HI have been trying to find an explanation for two disturbing global phenomena for some time. The first is the rise of unreason, the rampant infantilization that infests us and the triumph of the most delusional conspiracy theories. The second is the decline of democracy and the emergence of caudillos and autocrats from both the left and the right. The subject is not enough for an article, but for an entire book, but even so I would like to share with you some reflections.
in his book The decline of democracy. The seduction of authoritarianism, Anne Applebaum begins by saying that on New Year’s Eve 1999 she and her husband gave a party attended by friends who were journalists, intellectuals and university professors from various countries. English, American, Central European, liberal and/or left-wing, all of a similar profile and sensitivity. Twenty years later, some had become Trumpists; others, supporters of Putin, Orban and even pro-Chinese, of one sign or its opposite, but all radical and uncompromising. Applebaum’s theory is that, given the right conditions, any civilized society can turn its back on democracy. But what are those “right” circumstances? What makes advanced societies, with high per capita incomes and a high degree of culture, suddenly embrace extravagant theories, accept as certain colossal trollas and vote for populist and lying individuals?
What makes advanced societies, with high per capita incomes and a high degree of culture, suddenly embrace extravagant theories?
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One of the reasons she points to for this drift (which has already occurred in Nazi Germany and is now taking place in nations as diverse as the United Kingdom of the brexit the United States of Trump or some countries of the former Warsaw Pact) is something apparently as harmless as nostalgia.
This human mechanism deals with embellishing the past and it is important that it does so because facing the future requires healing, relativizing. Nostalgia makes us see in yesterday, no matter how dark and traumatic it was, notes of optimism, beauty, love. That is healthy nostalgia, that of grandparents, for example, who collect memories of former family glories to pass on that wisdom and heritage to their grandchildren. But in politics there is another kind of nostalgia that is much more dangerous. It’s what they call ‘restorative nostalgia’.
This type of nostalgic does not want to limit himself to contemplating the past and learning from it. It aspires to an entelechy, to revive an interested and adorned idealization of virtues as brilliant as they are non-existent. The nostalgic restorer is not interested in the past with all its nuances, imperfections and errors. What he wants is the Walt Disney version of the story, to resurrect what never was and childishly become the protagonist.
It is no coincidence, therefore, that restorative nostalgia embraces conspiracy theories and hoaxes. It is no coincidence either that, to return to that supposed lost paradise, he chooses charismatic and quirky leaders who have known how to press that sentimental key, such as Boris Johnson or Trump. The first knew how to capitalize on the nostalgia of the British that he brought to his country through the precipice of the Brexit. The second has led a considerable number of North Americans to believe that they stole the elections, further encouraging his followers to try to storm the Capitol.
Here in Spain there is no shortage of nostalgics either and, in our case, they are uneven: some yearn for the delights of the Second Republic; others, the heavy hand of Francoism. But, beyond the danger posed by this misunderstood nostalgia that has taken over the world, there is another parallel phenomenon, but closely related to the first, which seems more serious to me: the decline of democracy.
In countries as different as Venezuela, Nicaragua, Russia, Turkey, Hungary, Morocco or the Philippines, democracy has become a farce. An accepted farce, furthermore, because in effect there are elections, in effect there is universal suffrage, but a democracy is one thing and a rule of law is quite another, and that seems to be forgotten. Of course, this drift deserves another article, so I leave you with this idea: someone wrote years ago that nostalgia is a mistake. Now, with the rise of hoaxes, the priceless help of opportunist leaders and with democracy on the way to becoming a sham or a mere alibi, it should be added that it has become more dangerous than a monkey with a Kalashnikov.
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