Little Eichmannism ...

At Horizon, Bobby Farouk found an interesting thing in Neil Postman's 1987 address,"The Educationist as Painkiller." There, the NYU critic argued that the work of those of us in education was to combat stupidity or, what he called,"balderdash." Among the many forms of it that he identified – Pomposity, Earthiness, Euphemism, Word Magic, Sloganeering, and Superstition -- Postman called one"Eichmannism".

Eichmannism is that form of balderdash which accepts as its starting and ending point official definitions, rules, and regulations without regard for the realities of particular situations. The language of Eichmannism is the voice of the organization, which is why it is usually polite, subdued, and even gracious - in a plastic sort of way ... Eichmannism is the cool, orderly, cynical language of the bureaucratic mentality alienated from human interests. It is especially dangerous because it is so utterly detached. That means, among other things, that some of the nicest people turn out to be mini-Eichmanns, and that includes most of us.

In light of all the charges flung against Ward Churchill, what are we to make of this? Is it close enough that one should add this to a list of plagiarism charges against Churchill? Is he guilty of plagiarizing Postman's idea? Churchill's degrees, after all, are in Postman's field, Communications, so it's quite plausible to posit that Churchill was familiar with Postman's work.

Or, given a point that both Chris Sciabarra and I have made, that Ayn Rand took a similar position in Atlas Shrugged about people who unthinkingly allowed themselves to become mere cogs in large, destructive machines, is Churchill's"little Eichmanns" remark simply a perfectly legitimate act of social criticism, one that might also have been found in such post-World War II classics as David Reisman's The Lonely Crowd, William Whyte's The Organization Man or Sloan Wilson's The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit? I don't recall Postman, Rand, Reisman, Whyte, or Wilson being called anti-American.

Update: At Inside Higher Ed this morning, Scott Jaschik has the stories on Jacques Pluss and Claire Strom that we discussed at Cliopatria over the weekend:"Nazi Loses Teaching Job" and"The Cost of Whistleblowing." Both of Scott's stories have additional information.
At History on Trial, you can get Deborah Lipstadt's perspective on CNN's recent and controversial handling of the issues of"balance" and holocaust denial.