Up@dawn 2.0 (blogger)

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Friday, December 2, 2022

Hannah Arendt’s “The Origins of Totalitarianism” & its Relevance Today

Posted for Kaleb Toon, #12

When I gave my presentation on Hannah Arendt and her work “The Origins of Totalitarianism, it was during the online class section on Zoom the afternoon of the 17th of November. In that session, there were only about 9 people online for me to give my presentation, which for all intents and purposes, was both phenomenal, but also slightly upsetting. Phenomenal, because less people to present to meant less stress – which is always welcomed – however at the same time, I felt as if this topic was especially important and relevant to today’s world, and I did wish that more people could hear about my topic and allow it to get them to open their mind and think about how to apply it to their own lives. So with this blog post, I wish to take that opportunity, and while this will not be a transcript of my presentation, it will follow a similar format to my original presentation, in the hopes that whoever did not attend the virtual class for my presentation can get a good sense of what it was over, along with some added details that may have been missed or underrepresented during my presentation. 

While a lengthy introduction to Hannah Arendt herself is not necessary, as her works and thoughts have been previously discussed and read in prior class material, I still will provide a short reminder, as well as a brief background of “The Origins of Totalitarianism”, just to set the tone for the post. 

Hannah Arendt, born to a German-Jewish family in 1906, studied Philosophy at Heidelberg University from 1926-1929. In 1933, she would leave Germany as a response to Hitler taking power in Germany, and establishing the Third Reich. Arendt would settle in Paris until 1941, when she would emigrate into the United States. After observing the atrocities of the Third Reich during the second World War, as well as learning what was occuring in the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, Arendt would begin drafting what would become “The Origins of Totalitarianism” when it was finally published in 1951.

When brainstorming for my eventual presentation on the topic, my first thought was to find the book, read the book, and then interpret it into my own thoughts and report on that. It was then when I learned that the book is 600 pages long. Naturally, I had to sit there and collect my thoughts, which mostly consisted of something along the lines of “there is no way in hell I’m going to have the time to do this topic due diligence.” After deliberation – and just a splash of stress – I found a website that included quotes and excerpts from the book. I read many of the included quotes and excerpts, and determined three that I felt were especially relevant to today, and then went into each of them during my presentation. I will be doing the same in this post, providing the excerpts, and giving a brief interpretation aligning with how I understood them all. 

All of the following quotes and excerpts come directly from Arendt’s “The Origins of Totalitarianism,” with little to no editing. Any edits come in the form of conciseness and cohesion. 

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist.” 

Arendt heavily argued that Totalitarian regimes use misinformation to spread their influence and ideals, making it that the “ideal subject” in question would be one who listened to and went along with whatever their preferred political figure said. This would be further exemplified when or if their preferred political figure took power, thus enforcing their ideals onto the state, further increasing their influence with their now state-backed misinformation. The “ideal subject” would seem to be an individual who would be easily convinced to follow and support extremist politicians and political conspiracy theorists, for whatever reason they may support. In a way, this quote in particular seems to be a precursor thought to a previously discussed thought of Arendt, that being the Banality of Evil, in which she interprets the case of Adolf Eichmann, a member of the Nazi Party, who was merely mindlessly following orders, sending millions to their deaths. The “ideal subject” Totalitarians look for are individuals such as Eichmann, who no matter whether or not they know what they are doing, mindlessly follow whatever is told to them by their leader, without a thought of whether or not what they are being told is either fact or fiction, or true or false. 

“Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow.” 

This quote seems to piggyback off the last one, with the notable difference in emphasis on how mass propaganda shapes the ideals and actions of a Totalitarian state. In the sense of mass propaganda being described by Arendt, she is referring specifically to state-issued propaganda, particularly that from of course Hitler’s Third Reich, as well as the Soviet Union under Stalin. In today’s sense, this propaganda is created and distributed mainly by major media outlets, and political talking heads. While media outlets have utilized propaganda for years, recently with

news outlets taking ever polarizing political stances, it is almost impossible to be completely shielded from all the propaganda that has been spread throughout the nation. News outlets and their hosts will deliver false narratives to their viewers, who will then turn to social media and spread bits of misinformation to their peers. Political talking heads will attempt to spin the narrative about their wrongdoings to make themselves seem in the right, which gets blindly accepted by their followers. Whatever the cycle, it is all too similar to what has been seen throughout history, with misinformation and propaganda being spread like wildfire, to then be picked up by followers and blindly followed, almost as if by law. It is this same cycle that continues to lead to atrocities year in and year out, all throughout history. 

“Never has our future been more unpredictable, never have we depended so much on political forces that cannot be trusted to follow the rules of common sense and self-interest—forces that look like sheer insanity, if judged by the standards of other centuries. It is as though mankind had divided itself between those who believe in human omnipotence and those for whom powerlessness has become the major experience of their lives.” 

As I mentioned in my original presentation, this quote struck me the deepest. Out of all three quotes mentioned above, I felt as if this one really resonated with me as one that seems as if it could have been written yesterday. When you then consider that it was written in 1951, you have no other choice but to sit back and think. This section of text predated the proxy wars brought upon by the Cold War, as well as the era of Mutually Assured Destruction and just about every major socio-political effect of the Cold War. This text as a whole was written as a response to Nazism and Stalinism. The fact that this one excerpt so accurately predicted and outlined the world that we would continue to live in throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, into the present day twenty first, is nothing short of baffling to me. The effects of rapid Nationalism in a divided nation that this section implies paint a vivid picture of what the political climate of the world, especially that of America, looks like today. 

For this presentation, there were two readings I had to start with. The second of which, “Why We Should Read Hannah Arendt Now speaks very accurately of why I took this topic. I believe that more people should at the very least look into what Hannah Arendt had to say in “The Origins of Totalitarianism.” For the fact alone that many of the events and trends Arendt saw and documented in regards to both Nazism and Stalinism remain relevant today, which many people do not realize, should be enough of a reason that more people should take the time to read Arendt and her works. 

What is jarring to me is that many of the regimes that followed after this book was written, following the same patterns documented by Arendt, are regimes whose ideologies and practices we condemn and call outliers in our western world. At the same time though, many of our elected officials are committing the same acts utilizing the same thoughts and actions that the same regimes we condemn used. The same political games many fall for are the same ones that allowed for Hitler to be democratically elected to the Chancellor of Germany, allowed Stalin to take control of the U.S.S.R., Mao Zedong to instill communism into China, the Kim Family

Dynasty in North Korea, etc. We see our own political leaders commit the same acts as these totalitarians who we try to believe were just historical outliers and horrific people, and yet we do not bat an eye. This has never really sat right with me. 

After reading this, or if you were able to listen to my presentation when I gave it, I hope that you will also choose to go and read “The Origins of Totalitarianism”, or at the very least read excerpts of it like I did if 600 pages seems too daunting for you. When reading, pay close attention to what is being discussed in the paragraphs, and take note as to how closely they align with many of the issues we see ourselves dealing with today. Think back to the regimes directly discussed by Arendt, as well as the ones that would pop up later in the following decades. Look at what allowed them to come into power, and think about where we see our own world going in that same direction. Even though this current election cycle is mostly over, bear these comparisons in mind when choosing who to support and who to elect into office, especially if you hold permanent residence in Georgia for this coming December runoff election. Go vote, but look closely as to whom you are voting for, the livelihoods of you and those important to you may hang on who you choose to support in the elections ahead. 

*Links in case hyperlinks don’t work on the pdf: 

“The Origins of Totalitarianism”: 

https://philosophynow.org/issues/148/The_Origins_of_Totalitarianism_by_Hannah_Arendt “Website”: https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/23497-the-origins-of-totalitarianism “Why We Should Read Hannah Arendt Now”: 

https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2022/03/arendt-origins-of-totalitarianism-ukraine/627 081/

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