The Banality of Evil

Everything Everywhere Daily

Gary Arndt

History, Education

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2025

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When you think of evil, characters like Hannibal Lecter, the Joker, and Michael Myers probably come to mind. But what is evil really? Evil can take different forms: sadistic and brutal, but it can also be boring and normalized. During the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann, political philosopher Hannah Arendt reported on the trial for the New Yorker Magazine. Her journalism became incredibly controversial due to her account of Eichmann, viewing him as “banal,” “normal,” and a “clown.” Learn about the “banality of evil,” what it means, how it can be used to interpret Nazi Germany, and its controversy on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Newspapers.com Get 20% off your subscription to Newspapers.com Quince Go to quince.com/daily for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order! Mint Mobile Get your 3-month Unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/eed Jerry Compare quotes and coverages side-by-side from up to 50 top insurers at jerry.ai/daily. Subscribe to the podcast! https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Austin Oetken & Cameron Kieffer Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/ Disce aliquid novi cotidie Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	When you think of evil, characters like Hannibal Lecter, The Joker, or Michael Myers probably
0:05.3	come to mind. But what really is evil? Evil can take different forms, sadistic and brutal,
0:11.3	but it can also be boring and normalized. During the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann, political
0:17.5	philosopher Hannah Arendt reported on the trial for the New Yorker magazine.
0:26.7	Her journalism became incredibly controversial due to her account of Eichmann, viewing him as banal,
0:28.3	normal, and a clown.
0:34.1	Learn more about the banality of evil, what it means, and how it can be used to interpret Nazi Germany on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
0:51.2	Music Great Nazi Germany on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Hey, I'm Arnie Kemp from the fully improvised comedy podcast, Hello from the Magic Tavern.
0:56.5	I'm here with my co-hosts, John the Talking Badger, Bing Bong, and Usenor the Wizard.
1:01.4	I greet thee, listeners.
1:03.5	Look, I'm trapped in the magical land of foon. So I started a podcast interviewing elves, unicorns, and other weirdos.
1:10.5	We have great guests like Felicia Day,
1:13.0	Jason Manzuchas, Brennan Lee Mulligan, Amy Mann, and so many more. Oh, and I think one time we
1:17.7	interviewed a sentient shoe? I hope it was sentient. Not to mention the evil people we've had to
1:22.7	interview. How I hate evil. Join us as we bar crawl across the magical land of foon.
1:29.6	Looking for adventure.
1:31.1	Getting caught up in escapades.
1:33.2	Hello from the Magic Tavern is available right now
1:35.5	on your favorite podcast app.
1:37.3	And add free and with lots of bonus content on Patreon.
1:41.2	Subscribe to Hello from the Magic Tavern today.
1:56.1	Hi, I'm Karina Bimusdurfer, host of Morning Cup of Murder, your daily true crime podcast.
	...

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