During the Eichmann trial, Hannah Arendt observed how the actions of the Nazi government official, oriented towards the extermination of the Jews, did not stem from hatred against the Jews themselves but rather from a morally uncritical way of acting within a specific institutional structure. The banality of evil. This institutional structure, as in the case of the Nazi government, presents itself as external and imposes itself on the individual as if there were no alternative. Following orders, fulfilling the daily routine, responding to intra-system incentives are the actions that anesthetize thought and moral reflection.
Arendt, in her writing, was thinking about the totalitarian regime of totalitarian Germany, but the numbing of critical thought is also present in modern democracies. I will never forget conversations I had with good people, caring parents, and middle-class professionals interested in the social life of the community. I don't remember why we were talking about immigration and the news (perhaps true, perhaps false) that announced that the Italian state was going to allocate €100 per day to immigrants for their reception, retraining, and integration into Italian society. The first comment was: - You see? Then they say we are xenophobic, but they give them €100 a day, and what about me? Nothing. -
Clearly, I do not want to compare the insensitivity of these people towards the situation of migrants seeking asylum with the Nazi aberrations of the last century. But it is important to know how to identify when a system, totalitarian or not, obscures our critical reflection and ethical sense. Are those really €100 a day given into the hands of the immigrant? Is that €100 a lot or a little for someone who has no roof, no job, and no support network? Given that our society is enriched also by the contribution of immigrants, are we sure that we do not want to invest in creating a society in which a person who wants to be part of us can do so by giving their best? And finally, how can we compare our need, which arises ater taking for granted that we have shelter, food, education, health, and security, with the need of someone who has suffered the pains of hell to get here and possesses only their hope and vitality?
Thinking about well-being in terms of consumption (always unsatisfied), relaxation (never enough), and enjoyment (individual and immediate) are characteristics of the social structure that is imposed on us today. This is not a justification of a lack of moral reflection, we need to be aware of the forces we are part of a give value to our sense of humanity.
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