Totalitarianism.

Our lecture on Totalitarianism was split into three parts, and therefore so will this blog post.
Part 1 - How could it happen? (Origins)
The origins of totalitarianism section focused on the 20th Century.
Between the end of Napoleon's reign and the beginning of World War One there were roughly 100 years of relative peace in Europe. It was widely believed that the human race was more sophisticated now, that the horrors of the past would not be repeated, a sense of optimism prevaled.
This coincided with the 'German Century', a period from the mid 1800's to the mid 1900's where the most influential thinkers, writers, artists and scientists all emerged from Germany.

The earliest thought of a Totalitarian regime was Plato's republic. Even the darkest interpretations of human nature and political theories realised that there must be some limit on the power of the state. Even Hobbes, who had essentially no faith in the general populace.

The way was paved for Totalitarianism by the aggressive Imperial policies of the 19th Century, as the expansion of European superpowers spawned a racist outlook in European countries that allowed for the atrocities of Totalitarianism. Actions taken under these Imperial governments also served as inspiration for Nazi Germany, as the Concentration Camps used by General Kitchener during the Boer War became a blueprint for Nazi camps during World War Two.

Hannah Arendt claims that totalitarianism "demonstrates a horrible originality", a political school of thought unlike anything that came before it.

Totalitarianism is all about control, removing individuality and personal liberty from the public, to destroy independence and therefore the state retains total control; in the words of Mussolini "outside the state there can be neither individuals or groups". This centralises all power in a few people, and also strives to prevent any form of rebellion.
"To destroy this individuality two methods are used - State Terror and Ideology" according to Arendt.
Terror is not simply about killing people, it is a weapon used to destroy faith in one's own humanity, to make people afraid even to think. It makes an example of those who dare to think or act differently, and conditions the behaviour of the majority.
Ideology compliments State Terror, it is used to justify the regime and the actions taken. An Ideology is a specialist knowledge, it is only fully understood by a few. It is a reassuring tool, providing a "total explanation of the past, total knowledge of the present and a reliable prediction of the future."
Totalitarianism exposed the fragility of civilization, destabilising the current society to rebuild it in their own way.
The first move of the Nazi's in the holocaust was to deny Jews citizenship, removing from them a sense of belonging, denying them a nation of their own. It also affected German non-Jews, to view Jews as non-Germans, immigrants. This undermined the humanity of German Jews and made them easier to target.

Part 2 - Control Language, Control Thought
This was a short section with a simple idea. As thought occurs in purely linguistic terms, if you can manipulate language then you can manipulate the way people think. If you could remove the word "hate" from the vocabulary of a nation, they could not think in such terms, and could not express hatred. It is a simple, but effective idea, which was exploited by Totalitarian regimes.

Part 3 - What is my personal responsibility?
This was a look at the Eichmann trial in 1960. Eichmann, a Nazi Bureaucrat was captured in Argentina in 1960 and stood trial in Jerusalem for his involvement in the "final solution".
The question that this trial raised was that of responsibility. Eichmann was not known to have personally killed anyone, nor made the decision to kill anyone. He was responsible for ensuring the trains travelling to concentration camps ran smoothly. The transport minister of the Holocaust you could say. What was his burden of responsibility, knowing as he did, where those trains headed and the fate awaiting the passengers.
Hannah Arendt suggested the trial served three purposes:
-To try Eichmann
-To educate the rest of the world on the horror of the holocaust
-and To legitimise the Jewish State

Arendt was shocked at the ordinary appearance of Eichmann, and concluded it was not necessary to possess great evil to do great evil, coining the phrase "the banality of evil".
Arendt took an existential view on the Eichmann trial, believing that his greatest crime was that of not thinking, not making a choice, simply following orders without question (bad faith for Sartre).
Eichmann, in his defence, claimed he was following Kant's categorical imperative and acting out of duty, however Arendt described this excuse as outrageous, as Kant's moral philosophy explicitly rules out blind obedience. Arendt concluded that sometimes disobedience is exactly our responsibility. An interesting thought.