[yeron]

Tekst Karoliny Wigury i Jarosława Kuisza z Kultury Liberalnej na temat demokracji, populizmu oraz programów rozrywkowych.
Dismantling democracy – the right to be entertained
Fragmenty:

It is often overlooked that today`s populists win not only by using radical statements, but also by providing them in an attractive form, adequate to the nature of mass media in our time. They are entertaining, not always in the sense of evoking laughter, but because they are able to gain and keep the audience’s interest and attention. This everyday populistainment is as global as the Covid-19 pandemic. It often leads its protagonists to electoral victories, and in those places where they succeed, they usually continue the media spectacle while at the same time deconstructing the basic elements of liberal democracy: the rule of law, the separation of powers, and free media. In our country, Poland, an example of this might be the spectacle of dismantling the independent judiciary that has been under way since 2015, with the national media and billboards across the country accusing judges of corruption, theft, and connections to the former communist system.

The difference, however, is there and it is a matter of proportion. Amount turns into quality. Democratic politicians in past decades used entertainment to warm up their image, to appear more human. Entertainment was a supplement to ideology and traditionally understood party politics. Populists turned it all upside down, they made politics a supplement to entertainment and show business. Precisely this makes populistainment a new political phenomenon. It is as if they take politics as imagined by the fifteenth-century Italian philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli one step further. Machiavelli particularly unnerved his contemporaries by claiming that political action is justified only by its result and that its aim should be to preserve the wellbeing of the state. Populists’ political actions are justified only by their success in seizing power by means of an amusing spectacle, no matter what the actual effect on the state is.

Current research in neuroscience shows why their strategy may have proven so effective. The human brain habituates to stimuli that are common and frequent. As a consequence, as recipients of the media, which are constantly coming up with new information, our brains are usually bored. Indeed, it is difficult to present political news as entertainingly as celebrity news. As a result, ever less attention is paid to the former. A good example of this is the research published in early 2020 in France on behalf of Kantar/La Croix. It shows that even in this highly educated society, people cease to follow political news. Fewer than 6 out of 10 French adults declare any interest in political news. The “entertainization” of politics has thus its rationality. If serving dopamine is the only way to catch the attention of a bored brain, it is no surprise that many politicians practice it. Just as in markets, where there is demand, supply follows.

Another way is to have the courage to speak of things that cause citizens’ discontent. Populists often win because they are not afraid to speak of people’s emotions: their frustrations, anger, and resentment. That liberals have been wrong to ignore these emotions is proven by their bitter defeats at the ballot box. It is time for liberals to take the lead in speaking about people’s emotions and to have the courage to translate their anger into creativity and their uncertainty into hope. Learning from populists does not have to mean forgetting about the core of liberal identity. Classic liberal thinkers like John Stuart Mill argued that the freedom of an individual ends where the freedom of another person begins. This rule remains unchanged, but it is not enough anymore to call populists names. Calling them fascists ceased to make any impression on many of the voters. In order to win, liberals have to adopt entertaining tools and at the same time bring back and protect the ideological core of liberal politics: pluralism, tolerance, community, and the rule of law.

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