The premier demand upon all education is that Auschwitz not happen again. Its priority before any other requirement is such that I believe I need not and should not justify it. I cannot understand why it has been given so little concern until now. To justify it would be monstrous in the face of the monstrosity that took place. Yet the fact that one is so barely conscious of this demand and the questions it raises shows that the monstrosity has not penetrated people’s minds deeply, itself a symptom of the continuing potential for its recurrence as far as peoples’ conscious and unconscious is concerned. Every debate about the ideals of education is trivial and inconsequential compared to this single ideal: never again Auschwitz.
Theodor Adorno’s Education after Auschwitz
Yesterday I registered for a diploma in International Relations. I was too late to apply for the Master’s degree and have decided to go through the diploma course and onto the master’s from there.
So why would a person with a Marketing degree and a career in marketing and sales make this turnaround? The answer is easy to find in Theodor Adorno’s paper from above, never again Auschwitz.
To some it might be a bit prepostorous to compare the financial loss of the economic disaster in Iceland with the loss of human lives that occurred at Auschwitz. But the context is the same, the defeat of things righteous and good in the human spirit, albeit on different levels.
When the economic crisis struck I found myself questioning everything that had happened. I remember being appalled at the way the privatization of the banks was done, then applying for jobs at the same institutions because I needed a job, then being at Kaupthing when the home-loans were pushed to market in 2004, then participating in a savings campaign because the banks were having trouble financing themselves in the market, then sitting in a room being told about the birth of IceSave, then wondering about the Danish attack on Icelandic businesses, then seeing things grow to ridiculous heights and then listening to one of the top bankers warn everyone about the crisis…in October 2007, then being re-organized out of the business, scoring the sales manager job at Apple’s reseller in Iceland and watching the price of everything skyrocket in six months, with lower sales and higher costs to the business that eventually like Kaupthing would not survive to 2009.
It all seemed to happen so quickly and the end result appears so logical in hindsight. And in the winter of 2008-2009 I have had the great privilege of holding a job coaching football and thinking things over. And I don’t have all the answers, but I do have a lot of questions. So I have decided that one of the things my life must be dedicated to is to ensure that there is never again Iceland…the one of 1999-2009.
So I pondered a degree in economics but decided against it for now. Should I continue with a master’s degree in marketing? Lost the interest. A haunting question on my mind is the way we have organized our world, economically and socially. I need to understand this better. So therefore International Relations, and from there…I don’t know yet.
So provided I get accepted, I will take classes at the University of Iceland and coach football to earn a living. And of course continue with this website and spread the word, never again Iceland!
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June 6th, 2009 → 9:40 am @ Dadi
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