A tidy genocide

I spent my last post discussing Nazi Germany. I discussed what I suspect is an undercurrent of our repeated emphasis on how evil it was: this was a modern evil. It was not a primal, savage, visceral evil, but one carried out by well-dressed bureaucrats in tidy offices and signed off on with neat stacks of carbon-copied paperwork.

A Civilized People

It’s all very well to wag our heads at those 18^th century barbarians who went out of an afternoon to watch a public hanging, or those in the 19^th century who brought picnic baskets to watch the Battle of Bull Run, but in the 20^th century, where we are appalled by such things, somehow nice, normal, civilized people sat by and watched something far, far worse. In the face of that, I think it’s important to note one more lesson from Nazi Germany.

“Civilization” does nothing to stop moral corruption. Civilization is a manner of dressing, a manner of speaking, a manner of personal hygiene and etiquette and scientific achievement and cultural heritage. It has exceedingly little to do with morality. There have been extremely civilized nations that were also extremely evil.

In the ancient world, Babylon and Assyria were far more advanced, organized, and civilized than the tribes around them. They were also known for ruthless brutality and cruelty. It has been argued that Carthage, with its great cities and rich economic empire, was far more civilized than Rome. But Carthage burned its children alive as sacrifices, and Rome – backwards, uncivilized Rome – was appalled.

And now, in the modern day, we have incredibly civilized nations like Nazi Germany and the USSR. We have extremely wealthy and culturally rich nations like China and the Arab gulf states. And along with them, we have a whole slew of egregious human rights violations.

Civilized vs Ethical

My point is this: civilized people are much nicer than uncivilized people. They’re tidier; they’re politer; they talk more softly. But they are not more ethical. Civilization only gilds the outside of the container; it doesn’t change what’s inside. There is no such thing as moral evolution. Your genes can make you nicer, but they cannot make you more ethical. Ethics is a choice every man makes for himself and is responsible for, no matter where he comes from.

In short, often civilization doesn’t prevent evil – it enables it. It gives us more tools to commit atrocities, and it gives us more tricks to fool ourselves into calling wrong right.

With that in mind, I’d like you to consider New York’s new law on abortion.

The Evidence

I’ve offered arguments on abortion before. We could go on for ages about the legality of funding this or that, and the many different extenuating circumstances, and the difference between being legally permissible and being socially acceptable, and the variety of related societal problems, and the technicalities of personhood and parenthood, and the place of personal ethics in the workplace.

Perhaps those educated, accomplished, civilized Carthaginians who burned their children alive had the same discussions.

When I look back at the evidence, all those issues become background noise. They are drowned out by the facts. The arguments may be murky, but the facts are starkly clear. Deliberately dismembering a human child, no matter how small or underdeveloped, no matter where physically located, is evil. This needs to stop. End of conversation.

But it’s not the end, is it? Somehow, it’s not the end. Somehow, my Harvard classmate, who melts at baby panda videos and gives me chocolate out of the blue, listens to me say that I believe abortion involves killing a human child and replies with, “yeah, but is it really that big a deal?”

I’m not going to make another argument here. I don’t think it would make any difference, because I don’t think the arguments are really the root of the problem. I would rather end with an invitation.

Perfectly Normal Nazis

Spend a few minutes tonight thinking about all those people in Nazi Germany who redefined “person” and then sat by calmly while millions of innocents died. Don’t think about them as caricatures or evil monsters; think about them as nice, neat, civilized people, hardworking dads and loving mothers, trip-taking, TV-watching, pie-eating, babysitting, bill-paying, average citizens.

Think about those people and remember that civilization and education and science and technology and culture and modernity are no defense against moral corruption. Remember how very capable human beings are of self-deception, how very capable we are of compartmentalization and ignoring unpleasant facts.

Remember those perfectly normal Nazis. And then look at the evidence. And then look in the mirror.

And ask yourself: what would you have done?

“Holocaust Memorial at The Legion of Honor” by 4johnny5 is licensed under CC BY 2.0