To the editor: I learn with deep disappointment the article by Jackie Calmes reflecting on the writings of Hannah Arendt (“What Hannah Arendt noticed in Hitler’s Germany, we are able to see in Trump’s America,” April 10). As a former trainer of American Historical past, I taught my college students in regards to the Structure and the rule of regulation.
My college students have been instructed on what occurs when the stability of energy is uncontrolled. My eighth-graders discovered about Nazi Germany and what led to the rise of Hitler. My courses usually would ask how individuals simply stood by and watched because the ugliness of genocide unfolded.
By no means may I’ve imagined the potential of that taking place in our nation. However we live in instances that counsel that we worth one-man rule as a substitute of democracy. We have to be a part of the answer of saving our valued establishments or we too will probably be held liable for our democracy’s demise.
Micki Wooden, Fullerton
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To the editor: In Calmes’ wonderful column about Arendt, she doesn’t explicitly point out Arendt’s essential idea of the “banality of evil,” which observes that evil may be perpetrated and assented to by extraordinary individuals, not simply monsters, by means of thoughtlessness, ignorance, disinterest or lack of essential considering. It will also be allowed to take maintain due to the unquestioning obedience to a frontrunner of bureaucrats who might not be inherently evil however produce other egocentric pursuits that trigger them to miss or disregard the harmful intents of the particular person they serve. We should all grow to be extra conscious of the warning indicators.
Lewis T. Rosenthal, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Studying the column on Arendt’s writings about Hitler’s rise to authoritarian energy, I used to be reminded of the saying by thinker George Santayana: “Those that can’t keep in mind the previous are condemned to repeat it.” We could also be right here once more, solely 9 many years later.
Evelyn Goodman, Culver Metropolis
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To the editor: I’d wish to congratulate Calmes on her article. She nailed it! The whole lot that President Trump is doing is the beginning of a dictatorship. Everybody ought to learn this column. It’s unbelievable. Hopefully, I’ll watch the PBS documentary on Arendt on June 27.
Lolita Coffey, Torrance
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To the editor: Arendt’s “The Origins of Totalitarianism” is a much more encompassing evaluation of authoritarian, freedom-denying regimes than Hitler’s Germany. Upon studying, it’s straightforward — if no more possible — to conclude that Arendt’s a lot higher worry can be of right now’s Democrats and it’s Marxist wing (progressives), each culturally and economically, and supported by academia, the leisure trade and far of the media.
Kip Dellinger, Santa Monica
