For me, the conversations we’ve been having here on racism and, more particularly, antisemitism have been very instructive. I’ve learned a lot by talking with all of you. Most of us are familiar with the story of the good German, the ordinary person who followed orders, no matter how far against morality or humanity they went. Eichmann’s defence at Nuremburg was, “I was only following orders.” They hanged him anyway. You see, that’s not good enough. We all like to think of ourselves as better humans, better than that, surely. But, in reality, I think very, very few of us, a minuscule proportion, ever resist orders. For example, “Food and drink are not allowed on the BTS Skytrain system.” Do you break that rule? Even when we break the rule, such as carrying a cup of coffee onto the train, we’re furtive about it, as if someone in authority might scold us. Or, in Nazi Germany, far worse than scolding. How about plea bargains: “You’ll shave years off your sentence after certain conviction, if you just tell us this.” Or pressure to a false confession or false accusations.. Even I, a lifelong rebel, activist, agitator, troublemaker, find myself obeying almost all the rules. Why? Well, for one thing, we intrinsically don’t want to disappoint anyone, including those in authority, the boss, for example. And we certainly don’t want any trouble! Mostly, we follow rules made by <who knows> because it’s easier. It makes things smoother, more convenient for a largely hassle-free life. But we will never meet those who made and make the rules, never. Some of the rules are ridiculous or antiquated or no longer apply. But rules are rules, right. Books have been written about the Nazi phenomenon, complete cult worship for no benefit to society. But the Germans followed the rules, in fact the breakdown of morality. Almost no Aryan Germans or Jews resisted that authority, with very few exceptions. There was Dietrich Bonhöffer, the Weiße Rose students, and the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Any other resistance was passive, done discreetly to avoid the attention of the authorities. Both in the streets and in the camps. Many war resisters were guillotined in Berlin, as were Christians. I have recorded them in one of my books. We have to, we have to, remember their names, or we are less than human. I have written about the scourge of nationalism before but Nazi Germany really nails that down über alles. What occasioned this post is a 2015 movie called Experimenter, about the obedience experiments of Dr Stanley Milgram. The level of obedience elicited is shocking. It should cause us all to examine our own decisions of right or wrong. I don’t mean only us personally but what we support: right or wrong. This requires a great deal of self-examination. Experimenter is not a documentary, it is a re-creation of Dr. Milgram’s work. It is notable he was Jewish, as were many of his fellow psychology professors. The Albanian prof’s story is especially chilling. His story is untrue, and I will not repeat it here. But it did happen in Romania. Should you really want to explore further, there are documentaries on YouTube, Milgram’s own books, and scores of others. Why? Because none of us can understand the good German, how could they do this, this isn’t me. Until it does become us. Group-think, obedience. We all need somebody lower than us. We don’t often think this aloud, but it’s there, waiting, all the time. The most extreme examples are soldiers & executioners. They do terrible things that, were they not legalised, would result in life in prison. I can’t imagine what they tell their families, their children, their parents. In the case of the Nazis, it was Jews. Why? Jews in Germany were friends, neighbours, colleagues. They weren't feared. But the hate was lying just below the surface. Hitler used that to achieve national unity. For us, perhaps it’s child abusers or drug dealers or kids with tattoos, Iranians. Tattooed Iranian paedophile drug dealers! It can be that simple. Right or wrong? Choose. At heart, I’m being convinced that every one of us bears that racism inside. Even Jews are antisemites. So, deny this, if you wish. But I believe we all hate somebody or something. Most of us will not resist, we’ll do as we’re told. Remaining silent in the face of injustice is not resistance. Hannah Arendt: Niemand hat ein Recht darauf, zu gehorchen. “Nobody has the right to obey.” לאף אחד אין זכות לציית We are all antisemites. Watch Experimenter. Further reading. Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on The Banality of Evil, 1964. Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1951 Arendt, Crises of the Republic: Lying in Politics, Civil Disobedience, On Violence, Thoughts on Politics and Revolution, 1972. Blass, The Man Who Shocked the World: The Life and Legacy of Stanley Milgram, 2004. Blass, The roots of Stanley Milgram’s obedience experiments and their relevance to the Holocaust, 1998. Fermaglich, American Dreams and Nazi Nightmares: Early Holocaust Consciousness, 2007. Daniel Jonah Goldhagen. Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust., 1996. Milgram, “Behavioral Study of Obedience”, 1963. Milgram, Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View, 1974. G. Miller, “If Someone Secretly Controlled What You Say, Would Anybody Notice?”, 2014. Perry, Behind the Shock Machine: The untold story of the notorious Milgram psychology experiments, 2013. Bettina Stangneth, Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer, 2014.
Create an account or sign in to comment