Beware: Those Who Banalise, and Launder Evil Are At The Door!
About thirty years ago, a prominent Nigerian intellectual—whose name I will not mention—told my brother something that has stayed with me ever since.
He said he had studied cultures around the world and had encountered one with no concept of the devil.
At first, that sounded admirable.
He did not think so.
He found it deeply disturbing.
Why?
Because where there is no devil, there is often no evil.
Deceiving another person, manipulating them, or taking advantage of them is no longer regarded as morally wrong.
It simply becomes part of the game of life.
That conversation returns to me whenever I listen to certain commentators today. They refuse to call evil by its proper name. Instead, they present themselves as balanced, nuanced, objective, sophisticated—even intellectual.
But moral neutrality in the face of evil is not wisdom.
It is surrender.
Hannah Arendt famously wrote about the banality of evil. Increasingly, however, I find myself thinking about something related, yet distinct:
The laundering of evil.
We have all heard the arguments.
"Yes, they committed atrocities... but look at the infrastructure."
"Yes, thousands died... but look at the technology."
No.
Progress never cancels wickedness.
Roads do not justify murder.
Economic growth does not erase cruelty.
Every act of evil demands an accounting.
The moment we begin weighing bridges against bloodshed, or prosperity against persecution, we have already lost something essential—and civilization itself begins to unravel.
As an electronics engineer, I often think of the old telegraph system.
A signal travelling a long distance becomes weakened by the resistance of the copper wire. To restore it, relay stations were placed along the line. Many people do not realise that the earliest relays effectively served as signal amplifiers.
Some commentators perform a similar function.
They amplify narratives.
They strengthen weakened signals.
But instead of amplifying truth, they amplify the banality of evil. They launder the reputations of individuals, empires, and nations, making atrocities appear understandable—even reasonable.
We should be wary of this.
Deceit comes in many forms.
Indeed, I think deceitfulness may be among the worst traits a human being can possess.
A deceiver corrupts not merely actions, but perception itself. He makes evil appear good and good appear evil.
That is profoundly dangerous.
I will not go much further, except to say this:
We must remain vigilant.
I have often thought about Padre Pio.
People came to him for confession, and on occasion he would send them away abruptly—sometimes with harsh words—because, it was said, he discerned that they were not truly repentant.
It was even said that he could "smell" sin.
Whether one takes those stories literally or not is beside the point.
The point is that some people develop an extraordinary sensitivity to deception.
People sometimes accuse me of overreacting.
Perhaps.
But I would rather be overly sensitive to deceit than become incapable of recognising it.
The world order is shifting before our eyes. This is precisely the time for heightened discernment.
Choose your friends carefully.
Test motives.
Question narratives.
And above all...
Speak the truth.
Civilization depends on it.
I rest
Don Kenobi
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