cf. banality of ignorance?

[Paola Di Maio]

Sharing a  Sunday coffee morning reflection, relevant to us today in many ways. 

THE LIE AS A TOOL OF POWER
"Lying continually is not intended to make people believe a lie, but to ensure that no one believes anything anymore. A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between good and evil. And such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is, without knowing it or wanting it, completely subjected to the empire of lies. With people like that, you can do whatever you want."

- Hannah Arendt,

https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/blog/hannah-arendts-lessons-for-our-times-the-banality-of-evil-totalitarianism-and-statelessness/
Relevance
One: the observation that superfluous people are a feature of totalitarian thinking. Once you've decided that some people's lives are not important or not as valuable as others, you are already walking into trouble.

Two is the importance of free thought, of thinking for yourself. And for us, that means creating spaces in which free thinking is possible. Education, culture, institutions that protect free thought.