TRAIN TO BUSAN AND BANALITY OF EVIL

A film which shows an anti-thesis to Hannah Arendt's Banality of evil is, in my opinion, Train to Busan, The Korean film. More often than not, it is very easy to reduce the act of the fund manager of the film, who is the main character of the film, the father, as the Evil banality symbol. He is supposed to be the Eichmann in Jerusalem. 

I do not particularly agree with this analysis. Why, let me explain. 

The fund manager seems to be highly goal oriented; he decides to sell all the shares of a particular Pharma company so that in effect, the business of that company went down, and in revenge, they opened a pandora's box of some zombie making virus to the whole country. 

But he never knew that this could cause this big an effect. This is very essential and often misunderstood nuance of Banality of Evil. 

Banality of Evil is when, the doer knows what he is doing is immoral and is going to cause a havoc. For instance, Eichmann knew that he is going to kill, in effect, thousands of Jews. But somehow, morality was irrelevant to him. Orders and becoming a better civil servant were important for him than thinking what is good or bad. 

This "complete information" assumption is very important for banality of evil. More often than not, we just associate any act of ignorance with Banality of Evil. Ordinary mistakes can also have a snowball effect to such extent that existence comes to threat. But this Hermeneutic Temptation to call it "Banality of Evil" is highly mistaken. Actually, where does this temptation come from? 

I think, a pressure of have a meaningful explanation for such a major disaster is needed for humans. Humans, it seems, simply cannot fathom the simple fact that things can go miserably wrong, the way they never assumed it to go, and it will link to just one unvoluntary or even unconscious action. 

But, Man should get this that, he has escaped jungle and made society, but the rules of Jungle, that is Uncertainty, still engulfs most of our lives. This obsession of modernity to ascertain everything, every aspect of our lives is maddening the man. It seems, he is unimmune to no amount of uncertainty in his life. In general Immunities, Physical and mental has been seriously on a decline for human civilization. 

This, we can call, Spiritual Immunity, that is, Immunity to withstand Uncertainty and even disaster. Banality of Evil is the textbook definition of evil in my opinion. As, the man who knows that he sides with the evil, can one day choose good. But, the one who is convinced that he is somehow just doing his job, beyond good or evil, basically is saying, 

"I am doing my job, so My actions have consequences which I should not worry about. They system takes care of it."

But here is the catch, there is no such thing as a system accountable to the overall consequences. No system can fully calculate at a finer level, consequences of all actions of all actors. It is you and you are alone. Your actions have consequences, and you will have to take responsibility for it. An irresponsible duty performed in hope that system works through this, is actually a blind faith of modern bureaucracy. Like, Invisible Hand of Adam Smith, Like God theory, etc. 

Tasks of oblivion of consequences and snowball effect is not evil. It is sadly an innocence with dangerous consequences, nobody can do anything about. It is the Machiavellian Fortuna, One can only be Spiritually brave and immune to witness and withstand.