not my concern rules are rules hannah arendt in her reporting of the eichmann trial for the new yorker which evolved into eichmann in jerusalem a report on the banality of evil she coined the phrase the banality of evil to describe eichmann she raised the question of whether evil is radical or simply a function of banality the tendency of ordinary people to obey orders and conform to mass opinion without critically thinking about the results of their action or inaction wikipedia the irony of democratic process is that if those who value it do not defend it against the onslaught of fanatics and totalitarians it will be lostand every step of the way the eradication of democracy will be accomplished with small seemingly insignificant actions justified as within the rules and laws of the democracy being slowly poisoned to death