Plato
for Paranoids: A Production of the Absolute
…As
Zygmunt Bauman has argued brilliantly in his _Modernity and
the Holocaust_ …, the Final Solution was run by bureaucracies
and technocracies, rationalized by science, and subjected to
the logic of accountancy. Moreover, it was only made possible
by the awesome power of the modern state which can operate
largely beyond control of the international community. In other
words conceptually, organizationally, legally, and technically
the Holocaust could only occur in a country at an advanced
stage of modernity. With modernity violence becomes a technique,
acted out through division of labour which turns personal responsibility
into technical responsibility: Bauman cites the efforts of
German engineers to increase the efficiency of the gassing-van
used in the early stages of the extermination programme. 1
for Medusa, Theseus, modern or ancient
murder embedded in an unforgiving Good
“ the exhilaration of annihilation”2—
“the
formula of the fascist brew
is in all countries the same:
“ Hegel plus a dash of … [Darwin] …”3
Henry Ford, a blueprint: The Republic
—“ divine creation revealed”4
need-to-know big picture—
assume
the greater good—
“ the state-led drive for a fully designed,
fully controlled” 5 automation
zero-degree
task assignment
the philosopher to blame
the Gleichschaltung, assembly line
“a
car from 12 hours to 1 hour, 13 minutes. “ 6
its killing speed, the Autobahn,
“ [a]griculture … a motorized … industry, ….
the … [manufacture]
of corpses, in gas chambers
or . . . camps, the same as … ” 7 waiting—
waiting yet, Kafka, insurance
1 http://ah.brookes.ac.uk/history/staff/griffin/naziart.pdf
2 http://ah.brookes.ac.uk/history/staff/griffin/naziart.pdf
3 http://www.macroknow.com/books/quotes/q-popper.htm
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