Eichmann, The Joker, and The Banality of Evil

Adolf Eichmann was a member of the Nazi regime who is considered one of the chief architects and executioner of Hitler’s “final solution” for the “Jewish Problem.” Israeli agents captured Eichmann as he was hiding out in Argentina after the collapse of the Third Reich and brought him to Jerusalem to stand trial for genocide. At his trial, Eichmann was found to be just a diligent, conscientious bureaucrat faithfully going about his job, but he was found complicit nonetheless in mass murder. Hannah Arendt, a German political philosopher, published in 1963 a book, “Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil.” The phrase, “banality of evil” is used to describe the fact that great atrocities and crimes do not necessarily stem from extraordinarily diabolical minds, but that evil resides in ordinary and commonplace persons and events. It doesn’t mean that evil is boring or trite or hackneyed. “Banality of evil” means that great wickedness can reside in innocuous form.

I first heard of “the banality of evil” from Dr. Ravi Zacharias. If you want to see an illustration of the banality of evil today, go see a movie. My wife and I went to see The Dark Knight last weekend. I found the Joker a fascinating character. When he was a kid, his dad thought he looked too serious so that his dad decided to permanently carve a “smile” into his face using a knife. Thus, the Joker wears a clown make-up to cover his scars. His “smiling” face is a mask for a murderous and vengeful heart. The Joker will not kill Batman because being Batman’s arch enemy is just “too much fun.” Such dialog is quite commonplace in the movies. Commonplace but grotesque witticisms accompany the most heinous of crimes, desensitizing us to the depth of the evil being depicted and may even elicit some admiration for the evildoer.

On Sunday, the weekend we watched The Dark Knight, a gunman walked into a Church service in Knoxville, TN carrying a 12-gauge shotgun in a guitar case. During the childrens' performance, he took out the shotgun and fired into the congregation, killing an elderly man and an elderly woman. According to Foxnews, “Neighbors described the gunman as a friendly man who often worked in his motorcycle outside, and would go on long weekend rides.” The gunman is now in custody for hate crimes. This was no movie. This is the banality of evil.


Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Genesis 6:5