Orders

When questioned about the heinous actions performed at the concentration camps, the German soldiers responsible deferred the culpability, claiming that they were simply following orders.

Its not an uncommon event in wartime. A soldier is given some kind of order that is morally questionable or down right wrong. We have some sympathy, of course. Soldiers are trained to take orders, after all. With a little imagining, we can feel the difficulty that must go on in that moment. Dissent, fail to obey, and do good... or concede, successfully obey, and do evil.

Imagine the mental process of the moral soldiers who execute such orders. Desiring to do good, they must highlight in their minds the origin of said order. They were being good soldiers... following orders. The one giving the orders... that is the one who is ultimately responsible for the travesty.

I think people are often willing to give these unfortunate men and women something of a break. Perhaps we really hope they would disobey the order, but we can understand the difficulty involved in it. Hitler, after all, was giving the orders.

For many years, that was the end of that issue for me. The head of the snake is the source of the monstrousness. That was until I heard this story.

Apparently, when Hitler would take a train across the country side he would at times pass these death camps. Knowing that they were coming, he would order the train attendants to close the blinds.

Wait. I thought he was a monster. Wouldn't he want to see the destruction he was wrecking? Wasn't he an unholy terror, lusting to warp the world into bloodshed? An insane dictator reaping death. Why would such a twisted man want to blind himself to the horrors he is orders created?

Now, it is not my aim to defend the actions of Hitler. Nor do I want to claim he was well intentioned. But I think this closing the curtains anecdote offers important insight to how humans are capable of committing great evil.

By turning a blind eye, leaders can distance themselves from the reality of their directives. They keep in mind the end, and put each of their strategic steps in service of that end. By staying focused on that distant goal they unfocus on what actually must be done to accomplish it. This is a basic abstraction that protects them from facing their actions. They are, after all, just giving orders. Its the soldiers who are the murderers.

But wait. Aren't the soldiers just following orders? Can this really be happening? Yes, actually, and it does. The commander says to him or herself, "My idea, but not my hands," while the commanded says to him or herself, "My hands, but not my idea." Each doing their best to silently defer the responsibility to the other. Maybe they can sleep at night, maybe they can't. But in the end, the evil gets done.

What to learn from this? Systems of human organization can facilitate great evil if the members of the organization do not each take moral responsibility for all the organizations activities. Also, we are called to publicly dissent when we see our organization go astray. By giving voice to these issues you guarantee that they do not silently pass, and that those involved see the impact of their actions.