Ordinary bureaucratic indifference, not hatred, enabled mass murder

Evidence

For every villain of Goldhagen’s book, for every German and non-German who killed his victims with pleasure and enthusiasm, there were dozens and hundreds of Germans and non-Germans who contributed to the mass murder no less effectively without feeling either way about their victims and about the nature of the actions involved. While we know quite well that prejudice threatens humanity, and we know a little how to fight and constrain the ill intentions of people tainted with prejudice, we know next to nothing of how to stave off the threat of a murder which masquerades as the routine and unemotional function of orderly society. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 452 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The point to remember is that for every villain of Goldhagen’s book, for every German and non-German who killed his victims with pleasure and enthusiasm, there were dozens and hundreds of Germans and non-Germans who contributed to the mass murder no less effectively without feeling either way about their victims and about the nature of the actions involved. And the point is that, while we know quite well that prejudice threatens humanity, and we even know a little about how to fight and constrain the ill-intentions of the people tainted with prejudice, we know next to nothing about how to stave off the threat of a murder which masquerades as a routine and unemotional function of orderly society. — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 693 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Ordinary, unselected Germans carried out mass killing when asked — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 315; Eichmann’s mass-murder participation was careerist, not hate-driven.; Mass murder does not require extreme, demonic emotions in its perpetrators (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Mass murder is accomplished mostly by indifferent functionaries, not sadists #expands (0.95) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 693
• Modern genocide thrives on bureaucratic indifference, not on active hatred #corroborates (0.95) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 452