Have you had a vague feeling that the world doesn´t work the way it should; that our everyday lives are becoming unreal and slowly taking on a less substantial quality? It is a feeling that countless people share. The problem is that there seems to be a lack of words and ways in how to express it.
Imagine society as a patient suffering from a disease or actually several diseases. What about those who have the official power and responsibility for the patient; the establishment? Do they contribute to any kind of recovery? Nope!
Politicians, capitalism and media propose many solutions to this global misery pandemic. But still no recovery, rather the contrary, more and more people are suffering from psychological illness. The gap between rich and poor keep growing, and more people than ever feel abandoned by the society. One may then ask if the treatments are meant to heal the patient or if they're meant to keep the patient in status quo, securing the establishments' status as the only healers and experts in power.
So we need a major change, another kind of society that prioritizes collaboration instead of competition, transparency before strategies, trust instead of fear, participation before obedience and blind acceptance. It's time to listen to the patient, to see the patient, to be the patient as the patient is the many.
The establishment always requires your respect. You're expected to dress up, choose your vocabulary, don't get too private, keep your distance when dealing with rich people, politicians, authorities etc. Still, they don't necessarily respect you. Who is serving who?
Brexit revealed how tight the establishment is. The whole western world of politicians, media, capitalists, etc. spoke with one voice of contempt after the referendum. Where did the democratic tradition go, why weren't we served that nice plate of mixed political conclusions and analyzes, self-criticism and a variety of intelligent media opinions that we could expect, having a democratic tradition? Instead, 52% of the UK voters were handled with contempt.
When politicians, newspaper editors and economical experts work as ONE it's reflected by people as they will reject the establishment as ONE regardless of political color and history. It's action and REaction.
But when people start to react to the society with negative emotions and with a general distrust, rather than participating in the existing debate controlled by the establishment, they enter the “danger zone” - they starts being regarded as... populists!
You may ask yourself: "Populist? Well, no thanks, I'm not a populist and I certainly don't believe in Donald Trump, Marie Le Pen and those cold-hearted, emotionally abusing screamers. Are you among them that support such people, Mats?".
And NO, I'm certainly not.
My point is, this kind of spontaneous associations with this kind of populists is what has been established. That's what the official debates have told us. If you have a general distrust in society, you're automatically associated with this "trash-quality" of opinions. And as you've been labeled a populist there is no need to include you in the social debate. Don't buy this. It's just another example of power strategies. What's happening is that those that criticize the system fall into the trap and turn on each other.
The truth is, a vast majority of people are not extremists, they care for other people but are exhausted by the labor-consumption-wheel. Still people's brains are not completely disconnected. They only wish that the society could be less fearful, less condemning, more democratic, more empathic etc. Of course they care for the environment, of course they wish that more people could live a decent life, if it's carried out in just manner and not controlled by the few.
The problem is: this kind of person is more or less invisible. People who care for others but at the same time are critical to how the western society is ran are not being taken seriously, at least not in the public world.
And so they have no voice, and so there is nothing for them to vote for. But still they're out there, I know that, in thousands and millions.
This is the first reason why this society got to go.
Mats Sederholm
Author and debater