Timothy Snyder
"It is less appealing, but morally more urgent, to understand the actions of the perpetrators. The moral danger, after all, is never that one might become a victim but that one might be a perpetrator or a bystander. It is tempting to say that a Nazi murderer is beyond the pale of understanding. ... Yet to deny a human being his human character is to render ethics impossible. To yield to this temptation, to find other people inhuman, is to take a step toward, not away from, the Nazi position. To find other people incomprehensible is to abandon the search for understanding, and thus to abandon history."
4 Quotes
"It is less appealing, but morally more urgent, to understand the actions of the perpetrators. The moral danger, after all, is never that one might become a victim but that one might be a perpetrator or a bystander. It is tempting to say that a Nazi murderer is beyond the pale of understanding. ... Yet to deny a human being his human character is to render ethics impossible. To yield to this temptation, to find other people inhuman, is to take a step toward, not away from, the Nazi position. To find other people incomprehensible is to abandon the search for understanding, and thus to abandon history."
"إن فهم أفعال الجناة، وإن كان لا يستهوي النفس، إلا أنه أشد إلحاحًا من الناحية الأخلاقية. فالمخاطرة الأخلاقية الحقيقية، في نهاية المطاف، ليست في أن يغدو المرء ضحية، بل في أن يكون جانيًا أو متفرجًا صامتًا. يغرينا أن نقول إن قاتلاً نازيًا يتجاوز حدود الفهم... غير أن حرمان الكائن البشري من صفته الإنسانية هو إبطالٌ لإمكانية الأخلاق. إن الاستسلام لهذا الإغراء، واعتبار الآخرين مجردين من الإنسانية، هو خطوة نحو الموقف النازي، لا ابتعادًا عنه. واعتبار الآخرين عصيين على الفهم هو تخلٍ عن السعي لإدراكهم، وبالتالي تخلٍ عن التاريخ ذاته."
Timothy Snyder
Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
"It is easy to sanctify policies or identities by the deaths of victims. It is less appealing, but morally more urgent, to understand the actions of the perpetrators. The moral danger, after all, is never that one might become a victim but that one might be a perpetrator or a bystander."
"من اليسير إضفاء القداسة على السياسات أو الهويات بدماء الضحايا. لكن الأقل استساغة، والأكثر إلحاحاً أخلاقياً، هو فهم أفعال الجناة. فالخطر الأخلاقي الحقيقي، في نهاية المطاف، ليس أبداً أن يغدو المرء ضحية، بل أن يكون جانياً أو متفرجاً."
Timothy Snyder
Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
"In the politics of the every day, our words and gestures, or their absence, count very much."
Timothy Snyder
"Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights."
Timothy Snyder
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