Thursday, July 03, 2008

The Eyes Have It

There are those rare photographs taken of people who have been accused of truly dreadful actions, seriously impacting on society by the commission of horrible and inhuman acts toward others. These photographs are taken when the accused are in custody, under the control of law agencies, perhaps seated in the back of a police car, being conveyed to court where the charges are to be read against them, and proceedings to begin in the presentation of evidence as justice takes its course.

In those photographs - and they are rare, and troubling - the accused appear to reveal the darkest depths of their depraved intentions. They've a lowered, but still direct gaze, with their brows hanging heavy over their eyes. The eyes appear dark yet vacant, dead. Absent of depth and of life, replaced by a mordant stare of dismissal of the onlooker. The eyes reveal evil. They do this in the most uncanny way, causing the onlooker to shudder. At the crimes committed and the distantly dismissive look in those eyes.

This is not an appearance of guilt, of remorse, of fear of repercussions, or even regret at having been apprehended. It is an appearance of complete disinterest, as though the crimes being attributed to the person being conveyed to court, although well known to those who follow the news, are irrelevant to anything at all. Not an admission of guilt, or a troubled conscience, but an overt admission of disinterest.

Photographs taken of Karla Homulka after her arrest and while she was testifying in court against her husband, Paul Bernardo, betrayed that blank, dead, evil glare. Photographs of Momin Khawaja, being driven to an Ottawa courtroom for his trial on terrorism charges also reflect that same glowering evil stare. Both of these individuals surrendered to evil, permitting it to hollow them out of ordinary human emotions.

In their boredom, ennui, self-involvement, they sought out excitement, entertainment, adventure, romance, utterly corrupting themselves in the process. Hanna Arendt more than adequately described the manner in which normal becomes subnormal, abnormal, accepted and practised. Seemingly normal people are enticed through their surroundings, through exposure to others' compelling arguments to commit to evil.

Evil is never "radical," ...it is only extreme, and... it possesses neither depth nor any demonic dimension... It is "thought- defying"...because thought tries to reach some depth, to go to the roots, and the moment it concerns itself with evil, it is frustrated because there is nothing. That is its "banality."
Hannah Arendt, 1964

In the case of Karla Homulka her love of self and her willingness to submit to all the perversions she knew her husband was committed to, brought her to his side as a partner in the torture and sexual predations of young women, even before she married him. She accepted his horrible criminality, and was eager to assist him, finding her own gratification in the process. Conscience did not stop her from assisting him to rape her own sister.

Nor did any kind of latent humanity surface when she was left alone with young girls whom her husband was serially raping and torturing, to see herself in them, to feel compassion for them, to offer her help to them, to reject the horrendous attacks they experienced from her husband. If for no other reason than that she did not relate to their condition other than to relish it for what it offered her.

In the case of Momin Khawaja, another privileged, middle-class young person who was able to obtain all the opportunities available to any other young Canadian, complacent in their place in a free society where everyone is accepted with equanimity and potential can take the individual as far as he or she cares to develop it, he too was happily sidelined. He chose to ally himself with disaffected, grievance-belligerent jihadists, finding comfort and excitement in their shared plans.

They both chose to reject a society that celebrates diversity, equality, opportunity and good order. They chose instead to pursue personal satisfaction, pleasure and meaningless values by defying society, convention, respect for others to revel in a violently coercive and blighted pursuit of their own. Their parents do not disown them, although society holds them in the highest opprobrium for their obscene departure from humanity.

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posted by Pieface @ Thursday, July 03, 2008

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