Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963)

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/11/germany-knew-adolf-eichmanns-hiding-place-year...> ( )

This was a hard book to read. It took me over two weeks to read this because I kept putting the book down over and over again to scowl and shake my head and continually make wtf faces. I suppose it's because Arendt goes far to illustrate how someone could absolve themselves of responsibility because they were only following orders, because following orders means the luxury of bypassing moral reasoning, or not being involved in wrong-doing because they were not making the decisions, or even being the victim because they were made to witness or carry out decisions that were out of your hands.

But then I have this part of my brain just shouting 'NAZIS! EVOL! NO GET OUTS!'

I honestly appreciate Arendt pushing the reader into considering that rather than there being evil men who did evil deeds, there were pen-pushers who just wanted to climb the ladder and be good employees, like Eichmann. But, I'm also inclined to think 'bollocks'. We all have some kind of moral compass where genocide definitely pings as A BAD THING and therefore an ability to recognise that maybe we're about to sign off on A BAD THING. Eichmann, like many Nazis, surely knew what he was doing, what it would result in. There's turning a blind eye to the photocopier jam so someone else gets the blame and then there's turning a blind eye to genocide. One of them, pretty fucking evil.

An amazing reading experience. A lot of food for thought. ( )

Brilliant in analyses. 'Banality of evil' only occurs once or twice, and it seems to be misinterpreted - the banality of Eichman's thoughts and his blind devotion to fascism, not just the mere 'I was following orders' facade he put up. ( )

L'autrice rompe un tabù con un'intelligenza lucida e ci presenta un burocrate tragico in un libro per cui venne attaccata dalla comunità in maniera veemente. ( )

L'autrice rompe un tabù con un'intelligenza lucida e ci presenta un burocrate tragico in un libro per cui venne attaccata dalla comunità in maniera veemente. ( )