“Humanity” is not always a virtue

“Humanity” is not always a virtue – it can also be a soft mechanism to produce the most civilized forms of violence.
When the banner of the human is raised, the real human is often displaced in favor of a metaphysical image that justifies everything.
Then “humanity” is no longer an ethical promise, but becomes a pretext: sometimes for interventions, sometimes for liquidations and often enough for deliberate overlooking.
Carl Schmitt, one of the sharpest demystifiers of politics, put it in a nutshell:
Those who wave the flag of “humanity” are not necessarily looking for justice, but often for legitimization to exclude the enemy from the realm of the human – to place him outside of justice and compassion.
It is a warning: if the discourse of humanity is used as a moral absolute, it does not bring about peace – it rather sets the stage for limitless violence.
For those who are excluded from it are redefined – as “non-humans” who are entitled to neither legal protection nor linguistic recognition.
In this way, “humanity” is transformed from an ethical promise into an instrument of existential annihilation:
The enemy no longer appears as a being to be understood or confronted, but as a defect that must be eliminated.

Any “humanity” that denies the enemy his humanity paves the way for his destruction – in the name of “good”.
Can a truly human person preserve his humanity while waging war in its name?
Isn’t it time to rethink “humanity” – not as a buzzword, but as a responsibility?
Perhaps the more crucial question is not who speaks in the name of humanity – but who has the courage to question what is committed in its name.

Muhammed Sabbah

War: this is the cruel and ridiculous adventure that men embark on when the oats of madness sting them…

La guerre : c’est l’aventure cruelle et dérisoire dans laquelle les hommes s’engagent quand l’avoine de la folie les pique…

Krieg: das ist das grausam-lächerliche Abenteuer, in das sich Männer einlassen, wenn sie der Hafer des Wahnsinns sticht…

Siegfried Lenz