is good for a good sleep. Good Sex, is a source of Bliss. Imagine that God made woman that serves some much pleasure. Dem Indians knew the Bliss suh dey show pivtures of it, also statues.

S

Discussion on Arendt's Banality of Evil becomes a discussion on Kamasutra and vedas.  What's the link?  Might as well talk about cricket.  You remember da six wa Chanderpal nak a Bourda.  It fall in a EC hire cyar and drop off a Unity.  Dem bais still gat da ball.

T
  1. @Totaram posted:

    Discussion on Arendt's Banality of Evil becomes a discussion on Kamasutra and vedas.  What's the link?  Might as well talk about cricket.  You remember da six wa Chanderpal nak a Bourda.  It fall in a EC hire cyar and drop off a Unity.  Dem bais still gat da ball.

    the power vegetarian meals

S
@Totaram posted:

Discussion on Arendt's Banality of Evil becomes a discussion on Kamasutra and vedas.  What's the link?  Might as well talk about cricket.  You remember da six wa Chanderpal nak a Bourda.  It fall in a EC hire cyar and drop off a Unity.  Dem bais still gat da ball.

Freddie telling Guyanese the books he read to explain the situation in Guyana. That is killing the subject.

S
@Mitwah posted:

Was Adam a white man or a black man?

Well............. that depends. Black ppl sey he black. muslims sey he is the fuss mussalman, then dah would mek him a brown man.

I sey he was a Being in Auroa.

S
@Django posted:

Hinduism/Etymology of the words Hindu and Hinduism

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/...s_Hindu_and_Hinduism

The word Hindu is derived from the Sanskrit word Sindhu which is the local name for the Indus River that flows through the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent. Sindhu also means sea. The word Hindu or Indu was used by Greeks to denote the country and people living beyond the Indus river. Megasthenes' 'Indica' epitomizes the name for India and Indians around the 4th Century B.C.E. This word was misunderstood to be coined by Zoroastrian Persians, by medieval and some modern Indian Historians. But this was only an extention of the name used by the Greeks. The Arabic term al-Hind, referred to the land of the people who live across the river Indus. By the 13th century, the word Hindustan began to be used as a popular alternative name for India, meaning the "land of Hindus". Towards the end of the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists referred collectively to the followers of the Dharmic religions in Hindustan — which geographically referred to most parts of the northern Indian subcontinent — as Hindus. Eventually, any person of Indian origin who did not practice Abrahamic religions came to be known as a Hindu, thereby encompassing a wide range of religious beliefs and practices.

One of the accepted views is that the ism was added to Hindu in the early part of the nineteenth century by English writers to denote the culture and religion of the high-caste Brahmans. The word Hinduism was soon adopted by the Hindus themselves, as a term that encompassed their national, social and cultural identity.

The original word for the now-so-called Hindus is Sanatan and Arya. The word Hindu is believed to not appear in the Hindu scriptures, viz, Vedas, Upanishads, and Puranas. The contemporary Hindus are believers of and accept the authority of the said scriptures, hence, they are more accurately identified as Sanatanis or Aryans. Another word which is more accurate than Hindu, is Bhaaratiya. People of India are believed to be the descendants of King Bharat. From his name comes the original name of India, Bhaarat, and, those residing in Bhaarat are Bhaaratiya.




Another piece of information , about Hindus ,their scriptures and religion.

Now I hope you understand why we see Bharat as we Gaaadd.  Suh tek duh.

Baseman

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