Guy Incognito

Escrito por Prophet

Two articles in the New York Times today are food for thought about the issue of authenticity, previous grist here at the Toxic Culture mill.

On the one hand, there’s this amazing New York Times article that fills us in on yesterday’s capture of Radovan Karadzic. In particular, we learn about the double life he’s been living as Dr. David, “alternative healer.” Note the stylish topknot. Also consider for a moment how freaking weird it would be to find out that some guy you’ve had coffee with several times, or been on a panel with, turned out to be one of the world’s most wanted war criminals.

Turning some pages in the same issue, we find an appalling obituary for one Dinko Sakic, a former concentration camp commander who died in Croatia at age 86. It’s worth a read, even if only to learn that this guy (who lived the last half of his life in Argentina, even palling around with fellow supervillian Alfredo Stroessner to start a “rest camp” for former fascists) was not even the least bit apologetic about his role in the Holocaust, even saying he’d do it again if given the opportunity.

Two evil guys. One pretending to be someone else (with vitamins!). The other not even pretending to hide it (seems like he gave his jury the slow clap – unbelievable). Neither particularly repentant – Karadzic, evidently, is planning to serve as his own defense in The Hague (ecce Milosevic), while Sakic maintained that the deaths in his camp were from “natural causes” – but one was open about his crimes while the other hid in plain sight.

At what cost? Sakic was what he was. Karadzic was not what he was. A textbook case of bad faith – something that happens (thank you, unfaithful Sartre) when we use our freedom to deny our freedom. So which is worse? And does it matter? There’s something in our “be yourself” culture that might applaud Sakic, if only for his refusal to hide behind a topknot. On the other hand, it’s all the more appalling that he didn’t even have the sense to recognize that what he did was despicable.

The Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico said that the primal emotion that distinguished us as humans was shame. Shame is a kind of fear that distinguishes us as individuals, that marks the recognition that we are not gods and are therefore found wanting. At least Karadzic displayed fear of being caught; only he knows if that fear is of the genus “shame.”

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