“Banality: The political philosopher Hannah Arendt confused the meaning of this word by introducing in 1961 her brilliant but limiting concept ‘the banality of evil.’ In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a minor political figure, Brian Mulroney, released the term by demonstrating that it could also reasonably be understood to mean the evil of banality.”
Excerpted from: Saul, John Ralston. The Doubter’s Companion. New York: The Free Press, 1994.
Mark's Text Terminal 