The critique of compassion was perverted into fascist martial law
Evidence
The narcissistic distortions of pity, such as the exaltations of the philanthropist and the moral self-awareness of the social welfare worker, are still intensified confirmations of the distinction between rich and poor. Of course, the fact that philosophy carelessly divulged the pleasure of rigor made it accessible to those least prepared to excuse such an avowal. The Fascist masters of this world have transformed the deprecation of compassion into a rejection of political indulgence and into recourse to martial law, in which point they agree with Schopenhauer, the metaphysician of pity. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 86
Categorization
- XREF: The line from philosophical critique of pity to fascism is the excursus’s central historical claim — anchors why the reader (studying Adorno as critical-theory foundation) needs this causal chain. — connects to: Those who rejected compassion were negatively declaring themselves for revolution
- yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Those who rejected compassion were negatively declaring themselves for revolution