Moral consistency in a burning world

After watching Freeman Dyson speak about his time with the Royal Air force during World War II in A Glorious Accident, I got to thinking about the notion of criminality.

Ego’s, which are often blamed for crimes, start as inherently healthy. Egos become in- or deflated to cope with trauma, and hence are a defence mechanism that kept us alive thus far.
I believe self-interest is not the cause of the crime, but a consequence of something else.

Durkheim argued that crimes could not be avoided, since every individual is socialised with different norms and values. Further, he argued that criminals play a vital part of the living organism of society, showing weak spots that needer further investigation.

Similarly, depression is the disease of taking time too seriously, and bureaucracy is its cause.

Its undeniable that bureaucracy plays a vital part in crime legislation and punishment. Studied bureaucracies involve red tape, conflict, duplication, imperialism, and waste.
Bureaucracy is deadly, and there are countless Netflix documentaries that prove it.

To come back to Dyson’s interview, he talked about “remote control killer” Adolf Eichmann. How to punish someone whose defence is ‘I was just doing my job and following orders‘? If there is no admission of guilt or semblance of remorse, how can a society feel that justice has been served?

Hannah Arendt described Eichman as the ‘banality of evil‘. I feel like there may be more and more such criminals in today’s world. This is because of how removed people feel from their actions and their consequences through the Internet. People become sleeper-agents, helping push agendas and negating all responsibilities.

Out of personal interest I am looking for ways to make sure I am not regretting my part in some genocide further down the line. We must accept all criminals within us, all the horror people have ever blamed us for, all the terror we witnessed in the world.

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