In 1963 Hannah Arendt published a book entitled Eichman in Jerusalem, in which she coined the phrase, “the banality of evil”. Her thesis was that great evil isn’t necessarily perpetrated by fanatical sociopaths, but often comes at the hands of the most ordinary individuals. Citing the Holocaust as an example of how great evil can be wrought by even the most mundane of individuals, Ms Arendt’s book should serve as a reminder to civilized individuals worldwide that today’s intensely evil people can be quite unremarkable.