Contact The Editor
Articles By This Author
Hannah Arendt, who observed the trial of Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann many decades ago in Israel, coined the phrase "the banality of evil" to describe crimes that were anything but banal. She was actually referring to what kind of person was capable of committing these horrific acts, not the acts themselves.
She wrote that "[Eichmann] was not Iago and not Macbeth … he merely, to put the matter colloquially, never realized what he was doing … it was sheer thoughtlessness … that such remoteness from reality and such thoughtlessness can wreak more havoc than all the evil instincts taken together … that was the lesson one could learn in Jerusalem."
Sadly, while evil clearly exists, it is not so easy to figure out who is likely to be its architect. Eichmann, as Arendt wrote, could be considered an evil person because of his ability to simply ignore the humanity of the victims he condemned to death.
But this "omission" of compassion, this lack of empathy for human beings, this sociopathy, is far too common to be considered an exception to the human rule. And so, we are forced to confront the possibility that all of us are capable of evil acts, even though we would never consider ourselves to be inherently bad.
Conversely, there is nothing "banal" about the virtue that we find in unexpected places. The kernels of kindness strewn among our normal social interactions are becoming more and more uncommon these days, and when we happen on them, it is like water in a desert.
I was able to observe both forms of humanity or lack thereof, this past week as I watched the reaction in my native Philadelphia to the arrival of the Moms for Liberty. Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that this is a group of women, most but not all of them actual mothers, who have banded together to fight for more parental control and involvement in public schools, who oppose what many see as the inclusion of sexually inappropriate materials in school curricula and libraries, who support what was once called American values but are now labeled "white privilege" or even "white supremacy," and who have been very effective in getting their messages across.
There have been no incidents, as far as I know, of Moms for Liberty members vandalizing buildings, stalking children or committing any crimes. It is possible that there are members who have sent angry emails, screamed at school board members and gotten overly zealous in their defense of their position, but I'll see your Moms for Liberty and raise you a Black Lives Matter riot any day.
So, then, while there are many who might object to their goals (and this writer certainly does not, as a former teacher and a woman who does not have children but knows how they are often used as pawns to advance an adult agenda) they should have the right to express those views without being labeled a hate group, and thereby exposed to all sorts of threats and intimidation. This is, even more, the case when they come to the city — my city — where the whole concept of freedom of expression was codified in the Constitution.
The Southern Poverty Law Center disagrees. The SPLC used to be a respected organization that fought against fascism, bigotry and discrimination. It was instrumental in helping to dismantle the Ku Klux Klan and was one of the organizations that my father, a fledgling civil rights worker, appreciated when he went down to Mississippi in 1967.
But that SPLC no longer exists. It has been transformed into an AK-47 of alt-left progressive fascists who have decided that they, and only they, get to determine what is culturally acceptable and legitimate. They have become a clearing house for progressive hatred of conservative causes, including my own Catholic church.
It is therefore no surprise that it listed Moms for Liberty as a hate group, giving the go-ahead to violent activists who verbally abused the participants at this year's national convention at the downtown Marriott Hotel.
Despite grudging comments from Mayor Jim Kenney about wanting to protect the safety of everyone in the city, including the "problematic" Moms, there was very little action taken against the mobs that came for them. Even worse than the banal, ineffective shoulder-shrugging of the mayor were the comments from some city council members like Kendra Brooks, who tweeted out: "Moms for Liberty is a hate group," and attached a disjointed and incoherent statement conflating the group with transphobia, racism, Republicans, and Florida orange growers (OK, I made up that last part.) But if I used to think AOC tweeted out hormonal trash on a fairly regular basis, I have to admit that Philly girl Kendra just topped her.
Then, there was the vandalism of the Museum of the American Revolution, which hosted one of the convention events. There was little to no outrage from the city council, the Mayor's office, public officials or the local media. I suppose this evil was too "banal" for comment.
But even with these junior league terrorists, there was some grace. As I noted before, the Marriott hosted the event. Even in the face of vituperative, vicious people daily spitting out their hatred in the faces of our city guests, the staff and administration at the hotel were kind, considerate, accommodating and courageous. It takes courage to do your job when people scream obscenities in your direction for even daring to pour coffee for a Mom. It takes courage to live out the principle that everyone deserves respect when they are a guest in your home, even as the tempest rages outside the door.
That is not banal. That sort of virtue is immense, commensurate with the fierce courage that is present in those who believe in democracy. And that was much more powerful than the common, mundane, shallow and pitiful displays of common, mundane and pitiful protesters this week.
(COMMENT, BELOW)
Christine M. Flowers is a lawyer and columnist.