A/N: Yep, I'm still writing! With the craziness of the holiday season behind me, I'm hoping to be able to get back at this with more regularity. My apologies for the delay!
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"The 'banality of evil'. A phrase generally associated with Hannah Arendt who used it in her report of the trial of Adolph Eichmann, one of Hitler's most established officers, and the man responsible for organizing deportation to the extermination camps." The classroom was dark, but the images projected in the slideshow held the attention of all. Tony stood slightly to the side of the screen and clicked each frame into place with a small remote held in his right hand. "When he was finally captured in 1960," he continued, "people expected to see this horrible face of evil- this monster that had been instrumental in the death of millions of people. Discovering he was instead a rather mild-mannered, soft-spoken articulate man went against this perception." With each adjective, a new frame flashed on the white screen. "He represented, as Arendt succinctly noted, the banality of evil. She posed the theory that people who carry out unspeakable crimes may not be crazy, inhuman, or evil at all, but are simply regular individuals like you and me, who simply get caught up in the event either through reward or because it's routine. These people get caught in the cycle of the enterprise and if they do realize the depth of their actions, don't have the fortitude to step aside."
He let the words settle before moving along. "This was later put to the test by Stanley Milgram's 'Obedience to Authority' experiment that had subjects posing as teachers who administer shocks to another subject, posing as a 'learner' in the next room. Starting at 15 volts and increasing in 15 volt increments, the level of shock was determined by how well the learner answered questions. If they got it right, all was well. But if they got it wrong-" Tony loudly feigned an electrical shock and the class laughed. "However, the real test was on the one administering the shock. You see, the person in the other room wasn't being shocked at all- they were in on the test and were faking their responses. So the question was, how far would the 'teacher' go before disobeying the orders of the doctor, the authority in the room? Guesses? Out of the 40 test subjects, how many ended up pushing the button that would send, as far as they knew, the maximum- and potentially lethal- 450 volts? Simon?"
The young man in the back called out, "Five."
Tony shook his head. "Kathleen?"
"Ten?" she guessed.
"Anyone else?" Tony asked. A few shouts came back, but none were correct. "Twenty-six," he informed them. "Sixty five percent administered the maximum amount of punishment." There was a murmur of disbelief in the room and Tony offered another challenge. "Take into consideration that a human can receive a serious shock with 120 volts. How many of the 40 stopped before 300 volts?" As it was before, several guesses were yelled out. Tony simply held up his hand with his thumb and index finger forming an 'o'. "Zero."
"I would never do that," Simon stated.
"Wouldn't you?" Tony asked. "I suppose that's the point, isn't it? We all like to think we would rise above conformity, don't we?" The bell signalled the end of the class and Tony flicked on the light. "Read the chapter about Phillip Zimbardo's prison experiment by next class and write your own Obedience to Authority thesis. Tell me how it applies to something that you've seen in the news or witnessed in your own personal experiences." He pointed at Simon and said sternly, "And you'll do it- because I'm the authority figure."
The young student rolled his eyes and gathered his books. As everyone filed out, Tony turned off the projector and collected his things.
"Should I take that personally?" a voice wondered aloud.
Looking up, Tony saw Alex enter the room. Puzzled, he played back her words in his head. "Pardon?"
She pointed to his scrawling title on the board. "When Good People do Bad Things."
He turned his head to follow her gaze. "Ah," he replied. "No." He looked at her again. "Though I'm not sure I'd trust you to administer electric shocks."
Now it was her turn to be puzzled. "As much as I want to ask, I'm sure I don't really want to know."
He knew why she was there, knew her enough to know she wasn't inclined to let things fester between them. She was the kind of person who dealt with things no matter how easy or difficult; never one to hope things sorted them selves. He had already forgiven her, but was honest enough to admit her deception, well intended or not, still stung. And he wasn't too proud of his own actions in the stairwell, either. So rather than giving her an opening, he remained silent.
Of course, he was foolish to think she needed one. Cutting to the chase, she said, "I'm here to apologize for what happened. However good my intentions might have been, you deserved to know. And to be honest, I used those intentions as an excuse. I didn't know how to tell you, so I said nothing. That was unfair to you."
"Did Ben approve of your apology?"
Alex tilted her head and looked at Tony in confusion. It took her a brief second to figure out what he meant, and as it dawned on her, she burst out into laughter. "Okay, so maybe I practiced my speech once or twice," she conceded. "And it got Ben's seal of approval, right after he gave me a bollocking for 'being mean' to you."
"He's a good lad," Tony said.
Alex simply shook her head. "Are we okay?"
"No," he replied, much to her surprise. "I want to apologize for my behaviour in the stairwell." She made a motion to wave it away, but he held up his hand. "I was angry at you and I should have found a better way to express that rather than lash out at you the way I did."
She opened her mouth in feigned horror. "Tony Hill. Human after all? Alert the press!"
He scowled at her mockery. "Regardless, I'm sorry."
"Friends?" she offered, extending her hand.
Smiling at the formality, he returned the gesture. "Of course, Alex."
"Good," she replied, "because I've still got this case to solve."
He couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't you mean we've still got this case to solve."
"Right." Uncertain of Tony's feelings on the matter of Carol Jordan, Alex chose to speak with a measure of vagueness. "We went to see Dangor Amadi again."
"Carol mentioned it, yes."
Alex's right eyebrow lifted and she barely covered the smirk. "Oh, really?"
Oblivious to her line of thinking, he added to the fire. "Yes, she came by last night."
"I see."
The light bulb switched on over his head. Flustered, Tony stammered, "Not like that."
A picture of innocence, she asked, "Not like what?"
"Not like whatever's going on in that over-active imagination of yours. She came over to apologize. As you've done today."
"But I'm not spending the night," she playfully countered.
For a moment, Tony wondered how Alex knew about Carol's plans for that evening, and he felt his body betray him as the blood rushed to his face. It was the sliver of logical thinking that told him Alex's comment was simply an assumption about the previous night. "She didn't stay the night."
Unfortunately for him, Alex misinterpreted his embarrassment as a contradiction to his words. "It's none of my business," she said, holding up her hands in surrender. "Don't worry, I was only joking about alerting the press."
"Oh, God," he groaned.
"Before you decide to crawl under your desk, let's get back to the case."
"Yes, let's."
"Do you have time to come back to the station?" she asked. "It'll save me from having to tell the story more than once, and we'll see if your Carol's come up with something."
He was about to refute her claim of Carol being his, but knew it would only lead to more sly innuendo and flushed cheeks, so he chose to ignore it. And while he would never admit it- to either woman- there was something in the phrase that pleased him. Aloud, he said, "Of course. I'm quite interested in seeing how the two of you interact." As he knew it would, any suggestion of him analyzing her got him a glare of disapproval and he smartly suppressed his smile.
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