Hope in Dark Times
These are indeed dark times. How can anyone have hope? Why bother? An answer is perhaps to be found in the quiet courage and wisdom of philosopher Hannah Arendt.
By Jeremi Suri
“[E]ven in the darkest of times we have the right to expect some illumination…such illumination may well come less from theories and concepts than from the uncertain, flickering, and often weak light that some men and women, in their lives and their works, will kindle under almost all circumstances and shed over the time span that was given them on earth.”
- Hannah Arendt, author and philosopher
Hannah Arendt, a Holocaust refugee and philosopher, wrote these words in January 1968, when her adopted country, the United States, appeared to be coming apart at the seams, torn by civil rights and the war in Vietnam. She detested the leading politicians of her time. She had little faith in voters or businessmen or students, or intellectuals for that matter. Arendt wrote about what she had experienced: the violent failures of democracy and the suffering of those most vulnerable.
Arendt did not offer easy solutions and she was skeptical of empty platitudes. As her difficult career came to an end, she focused her work on “men in dark times” – those individuals who maintained their integrity amidst corruption, and committed to kindness and improvement in a cruel context. They kept hope alive, even if they failed to re-direct the dismal developments around them. “Eyes so used to darkness as ours,” Arendt wrote, “will hardly be able to tell whether their light was the light of a candle or that of a blazing sun.”
Tyrants, demagogues, and liars encouraged by silence
I thought about these words as I watched the most depressing presidential debate in U.S. history and then read Supreme Court decisions gutting environmental (and many other) regulations. The Court also limited some of the prosecutions of January 6 insurrectionists. At the same time, wars continue in Ukraine and Gaza with no end in sight. These are indeed dark times. How can anyone have hope? Why bother?
Arendt counseled strongly against despondence or indifference because these reactions enable more bad behavior. The tyrants, the demagogues, and the liars are encouraged by silence. They become normalized when no one bothers to call them out and expose them. Even worse, they seem less cruel and harmful when no one offers an alternative. Injustice looks just when true justice is made invisible.
But Arendt did not idealize or advocate resistance. She looked for something else: focused and consistent improvement in the lives of citizens. She rejected self-righteousness and moral purity for the determined effort to make things better, within the constraints of existing circumstances. There is a quiet courage, Arendt observed, in the steadfast effort to help suffering people reduce their pain. There is an enduring integrity in pursuing beneficial compromises and half-measures. Talk about doing the right thing matters less than getting things done in a better way for people.
We have many opportunities to follow Arendt’s advice in our own dark times. Instead of just lamenting our feelings of frustration and powerlessness, we can find ways to pursue our goals inside the current system, even as we seek to transform the system. We might not have enthusiasm for either U.S. presidential candidate in 2024, but we can work for the one we find more trustworthy and honest to promote the programs that help so many people.
There is moral and political value in partial justice, far above the cynical acceptance of injustice. Arendt witnessed how the latter empowered dictators. She wrote about the courageous pursuers of partial justice who pushed toward positive change.
Men and women who rise in dark times
Current presidential debates and Supreme Court decisions are wearing us down. No one that I have read has an obvious theory or concept for reversing the despair. We have to work as individuals – pragmatic individuals – to make a difference where we can. When we lead, we have to encourage and help people to act. And in our politics we have to support flawed figures who make the work for change possible, just as we reject those who repress reforms and embed injustices. We must join caring people, rather than pining for prophets.
Hope today will not come from figures on the top of the mountain, at the debate podium, or wearing the black robes. It will arise from men and women in dark times who pursue change where we can, and inspire others. That is all of us. That is our historical role. Arendt reminds us that democracy is preserved by ordinary people who continue to do good. Decency means so much more than demagoguery.
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Jeremi Suri holds the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a professor in the University's Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Professor Suri is the author and editor of eleven books on politics and foreign policy, most recently: Civil War By Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy. His other books include: The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office; Liberty’s Surest Guardian: American Nation-Building from the Founders to Obama; Henry Kissinger and the American Century; and Power and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Détente. His writings appear in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN.com, Atlantic, Newsweek, Time, Wired, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and other media. Professor Suri is a popular public lecturer and comments frequently on radio and television news. His writing and teaching have received numerous prizes, including the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Texas and the Pro Bene Meritis Award for Contributions to the Liberal Arts. Professor Suri hosts a weekly podcast, “This is Democracy.”