2023-12-27 23:14:10
context
The term “context” also does not exist without context. At least that much is clear at the end of this year. Asking about the context first after a terrorist attack – such as that of Hamas – is not as innocent and neutral as it might sound based on the wording – and not just because it lacks compassion for the victims. Above all, it obscures the fact that there are actions that are inherently condemnable regardless of the circumstances. The hearing from three American university presidents was also disturbing. When asked whether the call for genocide against Jews violated their university statutes, they replied: “It depends on the context.” It is not surprising that some now consider the word poisoned. If you take the context broadly enough, all the differences in the moral world and the rest of the world blur together, everything becomes gray – and open to a manipulative arbitrariness that chooses its friends and enemies based solely on its own interests.
But such suspicion cannot be turned into a general principle – as if the need for context were generally a symptom of anti-Semitism or other evil intentions. In fact, the gloomy autumn also tended to lead to this fatal kind of isolation. In reality, of course, it is not enough to classify formulas and terms according to good and evil in order to orient yourself. Disinterest in connections is no less damaging to moral judgment than the relativization of “yes, but.” Perhaps you can say it this way, in a variation of Kant’s famous saying: Contexts without principles are empty, principles without context are blind. Mark Siemons
This text comes from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
genocide
Genocide colloquially means “murder of a people”. The concept of genocide is associated with the idea that a people should be wiped out. The historical examples are well known. The Armenians should be wiped out, the indigenous Americans, the Jews. The mass murder of the Jews was unique in that the National Socialists were interested in killing every Jewish person, regardless of where they lived, what they owned, what their political views were and whether they practiced their religion. The genocide of the Jews was not carried out for selfish reasons, and ultimately there was no room for negotiation on the question of whether they should be killed. This happened again on October 7, 2023. Anyone who was Jewish or had associated with Jews was killed. Many of the slogans from the demonstrations in London, Paris and Berlin that show understanding for the Hamas murders follow this. Not only Israel should disappear, but the Jews, and with them all unbelievers, meaning people who cannot find anything in the Koran.
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