"the banality of evil"
I was listening to NPR today and there was an interview with a Mexican lady who is a journalist specializing in human rights. This woman is incredible; she founded a center to shelter abused and exploited women and children (many who are sold into prostitution or pornography) and has written a lot about it, trying to expose this problem to the world. She has been threatened, abducted, and raped, but she continues to speak out.
I was really challenged by her courage and passion to serve and fight for the vulnerable and weak in society. When I hear about stuff like this, it makes me want to be a social activist; I want to work for the U.N. or a NGO and just do something, change the world to a better place (as cliched as that sounds). Writing my dissertation, teaching literature, my daily life in general just seems so insignificant compared to tackling all these huge global problems. I have grandiose ideas of making a difference, being part of something huge like fighting AIDS and poverty in Africa, stopping genocide in Darfur and sex trafficking in Asia. Really live out my Christian values--protect the oppressed and fatherless, fight injustice, as the Bible tells us.
And then the mundane things intrude upon me: I turn off the radio, get out of my comfortable car, go back to a home that keeps the cold and rain out, turn on my computer, and go back to my daily routines. I forget about what I've heard, except maybe with a semi-vague intention of perhaps writing to my congress members about it, or maybe trying to look more into "free trade" products the next time I shop.
Hannah Arendt, one of the most important political and social theorists of the 20c, coined the phrase, "the banality of evil." She's referring to the Holocaust, specifically, and she proposes that evil, rather than being something radical, is really born out of banality--people conforming to everything around them, not bothering to question the status quo, just following everyone else blindly. Is that what I am participating in, the banality of evil? More importantly, is that what our country consists of, a whole generation of both Americans and Christians who just "enjoy our lives" while the majority of this world is suffering terribly?
I'm not trying to cast blame or incur guilt, but I blog so that I will remember what I heard, and hopefully do something about it. I am also reminded to be thankful, for God's abundant daily provision, and to regularly ask myself, am I really stewarding the resources God has given me so that it can be a blessing to others? It's easy to want to do the "big things," which have visible results, but I am challenged that change can start "local," too, like praying for freedom from oppression for your friend or being a more aware consumer.
I was really challenged by her courage and passion to serve and fight for the vulnerable and weak in society. When I hear about stuff like this, it makes me want to be a social activist; I want to work for the U.N. or a NGO and just do something, change the world to a better place (as cliched as that sounds). Writing my dissertation, teaching literature, my daily life in general just seems so insignificant compared to tackling all these huge global problems. I have grandiose ideas of making a difference, being part of something huge like fighting AIDS and poverty in Africa, stopping genocide in Darfur and sex trafficking in Asia. Really live out my Christian values--protect the oppressed and fatherless, fight injustice, as the Bible tells us.
And then the mundane things intrude upon me: I turn off the radio, get out of my comfortable car, go back to a home that keeps the cold and rain out, turn on my computer, and go back to my daily routines. I forget about what I've heard, except maybe with a semi-vague intention of perhaps writing to my congress members about it, or maybe trying to look more into "free trade" products the next time I shop.
Hannah Arendt, one of the most important political and social theorists of the 20c, coined the phrase, "the banality of evil." She's referring to the Holocaust, specifically, and she proposes that evil, rather than being something radical, is really born out of banality--people conforming to everything around them, not bothering to question the status quo, just following everyone else blindly. Is that what I am participating in, the banality of evil? More importantly, is that what our country consists of, a whole generation of both Americans and Christians who just "enjoy our lives" while the majority of this world is suffering terribly?
I'm not trying to cast blame or incur guilt, but I blog so that I will remember what I heard, and hopefully do something about it. I am also reminded to be thankful, for God's abundant daily provision, and to regularly ask myself, am I really stewarding the resources God has given me so that it can be a blessing to others? It's easy to want to do the "big things," which have visible results, but I am challenged that change can start "local," too, like praying for freedom from oppression for your friend or being a more aware consumer.
posted by mariyaya | 1:40 PM
2 Comments:
This is type of working for social justice what I spoke on to the youth two Fridays ago, inspired by the William Wilberforce (Amazing Grace movie) quote: "You can choose to look the other way, but you can never again say you did not know."
Thank you for writing this piece, mariyaya. It dovetails well with what I am about to write on my blog. Social justice, it terms out, can be started just be choosing where you live.
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