To the editor: I read Jackie Calmes' article with deep sadness, thinking about the writings of Hannah Arendt (“What Hannah Arendt saw in Hitler's Germany, we can see in Trump America,»April 10). As a former teacher in American history, I taught my students the constitution and the rule of law.
My students were informed of what is happening when the balance of powers is out of control. My eighth year students learned about Nazi Germany and what led to the rise of Hitler. My lessons often asked how people stood next and looked at the ugliness of the genocide taking place.
I could never have imagined the possibility that it will happen in our country. But we live in times that suggest that we appreciate the rule one man instead of democracy. We must be part of the safeguarding solution of our precious institutions or we will also be responsible for the disappearance of our democracy.
Micki Wood, Fullerton
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To the editor: In the excellent chronicle of calm on Arendt, it does not explicitly mention the important concept of Arendt of “banality of evil,“Which observes that evil can be perpetrated and affirmed by ordinary people, not only monsters, through insufficiency, ignorance, disinterest or the lack of critical thinking. signs.
Lewis T. Rosenthal, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Reading the chronicle on Arendt's writings on the rise of Hitler to the authoritarian power, I remembered the saying of the philosopher George Santayana: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” We may still be there, nine decades later.
Evelyn goodman, Culver City
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To the editor: I would like to congratulate the calm for his article. She nailed him! Everything that President Trump is doing is the start of a dictatorship. Everyone should read this column. It's fantastic. I hope I will watch the PBS documentary on Arendt on June 27.
Lolita Coffey, Torrance
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To the editor: “The origins of totalitarianism” by Arendt are a much more encompassing analysis of authoritarian regimes and bounding the freedom than Hitler's Germany. On reading, it is easy – if not more likely – to conclude that the much greater fear of Arendt would be Democrats of today and its Marxist (progressive) wing, both culturally and economically, and supported by the university world, the entertainment industry and a large part of the media.
Kip Dellinger, Santa Monica
