As
Greeks look inward, they see a country that produces nothing of value
and is inferior to the rest of the world - despite evidence to the
contrary. The country has been mentally colonized, with outside
powers convincing the Greeks that they can do no better.
by
Michael Nevradakis
Part
3 - Mental colonization
In a 2013
interview which originally aired on Dialogos Radio, John Perkins,
author of the bestselling book “Confessions of an Economic Hitman,”
described how “economic hitmen” from institutions such as the IMF
and the World Bank, as well as from the private sector, combine their
economic takeover of an indebted nation, such as Greece, with a
process of mental colonization:
“…[T]hat’s
part of the game: convince people that they’re wrong, that they’re
inferior. The corporatocracy is incredibly good at that… It’s a
policy of them versus us: We are good. We are right. We do everything
right. You’re wrong. And in this case, all of this energy has been
directed at the Greek people to say ‘you’re lazy; you didn’t do
the right thing; you didn’t follow the right policies.”
An observer
will quickly determine that Perkins’ words ring true in the case of
Greece. Complaining, which was practically a national pastime in the
pre-crisis years, has reached stratospheric proportions. A general
sense of collective guilt permeates Greek society, and it is common
to hear discussions and statements about how “we elected these
leaders, we were corrupt, we weren’t good citizens, therefore we
deserve our current predicament and everything that is being done to
us.” If you note a fatalistic undertone in these utterances,
you’re not alone.
This
collective guilt has been strongly encouraged by Greece’s political
class, who ironically are responsible to a significant degree for
Greece’s present-day crisis. Former longtime government minister
Theodoros Pangalos, infamous for his salty mouth and previously
described by best-selling author Greg Palast as a “fat bastard,”
cynically stated at the onset of the crisis that “we ate it all
together,” insinuating that Greek citizens benefited collectively
from the corruption, nepotism, and cronyism that previous governments
(including his own) habitually engaged in.
Following
from this collective guilt is a new trend in Greece in which people
insist on engaging in what they believe to be the sort of
“self-criticism” practiced in other “civilized” countries. In
reality, as will be demonstrated, it is sentiments of self-loathing
and inferiority which are expressed instead of frank and constructive
criticism of the nation’s ills. In turn, these sentiments foster
feelings of apathy, hopelessness and paralysis on a national scale,
acting as obstacles to any positive transformation.
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