In 1961, philosopher Hannah Arendt grappled with the meaning of “evil” in her essay about the war crimes trial of Adolph Eichman, the Nazi operative responsible for organizing the transportation of millions of Jews and others to various concentration camps in support of the Nazi’s Final Solution. A couple of years later, she expanded her analysis into a book, Eichman in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. Eichman, she said, was a rather bland, ordinary, bureaucrat who was ‘neither perverted nor sadistic’ but rather ‘terrifyingly normal.’ She went on to say that he was not inherently evil, but merely shallow and clueless, a ‘joiner’ who drifted into the Nazi Party and followed its edicts because he had no strong direction himself. We hear echos of this from the January 6 defendants, who regularly claim that they were “caught up in the moment” and “following the demands of the President.”
I was reminded of this phrase in Tuesday’s episode of Pod Save America, a podcast I’ve mentioned in these essays several times. Here’s the link to this episode, if you want to listen to it. It’s worth your time.
The phrase used in the podcast is “the banality of crazy.” I like the alliteration of “the banality of batshit,” but the argument is the same. On Earth Two, where #PO1135809 and his acolytes live, batshit has become normalized. #PO1135809 says things and acts in ways that would have been disqualifying at literally any other time in American history. We have known since 2015 (and way earlier, if you were involved in New York real estate or New Jersey casinos) that he is an inveterate liar, a terrible and corrupt businessman, a consummate narcissist, and willing to throw anyone (including members of his family) under the proverbial bus to save his own skin. We know that everything he touches dies – including, potentially, the American experiment in democratic governance.
How can we explain the fact that #PO1135809 gets away with acts and statements that would have been career killers at any other time? Understanding the concept of the “Overton Window” helps. This is an approach to identifying the ideas that define the spectrum of acceptability of governmental policies. It says politicians can act only within the acceptable range. Shifting the Overton window involves proponents of policies outside the window persuading the public to expand the window. Proponents of current policies, or similar ones within the window, seek to convince people that policies outside it should be deemed unacceptable. It explains how batshit – like evil – becomes normalized through repetition. Once a prominent individual publicly and unashamedly does or says things that are outside of the Overton Window, the window gradually shifts to normalize the previously unacceptable acts or statements.
At this point in the essay, I initially planned to list the batshit things that #PO1135809 and his gang of miscreants and yahoos have said or done just within the last week, but realized that the list would be ungovernably long. And that’s the point – the flood of horrifying statements and actions masks the unacceptability of every individual item on the list.
This explains how Team Crazy inside today’s GOP gains traction. How many times in the last eight years have we heard or said something along the lines of “for the first time in American History . . .” followed by a description of something done (or caused by) #PO1135809? The sheer repetition of corrupt acts and inane explanations of them dulls our sense of outrage.
The Eichmann story reminds us of another reality – justice can be delayed. He was captured in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1960. After his trial in Israel, he was sentenced to death and executed in 1962 – 20 years after he committed his crimes. As the minions around #PO1135809 face their own legal jeopardy, we need to remember that the courts dismissed Eichmann’s “I was just following orders” justification for his actions. The MAGAs that are currently facing or serving jail time because they “followed orders” need to know this.
After the evils of the Holocaust became well-known, the world said “Never Again.” But as the Overton Window continues to shift, evil becomes mundane and batshit becomes normal.
We can’t say “Never Again” unless we are willing to undertake the hard work of bringing about justice and accountability.
Had never heard of the Overton Window, but it makes "sense". Strange times.
The sad thing about everything you have written is that it’s all true.