Quote
The Banality of Evil
Hannah Arendt (popularized concept)
Hannah Arendt, reflecting on the trial of a Nazi official, spoke of the “banality of evil.” The point was not that evil is trivial, but that it often advances through people who are not dramatic monsters—just functionaries who stop asking moral questions. The warning remains: the most dangerous participation in evil is frequently the most ordinary.
How you’d preach it
Useful for understanding how great harm often grows from ordinary people making ordinary compromises.
- Presence
Arendt