The Killing Compartments: The Mentality of Mass Murder

Posted on 16 June 2018 by Abram de Swaan

An incisive exploration of why acts of mass annihilation take place and how people become mass killers By historical standards, the early years of the twenty first century have been remarkably peaceful Only rarely are people killed by their own kind, and only very, very rarely are they killed by other animals, microorganisms excepted Nevertheless, even though the statistics should reassure, many people worry about lone killers, murderous gangs, and terrorist bands At the same time, most people are vaguely aware that even in this relatively calm era, wars have made countless victims Yet mass violence against unarmed civilians has claimed three to four times as many lives in the past century as war one hundred million at least, and possibly many These large scale killings have required the efforts of hundreds of thousands of perpetrators Such men and almost all were males were ready to kill, indiscriminately, for many hours a day, for days and weeks at a stretch, and sometimes for months or even years Unlike common criminals who work outside the mainstream of society, in secret, on their own or with a few accomplices, mass murderers almost always worked in large teams, with full knowledge of the authorities and on their orders Without exception, they operated within a supportive social context, most often firmly embedded in the institutions of the ruling regime Unlike terrorists, the mass murderers usually did not want their deeds to be widely known How people are enrolled in the service of evil is a question that lies at the heart of this trenchant book The subject here is mass annihilation that is, massive, asymmetric violence at close range, where killers and victims are in direct confrontation Abram de Swaan offers a taxonomy of mass violence that focuses on the rank and file perpetrators, examining how murderous regimes recruit them and create what De Swaan calls the killing compartments that make possible the worst abominations without apparent moral misgiving, without a sense of personal responsibility, and, above all, without pity De Swaan wonders where extreme violence comes from and where it goes seemingly without a trace when the wild and barbaric gore is over And what about the perpetrators themselves Are they merely and only the product of external circumstance Or is there something in their makeup that helps them become mass murderers Drawing on a wide range of disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, political science, history, and psychology, De Swaan sheds light on an urgent and seemingly intractable pathology that continues to poison peoples all over the world. Free Read [ The Killing Compartments: The Mentality of Mass Murder ] By [ Abram de Swaan ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr Kitab n giri b l m beni hayli heyecanland rd diyebilirim Arendt in k t l n s radanl nda savundu u her insan uygun ko ullar alt nda kitle katili olabilir d ncesi, milgram ve zimbardo deneylerinde otoriteye itaatin tasdiki benim zihnimde her zaman bir soru i aretiydi Bu arg manlar nedeniyle kendime y llar boyu sava ma durlar hikayelerini okurken unu sormu tum, uygun ko ullar alt nda ben de insanlar ayn ekilde ma dur edebilir miydim Swaan, bu durumcu anlay ele tiriyor ve bir Kitab n giri b l m beni hayli heyecanland rd diyebilirim Arendt in k t l n s radanl nda savundu u her insan uygun ko ullar alt nda kitle katili olabilir d ncesi, milgram ve zimbardo deneylerinde otoriteye itaatin tasdiki benim zihnimde her zaman bir soru i aretiydi Bu arg manlar nedeniyle kendime y llar boyu sava ma durlar hikayelerini okurken unu sormu tum, uygun ko ullar alt nda ben de insanlar ayn ekilde ma dur edebilir miydim Swaan, bu durumcu anlay ele tiriyor ve bir insan n kitle katiline d n mesi i in toplumsal, kurumsal, durumsal ve ki isel olmak zere d rt boyutta bir a klama gerekti ini ileri s r yor Bu katmanlar n katliamc y do urdu u ili kiyi a klarken zde le me zde le meme kavramlar n ileri s r yor Toplumun rejim otorite taraf ndan b l mlere ayr lmas bu kapasiteleri art r yor Kitle katliamlar n n ger ekle...This book wasacademic than I anticipated I now know the words mesosociological and dysmentalization, but although it was somewhat of a slog in places, I found its central message rather reassuring de Swaan takes on the common wisdom that under the right circumstances, anyone could commit mass murder While he acknowledges the validity of research into certain groups like Police Battalion 101 from Browning s Ordinary Men, which I had to read in John Honduras s European history This book wasacademic than I anticipated I now know the words mesosociological and dysmentalization, but although it was somewhat of a slog in places, I found its central message rather reassuring de Swaan takes on the common wisdom that under the right circumstances, anyone could commit mass mur...Boring Boring Boring Extremely repetitive and for what should be a scholarly review of case studies, experiments and interviews is very full of biased opinions Not to mention confusing and inconsistent as often he will mention something then say oh yes that, I m going to explain that in this later chapter making it sound as if you are meant to be jumping between chapters When mentioning other scholar he is never consistent for some he just states their name, for some their title or job, and Boring Boring Boring Extremely repetitive and for what should be a scholarly review of case studies, experiments and interviews is very full of biased opinions Not to mention confusing and inconsistent as often he will mention something then say oh yes that, I m going to explain that in this later chapter making it sound as...Son zamanlarda okudugum ve okurken bolca dusundugum kitaplardan biri oldu Kitle katliamlari, insanin ld rme eylemini ve altinda yatan psikolojiyi sorgularken, insanligin yakin ve karanlik tarihine dair de onemli notlar barindiriyor Bu kitaba baslarken aklimda bircok soru vardi Bu sorularin cevaplari bir iki net cevapla merak giderecek turden cevaplar degildi Bu kitabin bir nebze olsun o sorulara yanit verebilecegini dusundum ve gercekten de konuyu bircok yonden analiz eden ve bu analizlerle Son zamanlarda okudu...The Killing Compartments by Abram De Swaan attempts to fathom the mentality of those who commit mass murder or genocide within specified geographical killing compartments organized by murderous regimes This study in genocide is multidisciplinary encompassing anthropology, history, political science, psychology, and soci...Dit boek is een poging om vanuit de sociologie verklaringen te geven voor het gedrag van mensen die actief deelnemen aan genocides, martelingen etc het blijft bij eenpoging, de schrijver vindt geen afdoende verklaring Het zijn vaak gewone mense...Het boek geeft eerder een goede analyse dan een weerlegging van wat Arendt de banaliteit van het kwaad heeft genoemd Belangrijke lectuur Helaas mis ik wel de invloed van een editor, die veel goed werk had kunnen doen de schrijver valt teveel in herhalingen en gebruikt teveel jargon.Overdreven gekunsteld overzicht van de sociologie achter genocidale regimes en daders met veel herhalingen en te weinig voorbeelden Belangrijkste argument luidt compartimentalisatie Nogal zwak voor een werk van 300 pagina s.Review by Jack Fischel for the Jewish Book Council.

The Killing Compartments: The Mentality of Mass Murder

English
16 June 2018

Abram de Swaan