Hitchens responds to critics

Justin Schwartz jkschw at hotmail.com
Tue Sep 25 10:35:32 PDT 2001


Nathan,

I am flabbergasted. The firsttime I read your post excerpted below, I thought you were making some such subtle point as, there si no sociological explanation of what tips a few people over theedge to do evil (or indeed good), because sociology is statistical. That's psychology, not sociology, maybe.

But on rereading, I see that you actually actively reject the attempt to explain great evil, apparently on the theory that evil would be excused or justified or condoned if it could be explained. Moreover your point is not merely pragmatic, such as that it would be tasteless, rude, and disrespectful to offer explanations in contexts where solidarity and mourning are in order, but absolute. We are not even to try to explain the Nazis, although that was long ago. Some people are just bad guys, that all that is permited to be said.

I think that is just strange, and desperately wrong. We must try to explain evil if we are to understand it and defeat it. And I do not believe that even the transcendant badness of some actions takes them out of the course of nature and society. It is true that sociology may not be the right level of explanation. But taht is a debate about what is the right level, not whether to try to explain at all.

--jks


>
>Unfortunately, those who insist on such explanations of the morally
>unexplainable cheapen and disgrace the anti-war movement. Sometimes
>criminals are just criminals- large numbers of people globally, including
>the Palestinian leadership, have little problem recognizing that. Why some
>American leftists feel a need to besmirch the Palestinian cause by even
>linking this act to them is beyond me.
>
>The National Lawyers Guild, . . . but the New York chapter voted
>last night to refuse to participate in one New York coalition against the
>war if it continues to refuse to include prosecution of the criminals
>involved as one goal of the movement.
>. . .


>
>Despair, Repression, Propaganda - all interesting things to analyze how
>Hitler gained and held power. Which is separate from why Hilter and his
>circle used those tools to promote mass murder of the Jews. And separate
>from why a small group of people with premeditation committed mass murder.
>
>There is no sociological explanation for the latter issues
>
>-- Nathan Newman
>
>
>

_________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list