I'm fully capable of distinguishing between people I disagree with politically, and people who are committing acts I believe to be evil.

I disagree with many people about many things in the course of a day, much less a lifetime. Disagreement doesn't bother me, any more than people holding differing opinions from me does. But people engaging in evil, which I define according to my values, not anyone else's--I view as something very different.

I once encountered a director of a nursing home whom I believe was the embodiment of evil, and it had nothing whatsoever to do with politics. And I called that man evil to his face, in front of his staff. Many people were deeply shocked by my behavior. So be it. That man, and the people who worked with him, know that I not only saw through the authoritarian veneer he hid behind as he committed some seriously evil acts against both the nursing home residents and it's staff, but that I was willing to risk his wrath and my job, to confront him and his evil doings. He was not fired, and he was not jailed, although both things should have befallen him for what he did (which included breaking the law). He was, however, reported to state authorities who regulate nursing homes. He was investigated, found guilty of the very evil acts of which I had accused him, and the nursing home (not him) received a warning.

Like I said, most people will collude with the evil doers every time. That is how Enrons happen, and wars against impoverished third world countries who can't fight back happen, and that is exactly how now Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota won his Congressional seat in November 2002.

IMO, the banality of evil is well protected by most of us. There are always those who will insist that politeness, or political correctness, or conforming to the dominant view, or fear of being ostracized or punished, or the desire to win at any cost--whatever the justification might be--demands we NOT name evil for what it is when it is confronting us. After all, no one wants to be called a zealot for speaking out, now do they? We all know that having the courage of one's convictions makes one a zealot, right?