One Day, Everyone

All rungs of society, in all societies, are populated with people who, at best, are indifferent to the extermination of others. Positions of power attract people who are not even indifferent.  On the film (which I have not seen and likely won't) NAZA.

But the dispassionate, technical and calm tone of the 24 men and women, as they describe in great detail the killing of people in Gaza, who are just as human as those in the surrounding buildings, brought back other associations – with men like Best and his ilk. It is the disjuncture between the familiar and intimate, on the one hand, and the coldly efficient and murderous, on the other, that makes this film unforgettable and an important statement about the world we currently inhabit.

When modern societies engage in extreme violence, they rely on two types of people: those who beat, torture and kill at close quarters, and those who plan, organize and order the killing at a safe distance from the actual gore of it all. Many people prefer to believe the brutes and the sadists are responsible, largely because they are not like “us”. But modern genocide is the product of those who belong to the second category: the technocrats, bureaucrats and cold planners of extermination, who don’t get their hands dirty.

There are many people in power who I think of as cowardly serial killers. They don't want to do it themselves, but they love making it happen.