The Sound Of Air Escaping

[poliphilo]

Polities are constructions of the human mind. They are works of the imagination, collective hallucinations. That's all the reality they have (that anything has.) Belief inflates them. If people stop believing in them they go down.

The EU for instance. It was, initially, a good idea. It came into existence as a way of ensuring that the great European powers would never again fight one another- or invade their weaker neighbours. We could all see the sense of that. But time passed and the EU became this bureaucratic empire that is all about money and nothing else. It did nothing in its years of ascendancy to make itself loved. It generated no symbols for people gather round.  It's leaders were and are unelected, unaccountable, uninteresting.  And then it treated the Greeks who are supposed to be citizens as if they were serfs and the Greeks have just said, "This is intolerable. It reminds us of when we were occupied by the Germans. Hey, wait a minute, hold onto that thought..."

I think it will collapse now. Quite quickly. 

Comments

[matrixmann]

Kind of similar thing I wrote into my journal yesterday evening (http://matrixmann.livejournal.com/139403.html) with a little sight towards the past things during the last years as the Western countries tried to make a project go and in the end - now visibly - failed at it.

[sorenr.livejournal.com]

The EU still holds such promise and hope. I want to live in it forever.

But... I agree it hasn't delivered. No unification, no real project for us all to gather around. I do hope, though, that there will be no Grexit or Brexit.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I was a supporter until quite recently, but not any more. The way Greece has been treated has turned me against the project.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I used to believe in the EU, but not any longer.

[matrixmann]

Cannot give much consolation, but be sure not to be the only one...

[raakone.livejournal.com]

The EU is a failure, you're right. Has all kinds of issues. Why did they divert so many resources towards....standardizing food? (yes, EU directives dictated the maximum and minimum curvatures of cucumbers, zucchinis and bananas. I wish I was joking) And the Euro....is effectively run by a drunk hydra with multiple-personality disorder. Every single "member bank" gets to do whatever they want, who cares about trying to make things cohesive and coherent?

[sorenr.livejournal.com]

Greece has behaved in an odd way, and so be it. But yes, there is a matter of decency that needs to be remembered in all policy and it seems to have been forgotten.

Piketty's interview in Die Zeit is quite interesting and I think you'd enjoy reading it. You might not agree with all of it, but I think you'd enjoy it...

https://medium.com/@gavinschalliol/thomas-piketty-germany-has-never-repaid-7b5e7add6fff

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

If there's one thing everybody hates it's a bossy, petty-minded bureaucrat.