Letters to the Editor
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The Frivolity of Evil
Arendt spoke of the banality of evil. I've coined a new term describing the attitube of the Cohens, McArdles, and Drezners of this nation: The Frivolity of Evil.
Case in point from Cohen, "This is not an entirely trivial matter since government officials should not lie to grand juries, but neither should they be called to account for practicing the dark art of politics. As with sex or real estate, it is often best to keep the lights off. As with sex or real estate, it is often best to keep the lights off."
Cohen - like so many other commentators - loves clever turns of phrase more than justice or truth. It's sickening that these public "intellectuals" can speak about torture, treason, and war using such glib witticisms. Even more sickening is when they deny that their what they've written meant what it meant, or that it contributed to commission of the crimes for which they so casually advocated.
If I were of a more charitable mind, I'd say their talk of "dark rooms" and "toolboxes" is a psychological defense to keep themselves from feeling the full moral weight of the more transparent terms "torture" and "terror" - but I'm not longer feeling charitable toward these torture enablers.
These folks are grown ups. They're professional writers, so if they write of government sponsored torture, terror, and treason so wittily, and with such grace and élan, then I can only assume that they think such topics are likewise light, breezy, and not at all worrisome.
To quote Rush Limbaugh, "Words mean things." If you write in favor of torture, and do so with style and grace, then don't complain when people say you're pro-torture, pro-terror, and pro-treason.