Under total mobilization even genocidal calculus becomes rational self-justification
Evidence
Once again: the insanity of the whole absolves the particular insanities and turns the crimes against humanity into a rational enterprise. When the people, aptly stimulated by the public and private authorities, prepare for lives of total mobilization, they are sensible not only because of the present Enemy, but also because of the investment and employment possibilities in industry and entertainment. Even the most insane calculations are rational: the annihilation of five million people is preferable to that of ten million, twenty million, and so on. It is hopeless to argue that a civilization which justifies its defense by such a calculus proclaims its own end. — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 237
Categorization
- XREF: The ‘lesser evil’ nuclear calculus recalls Weber’s instrumental rationality critique and modern just-war/collateral damage discourse. — connects to: Normalization of anti-Muslim ideas produces a morally self-justifying rationalism — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 457; Totalitarian loyalty requires stripping movement ideology of all concrete content — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 772; Rationality itself can be weaponized against the rational agent — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 366 (+9 more)
- DEEPTHINKING: Striking inversion: once the whole is insane, particular people behave ‘sensibly’ by maximizing investment and employment within it — rationality and madness are mutually constitutive, not opposed.
Broader Connections
- Normalization of anti-Muslim ideas produces a morally self-justifying rationalism
#expands(0.90) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 457 - Prejudiced rationalizations can be socially validated ideology rather than irrationality
#corroborates(0.85) - Rationality itself can be weaponized against the rational agent
#corroborates(0.80) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 366 - Islamophobic ideology self-perpetuates as natural and normative
#corroborates(0.80) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 836 - Totalitarian terrorism served as self-expression rather than calculated policy
#complicates(0.80) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 788 - Scapegoat beliefs can be internally rational given culturally granted premises
#corroborates(0.80) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1593 - Ecofascist ideologies flourish when conditions justify real genocidal logistics
#expands(0.80) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 557 - Totalitarian loyalty requires stripping movement ideology of all concrete content
#complicates(0.75) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 772 - An ideology becomes totalitarian only when its total validity is taken seriously
#expands(0.75) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1028 - Ideology functions as signification that attains societal validity and justification
#corroborates(0.75) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 819 - The very concept of a justified enemy collapses under logical scrutiny
#complicates(0.70)