No Hope for Humanity
In Sacred Violence: Torture, Terror, and Sovereignty, Paul Khan dives into the realm of torture and sacrifice. Both have become poisonous elements within the societal construct, found in war and peace, in politics and everyday life. This fascination with torture echoes back centuries, as an innate instinct of man. People desire the inhumane glorification of the sacrificed and the tortured, for “torture occupies a special place” in the moral and political compasses of men (Khan 20). But, perception is key. It is that imagination and muddled perception of reality that dehumanizes the brutality of torture and sacrifice. In the biblical sense, sacrifice was seen as a glorified act of service in favor of the sovereign, embellishing in the grandeur of such. Sacrifice is now a tool, a weapon geared to blind the masses from the abuse of power the state commits.
Hanna Arendt parallels the cautionary tale of torture and sacrifice within her controversial book, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, depicting an objective representation of Adolf Eichmann’s trial and subsequent publicity. Eichmann showed no inclination toward anti-Semitism, desiring the development of his military career; Eichmann simply followed the orders of the state, without question, for he was a law-abiding citizen. Bar-none, he was the “banality of evil” for his cruel and horrific crimes against humanity, specifically the Jewish rite, but he is merely one man. He cannot be used as a scapegoat for the crimes and horrors committed by the political regime of the Nazis. The trials served to publicly display the Jewish declaration of Zionism and their innate right to protect and endure their own. It crucified Eichmann as the root of evil, rather than appealing to the many individuals responsible for the atrocities of the Holocaust. The trials essentially punished Eichmann for what the “Jews had suffered, not what Eichmann had done” (Arendt 6). Just as Khan chastises the progression of torture from a source of inhumane glorification to a weapon for political control and abuse, Arendt highlights the Eichmann trials as a means of torture, directing all the suffering, sins and crimes of the many on one man. Also, the Jewish hierarchy is accused of being just as guilty as the perpetrators. Inaction is equally guilty as action. But, after such grueling and terrible experiences, how can one place any blame on the victims of genocide? As a result, the Jewish people took full advantage of their disposition, allowing the trial to become a stage for humiliation and punishment.
And to think, after so much progress, history continues to repeat itself. We are a naïve and flawed species. Bad habits do not change. We enjoy stripping away our humanity, exposing the deepest darkest corners of our psyche, exploring and glorifying the inhumanity within us all. There really is no hope for humanity.
Gender, Torture, State in Crisis 