by system
failure
Despite the
fact that the stance of people in Greece and Europe seems to change,
rather slowly, against concepts which in the relatively recent past
have been considered almost taboo, such as the concepts of
collectivity and solidarity, the systemic establishment uses all
available means to keep the culture of extreme individualism and
brute economic pragmatism undamaged.
This culture
which spread rapidly over the past two decades in Greece and in the
Western world - perhaps in a different form from country to country
due to local particularities - serves fully the interests of the
economic elites. Extreme individualism and economic pragmatism, were
not just the main components of this peculiar culture, but ended up
to be the basic building blocks of modern rationalism of Western
societies, what one could name as Western neo-rationalism.
It is
characteristic that in Greece of financial crisis, the language of
economic cynicism which propagates to a great extend by the domestic
major media, is being reproduced automatically by the society itself,
although the situation in Greece is a result, in a high degree, of
the economic irresponsibility of a certain privileged class which not
only left unaffected by the crisis, but rather, in many cases gaining
from this situation and is the class which controls these media
mouthpieces. At the top of this privileged class are the bankers and
the business and political class which fully controls Greek
governments until today.
For example,
the broadcaster of the central news program announces, almost with
satisfaction, that tourism has gone up this year in Greece because of
the events in Turkey and Egypt, severing the fact that some people
there suffering, or even lose their lives. The news comes with some
necessary “decorations”, such as statistics on the total number
of visitors, etc., or various phrases-cliché
such as "tourism is the heavy industry of Greece", so that
the mouthpieces to give a false hope for some imminent economic
recovery and to distract public from the new austerity measures that
will come, layoffs and further downgrade of labor rights and the
welfare state.
So, finally,
although the dramatic situation and death of many people in these
countries are often the first news on the same TV channels, the
stereotype being reproduced by the society in the storm of economic
crisis, is the fact that tourism in Greece shows a "promising"
rise, and this is something that happens in everyday conversations,
even by people who have nothing to gain from the rise of tourism in
Greece, but instead, their financial situation is likely to worsen in
the near future.
The language
of economic cynicism takes many forms and literally overwhelms the
mainstream media. Another example is the recent statement by the
Greek finance minister who said directly and bluntly that auctions
for the primary houses must be done (which means that many borrowers
will lose their primary homes), otherwise the banks will collapse,
despite that banks have received so far billions in bailouts
supposedly to survive. Despite that the banks' major shareholders
with their enormous responsibilities have been rescued and the debt
has been transferred from the banks to the Greek and European
taxpayers.
Within a
financial war where everyone is trying to survive, the language of
economic cynicism is exceptionally useful. Another characteristic
example is a letter published recently in a newspaper's website which
belongs to the largest journalistic organization in Greece. The
letter was written on the occasion of the layoffs of about 30
journalists from the organization and declaring a 24-hour strike by
the journalists' union.
At the
beginning of the letter, the author and director of the newspaper
writes the following:
“A lot can
be said about the crisis in the press and media. The blame –
political or otherwise – can be pointed; newspapers, television,
radio and their emergent internet editions can be accused for their
bias and attitude, for ideological distortion and an inability to
detail the real conditions in Greece and the world.
One can argue with the
owners who enjoyed huge profits and didn’t look out for the rainy
days, with the “star journalists” who were seduced by the glory
of the good old days and cannot face reality; with all those who
served and continue to serve without assuming their objective and
subjective responsibilities they have, which always exist in failed
ventures.All of the above though are not a solution to the problem that the great financial crisis has caused in the press and media world. The sector of information has been hit the hardest in the Greek economy.”
(http://www.tovima.gr/en/article/?aid=528454)
While
in essence the author admits the enormous responsibilities and the
corruption of the media establishment in Greece, a part of which is
this journalistic organization, requires more or less to forget about
these responsibilities, as he says that they "are not a solution
to the problem". So, in the midst of an economic crisis, ethic
and accountability become a luxury as they "are not a solution"
to the economic collapse.
“There
are no magic solutions, the media will either limit themselves or
they will disappear.
For better or for worse,
without a dramatic cut in expenses they have no luck.The journalists and their unions are obliged to recognize the circumstances.
When the circumstances have been understood the solutions will be found. Otherwise the eradication of the media will be inevitable.”
Which
in simple words translated as: "stop strikes and accept layoffs
and drastic reduction of your wages, otherwise you will be all left
without a job".
The
deficit of ethic in the Western neo-rationalism has been replaced by
the brute economic pragmatism. So, for example, societies accept
rationally that the tourism sector goes well, without wondering if
some people suffer or die elsewhere, that banks should not in any way
fail because this will bring chaos, or even that the bankers are
greedy due to their nature and therefore it's somehow inappropriate
someone to deal with their own responsibilities, or that some must
necessarily be fired, otherwise the company will close and everyone
will be fired.
Fear
is, therefore, what enforces this logic. With phrases-cliché like
"there are no magic solutions", the language of economic
cynicism prevents societies to imagine and try a different way of
organizing incompatible with the interests of the economic elites,
but compatible with the interests of the majority.
But
the expulsion of ethic from the Western neo-rationalism impose
another kind of fear: anyone who talks about ethic, or "worse"
acts on the basis of some moral principles, is considered
anachronistic and naive, displaced gradually from every social
activity and usually stays in fringe, threatened with an economic and
therefore biological extermination, since ultimately everything is
expressed through the language of economic cynicism.
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