The Banality of Henry Kissinger

[BlueMTexpat]

51. I am a staunch Clinton supporter and I

would never have attacked your friend's OP. I am also one who abhors Kissinger with every fiber of my being.

Yes, good people can be in photos with bad people as you state so correctly. It does not mean that they necessarily like and/or agree those individuals. Without more, inferring liking or agreement is wrong. But, to be fair, it is somewhat provocative to post such a photo here when too many DUers are not nearly as kind towards Hillary as your friend was. Some of those DUers have been unnecessarily nasty, IMO, and feelings have been rubbed raw as a result. It seems as if your friend got caught up in some of the unintended crossfire and, although I was not part of that, I am sorry that it happened. We should be able to discuss Hillary or any other Dem candidate courteously. Let's all please save our opprobrium for the GOPers who so richly deserve it.

I wonder though whether, rather than describing the "banality" of Henry K, you possibly mean his "ubiquity" as Kissinger seems to pop up everywhere these days - self-serving war criminal that he is.

"Banality" is something that I associate - rightly or wrongly - with the phrase "banality of evil," used as part of the subtitle of Hannah Arendt's report on th­e Adolf Eichmann trail. Eichmann was, of course, one of the principal organizers of the Holocaust (and I will likely be "Godwinned" out right here by someone, I am sure).

Arendt described Eichmann as a man responsible for the deaths of millions yet distinct only in his blandness, his mediocrity, his averageness (i.e., his banality), and in her report investigated how a totalitarian state could turn seemingly ordinary citizens into criminals. Arendt's report was attacked by many, including some who were supposedly her friends, in part because her portrayal of Eichmann as a figure at odds with the established mold of the monstrous Nazi was considered an insult to Holocaust victims and an apology for Eichmann. For more, see http://cabinetmagazine.org/issues/5/dedemonization.php She caused quite a stir with that phrase and other statements in the report, btw.