Ofer Lidsky – A discussion on the banality of immorality – Part I
Nowadays we are witnessing the deterioration of moral values all over the world. Wherever we look we can see leaders and people doing things that are immoral. Moreover, we can also see the lack of leadership in many countries and organizations.
I got the idea for the name of this article from the known Jewish philosopher/writer Hannah Arendt (https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/02/07/hannah-arendt-the-banality-of-evil/) who wrote: Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil which was a controversial article Arendt wrote in regards to how can evil become a daily part of an entire country.
I was wondering if this has always been like that and if people have always been immoral in their decisions and actions in the world to this extent.
I have no real scientific tools at my disposal to measure this precisely. So, I need to rely on my experience and knowledge to try to figure out if there is a real deterioration of moral values and leadership all around the world.
If I look back only 2-3 decades ago, I can still remember leaders with other levels of morals. Leaders who set an example to others and took full responsibility for their actions. I do not see that today in my country and in many other countries as well. On the other hand, I always remember the smart sentence my friend told me long ago – the world has changed but the people did not.
From my experience, my impression is that people are busy doing the wrong things. I see everywhere people advancing their own agendas and motives without thinking about others and the world. It is so out there that in the past few years it is not even hidden anymore, we are witnessing more and more incidents where people are not even ashamed or hiding their immoral actions.
Being a person who understands completely the importance of Integrity in our lives, I think that humanity is going in a very wrong direction. In many countries, including the country I live in – Israel, we can see protests and demonstrations, against the leader’s immoral actions.
We are in a world where fake news has become the major theme on TV and online. It has even become a widely used term that everyone knows – do not believe what you see or hear (the banality of fake-news?).
What happened to the basic moral values? How come lying has become something that is ok to do.
My country’s prime minister is under four different criminal indictments and that is after his wife was already found guilty in court. Some of our ministers act like gangsters but do not even have the integrity gangsters have.
And this is just the beginning because people are missing the most important point, we are all citizens of the same planet. By destroying our planet, we are cutting the branch we are sitting on.
People develop great weapons and systems of mass destruction, but they cannot take care of their own environment. We are developing technologies to escape this planet because we foresee a day where we will have to…
If we will keep devoting our minds and resources to developing F35s and crude oil technologies, we are heading to the wrong place. Albert Einstein did not crack the secret formula of the relation between energy and mass (E=MC^2) in order to create atomic bombs to kill people.
In this Covid-19 pandemic, we are witnessing the power of focusing resources on developing a vaccine for the Coronavirus. Suddenly we can develop a vaccine in a record time that has never seen before. Imagine if humans were only focused on making peace, developing helping technologies, and creating real leadership – just imagine where we can get!
In the end, it all comes down to each one of us. If each one of us will be a person of integrity and compassion, our world will become a different world, a wonderful world. This is the future of humanity – in the hand of each one of us.
The banality of our immorality will lead us to mortality! Think about it!
Ofer A. Lidsky
Founder & President
Excellent Brain Ltd. – Brain Training for ADHD & More
