Civil servants get caught up in things of not their own making

I have several friends who are civil servants working in different capacities in the government, and I can say that they, like most of us, share a genuine love for Hong Kong, with their hearts in the right place.
Unfortunately, in the wake of months of social tensions, some mainstream media outlets have been demonizing the civil servants and portraying them as despicable individuals -- just because they are working for a highly unpopular administration.
Such characterization is wrong, and represents nothing more than name-calling and sensationalism on the part of the media.
However, I feel compelled to point out here that the people in power must bear in mind one important thing: even good folks can commit horrible wrongdoing under an unjust and twisted system.
According to the late Hannah Arendt, the world-renowned political theorist and philosopher, the most dangerous and common kind of evil is the “banality of evil”, under which participants in atrocities often don’t have any specific intention to inflict harm on others, nor are the crimes against humanity which they committed driven by ideology.
Rather, in many cases, an “evil” person may only be a dutiful civil servant who just wants to do his or her job right without any malicious intent to harm others.
Yet the problem is, if the system itself has gone wrong, or if the “initial orders” given by those in charge are wrong in the first place, it may breed evil no matter how rigorous the internal “gatekeeping” mechanism may be, or no matter how strictly the people who execute the order are following protocol.
The reason why the “banality of evil” is so horrifying is that it is omnipresent, and because of the fact that it is accepted as part of the natural order of things when a dysfunctional or failed system is blinding people to humanity and common decency in the course of doing their job or carrying out orders.
As a result, the civil servants may simply get stuck in the existing framework and become increasingly unable to extricate themselves from the spiral of evil.
This article appeared in the Hong Kong Economic Journal on Feb 10
Translation by Alan Lee
– Contact us at [email protected]
JC/RC
-
Ocean Park to open its doors for free in a revamp move
Hongkongers will soon be able to visit the Ocean Park for free year-round. The park revealed on Monday that entrance fees will be waived, and part of the park will be turned into a zone combining
-
The city’s parking meters are becoming smarter
About 50 new meters installed by the Transport Department will commence operation from Wednesday, allowing drivers to pay the parking fees with their mobile phones. Drivers will have to install an
-
Free Covid tests for couriers
As more Hongkongers are switching to ordering food online and e-shopping amid the pandemic, concerns about the spread of virus through courser services have heightened. In response, the Food & Health
-
Developing the IT potential of girls Dr. Winnie Tang
Last year, a recruitment platform announced a survey on the projected salary increment of various industries in Hong Kong this year, which has become a hot topic in the city. The survey interviewed
-
Addressing Covid vaccine safety
In response to concerns about the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines to be used in Hong Kong, the government said they must satisfy the relevant requirements and obtain emergency use approval in