The Benevolent Nazis - Benevolence versus morality
Actually written JANUARY 17, 2008
DJ BENEVOLENCE: OK I’m here interviewing 2 crazy cats, some imaginary characters I made up. I dreamed these guys up because I think they go a long way toward explaining the distinction between benevolence and morality.
These 2 crazy cats are Nazis. So before I let them speak, I’d like to make perfectly clear that yours truly, DJ Benevolence, is not a Nazi. I do in fact denounce Nazi-ism on the grounds that it expresses too much malevolence and cruelty.
In fact, it is precisely because Nazi-ism is so strongly associated with both malevolence and moral evil that I designed these 2 cats as Nazis. Nazis are convenient as classic villains in any ideological discussion.
But these 2 guys are special. They suffer a psychological abnormality so unique that they are among the only 12 or so people in the entire world who do have it. The abnormality is called “Drive Category Conflict” or “Drive Category Schizophrenia”.
It means these guys have a kind of inner war going on inside them about how they treat other people.
On the one hand, they have desires about how to treat people. They simply want to treat people a certain way.
On the other hand, they believe they have a moral duty to treat others a certain way. They feel morally obligated to treat others in some specified way.
But in the case of these 2 dudes, these desires and duties are in complete opposition.
These guys want to treat others according to benevolence. They want to be helpful, charitable, and kind to all people everywhere, including blacks and Jews. In fact, these guys feel nothing but sincere benevolence toward blacks and Jews.
However, both these guys also believe it is their moral duty to hinder and subjugate, and oppress blacks and Jews.
These guys are benevolent feeling, yet morally Nazi.
Now, immediately this sounds impossible. One is tempted to say these guys are full of shit and they just need to admit that they are simply lying about what truly drives them.
Well, they may in fact be impossible. I had to invent them in my mind, after all. But I ask you to follow this thought experiment further. Give this the benefit of a doubt. We’re not really here to judge whether these guys are possible. But we’re here to learn about some distinctions that will help us grasp what an ideology of benevolence might be about.
So now I’ll introduce you to Benjamin and Morris.
Ben and Morris both claim to feel great benevolence toward blacks and Jews. They profess to wish blacks and Jews nothing but gratification, success and happiness.
BENJAMIN: This is true. But it’s not just about blacks and Jews. Morris and I wish all people of every race nothing but happiness.
MORRIS: Yes. All people, everywhere. These are our sincerest desires.
DJ BENEVOLENCE: Yet you also believe it is your moral duty to frustrate the desires of blacks and Jews. To oppress them and cause them unhappiness.
BENJAMIN: This is also true. Morality is not about what we want. Morality is about what we are duty-bound to do. So while I may wish only happiness for blacks and Jews, I also realize that I must do my duty to thwart their happiness.
MORRIS: Same with me.
DJ BENEVOLENCE: Doesn’t this make you guys unhappy yourselves, that you have such duties that conflict with what you want for others?
MORRIS: Absolutely. Benjamin and I are miserable because our morality goes against our wishes. But, we know we must do our moral duty, regardless of what we want.
BENJAMIN: Yes, our abnormality is like being controlled by some force inside us that drives us against our own will. It is like being possessed by something, something both frustrating, yet compelling.
DJ BENEVOLENCE: Since you are so conflicted, how do you decide which drive to act on
BENJAMIN: I always side with my benevolent desires. I admit I am a bad moralist. I am always respectful and helpful toward blacks and Jews. And for this, I know I am a bad Nazi, morally flawed among my fellow moral Nazis. And I feel only shame when I contemplate my immoral behavior. I am evil, I know, but at least I am gratifying my benevolence towards others.
MORRIS: In this respect, I am completely opposite of Benjamin, here. I always side with my moral duties. I am a good Nazi. I feel righteous among my fellow moral Nazis. I am good, but I feel nothing but remorse and guilt about hurting others.
DJ BENEVOLENCE: Dudes, that’s messed up. I’m sure you are aware that most of the people listening to this interview are progressive-minded and would strongly urge you to change your morality such that it agrees with your benevolent desires.
BENJAMIN: They have their morality. We have ours.
DJ BENEVOLENCE: Ok. I’m not really interested in arguing about which morality is better or true-er.
MORRIS: Why not?
DJ BENEVOLENCE: Well, because I’m skeptical whether morality even exists. I myself do not feel any moral drives in me. I don’t feel any sense of moral obligation or duty. So when others talk of moral right and wrong, I have no idea what they are talking about, and less am I prepared to make any moral judgments about such issues.
So, while my progressive-minded audience might urge you to change your morality, I would instead urge you to consider whether your morality is simply an illusion of sorts, perhaps some kind of subliminal malevolence expressing itself as disowned, cold, objectified moral duty.
MORRIS: Oh, Ok. So you don’t believe in morality. So you just go around doing whatever you feel.
DJ BENEVOLENCE: Yes. And most of the time, what I feel is at least compatible with benevolence. I just have no moral overlay on top of that benevolence.
You guys, however, do have a moral overlay, and it conflicts with your benevolence. And as a promoter of benevolence, I would urge you to consider that the moral overlay you have is an illusion.
BENJAMIN: Well, we would like you to ponder whether your lack of morality is the real illusion here.
MORRIS: Ya. Perhaps it is you who suffer the illusion, Mister DJ Benevolence.
DJ BENEVOLENCE: Point taken. I leave the validity of morality an open issue. It’s quite possible that I’m suffering an illusion of sorts. I may be a moralist in denial or something. Or I may simply be unable to grasp the existence of morality because of some deficiency on my part.
I concede to you that morality may be real, that the duty you feel is a real thing in the world, and that it operates separately from your desires. Never-mind my inability to grasp it. It may be real regardless of my inability. So it is precisely because I can’t know for sure whether moral phenomena exist, that I must develop an ideology that would account for their existence, just in case.
And you guys are helping me do that.
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