Reading genocide as premodern relic protects modernity’s self-image as reason triumphing over passion

Evidence

The two most notorious and extreme cases of modern genocide did not betray the spirit of modernity. They did not deviously depart from the main track of the civilizing process. They were the most consistent, uninhibited expressions of that spirit. They attempted to reach the most ambitious aims of the civilizing process most other processes stop short of, not necessarily for the lack of good will. They showed what the rationalizing, designing, controlling dreams and efforts of modern civilization are able to accomplish if not mitigated, curbed or counteracted. — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 270 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Modern Philhellenism fused barbarism and culture in German scholarship; Modernity cannot be sustained without colonialism and genocide in all their forms; Explaining genocide as incidental technology use is itself part of progress theology (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Nazi and Stalinist genocide expressed rather than betrayed modernity’s spirit #expands (0.92) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 270