Learning from Voids

    I think that in life or death situations, the bystander’s role is very important. If one person reacts, it could cause a chain reaction and actually have an effect. Also, as humans, it’s our duty to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. One example I think of for this situation is the last episode of Seinfeld. The characters are witnesses to a crime that they could have prevented had they done something at the time. They filmed the crime and even made cruel jokes about the victim. They end up in jail because they did nothing. In my mind, they were just as guilty as the criminal mugging the overweight victim. In events such as the holocaust, the people that agree to do the executions are guilty as well. Sure, if they refused to do the executions, someone else would have, but it’s against the morals of any decent human to not participate in a mass murder. Victor Capesius saw people he lived with, interacted with, and even helped rid of disease yet he still did not have the guts to stand up against the people who were forcing him to watch these innocent people die. Not only that, but after going to court he did not express any remorse. I think he was completely guilty in this sense. He knew what he was doing, and didn’t show any signs of resistance. That’s unforgivable. Jarausch didn’t do much better. He did send letters expressing his guilt and his sympathy for the prisoners he was holding, yet he didn’t act upon these feelings. It’s obviously difficult and not many people, if put in the same situation, would have done different. Still, you’d think that more people would have stood up against those cruelties of an attempt to wipe out an entire race. I think it is very hard to stand up against evil on your own, but I don’t believe there is a way to take part in evil event like the concentration camps and still maintain your moral convictions. Macbeth also acts rather cruelly towards the people he comes into contact with all because he wants power. Power is usually the incentive humans have to act so mean and impulsive as to take another person’s life just so that they can gain from it. It is an awful and unfulfilling way to live and I don’t understand how people who participate in such things can live with the guilt they have.