Political reminders at the dawn of a new dark age....

How dangerous is the cliche! When Marshall McLuhan speaks of the world as a "global village" do people think that we're all going to be living in grass huts with bamboo walls? Fortunately not. The "global village" of Marshall McLuhan has proved his "other" cliche "the medium is the message". But how many people who use these cliches actually read and understand the source material? Do any of the so-called communists understand what Marx meant by the "withering away of the State"? If the practise of the Communist parties in power is to anything to go by, not very many at all.

Consider the cliche "The Banality of Evil". How misused that has become! Do such people have any idea whatsoever of what the term means, who coined it and why? Because one thing is for sure, it does _not_ mean because because one thinks political evil is not impressive therefore it's banal and boring. It does _not_ mean because political evil does not strike one as interesting, it can justify retreating into the private life and disengage from civic involvement. In fact, it means the exact opposite.

For purposes of history truth, to give honour and dignity back to the person who coined the phrase and in the desire to teach, let us engage in an brief examination of a hero of the species named HANNAH ARENDT.
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