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"Little Eichmanns" is a term used to describe people whose actions, while on an individual scale may seem relatively harmless even to themselves, taken collectively create destructive and immoral systems in which they are actually complicit. The name comes from
"Little Eichmanns" is a term used to describe people whose actions, while on an individual scale may seem relatively harmless even to themselves, taken collectively create destructive and immoral systems in which they are actually complicit. The name comes from Adolf Eichmann
Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ;"Eichmann"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 19 March 1906 – 1 Ju ...
, a ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 19 March 1906 – 1 Ju ...
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
bureaucrat
A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can compose the administration of any organization of any size, although the term usually connotes someone within an institution of government.
The term ''bureaucrat'' derives from "bureaucracy", wh ...
who helped to orchestrate the Holocaust
The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
, but claimed that he did so without feeling anything about his actions, merely following the orders given to him.
The use of "Eichmann" as an archetype stems from Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt (born Johanna Arendt; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a German and American historian and philosopher. She was one of the most influential political theory, political theorists of the twentieth century.
Her work ...
's notion of the " banality of evil". According to Arendt in her 1963 book ''Eichmann in Jerusalem
''Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil'' is a 1963 book by the philosopher and political thinker Hannah Arendt. Arendt, a Jew who fled Germany during Adolf Hitler's rise to power, reported on the trial of Adolf Eichmann, one of ...
'', Eichmann relied on propaganda rather than thinking for himself, and carried out Nazi goals mostly to advance his career, appearing at his trial to have an ordinary and common personality while displaying neither guilt nor hatred. She suggested that this most strikingly discredits the idea that the Nazi war criminals
The following is a list of people who were formally indicted for committing war crimes or crimes against humanity on behalf of the Axis powers during World War II, including those who were acquitted or never received judgement. It does not inc ...
were manifestly psychopathic and fundamentally different from ordinary people.
The idea that Eichmannor, indeed, the majority of Nazis or those working in such regimesactually fit this concept has been criticized by those who contend that Eichmann and the majority of Nazis were in fact deeply ideological
An ideology is a set of beliefs or values attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely about belief in certain knowledge, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones". Form ...
and extremely antisemitic
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
, with Eichmann, in particular, having been fixated on and obsessed with the Jews from a young age. German political scientist goes so far as to say the phrase "belittles the Holocaust".
Barbara Mann wrote that the term was perhaps best known for its use by anarcho-primitivist
Anarcho-primitivism is an anarchist critique of civilization that advocates a return to non-civilized ways of life through deindustrialization, abolition of the division of labor or specialization, abandonment of large-scale organization and all ...
writer John Zerzan
John Edward Zerzan ( ; born August 10, 1943) is an American anarchist and primitivist author. His works criticize agricultural civilization as inherently oppressive, and advocate drawing upon the ways of life of hunter-gatherers as an inspirat ...
in his essay ''Whose Unabomber?'' written in 1995, although it was already common in the 1960s, as various prior examples are known. It gained prominence in American political culture several years after the September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
, when a controversy ensued over the 2003 book '' On the Justice of Roosting Chickens'', republishing a similarly titled essay Ward Churchill
Ward LeRoy Churchill (born October 2, 1947) is an American activist, author, and former academic. He was a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado Boulder from 1990 until 2007.
wrote shortly after the attacks. In the essay, Churchill used the phrase to describe technocrats
Technocracy is a form of government in which decision-makers appoint knowledge experts in specific domains to provide them with advice and guidance in various areas of their policy-making responsibilities. Technocracy follows largely in the tra ...
working at the World Trade Center:
See also
* Desk murderer *Careerism
Careerism is the propensity to pursue career advancement, power, and prestige outside of work performance.
Cultural environment
Cultural factors influence how careerists view their occupational goals. How an individual interprets the term "care ...
*Collective responsibility
Collective responsibility or collective guilt is the responsibility of organizations, groups and societies. Collective responsibility in the form of collective punishment is often used as a disciplinary measure in closed institutions, e.g., b ...
*Diffusion of responsibility
Diffusion of responsibility is a sociopsychological phenomenon whereby a person is less likely to take responsibility for action or inaction when other bystanders or witnesses are present. Considered a form of attribution, the individual assume ...
*Milgram experiment
Beginning on August 7, 1961, a series of social psychology experiments were conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram, who intended to measure the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed the ...
*Moral disengagement
Moral disengagement is a term from developmental psychology, educational psychology and social psychology for the process of convincing the self that ethical standards do not apply to oneself in a particular context. This is done by separating mor ...
References
External links
* {{Social accountability 1960s neologisms Political pejoratives for people Political neologisms Phrases Conformity Adolf Eichmann Eponyms Nazi analogies Hannah Arendt