ABSTRACT
This chapter uses Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem: a Report on the Banality of Evil in order to explore the relevance of her analysis of banality to the ideological role played by the contemporary media as a result of its systematic promotion of the banal at the expense of the substantive. It has modestly proposed that before attempting to produce detailed plans for what a post-capitalist mediascape might look and sound like, we need to come to full terms with the importance of the banal nature of the barriers that stand in the way. "The banality of evil" implies that evil may persist despite a banal form. "The evil of banality." helps to focus upon the nature of evil that occurs becauseof banality. The media-facilitated fixation upon the phrase "banality of evil," in isolation from the denial of thinking that Arendt clearly identifies as the vector through which evil is enabled,.
