By: Dr Štefan Šumah
“For a long time, I have not spoken what I believe, I never believe in what I speak, and if it happens sometimes that I basically tell the truth, I wrap it in such a lie that it is hard to discover.” These words were written by Machiavelli in a letter as far back as 1521, but they could also be spoken by our current prime minister, who could easily be compared to the Mad Hatter from Lewis Carroll’s works when he mockingly said: “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean—nothing more or less.”
His speeches before the elections, when he presented himself as a successful entrepreneur, were a series of lies. After the elections, his lies and manipulations only escalated. Promises here, promises there, but very little or nothing was fulfilled (except for the “depoliticisation” of the public RTV and financing of NGOs). It seems like a case of grandiose narcissism, a manipulative, exploitative, cruelly deceitful personality without any empathy, whose sense of greatness is not based on reward but stems from a sense of entitlement.
Unfortunately, we have not had a worse prime minister in the short history of Slovenia. He is called the Sun King (for well-known reasons), but he reminds me more of Marie Antoinette, who, upon hearing that citizens had no bread, said: “Let them eat cake.” Or if we transfer this to the prime minister, he would probably calmly say, upon hearing that citizens have no firewood: “Let them buy solar panels and heat themselves with heat pumps.”
What is more common than stupidity, and his courtiers successfully match his level of absurdity, like the president of the national assembly (a lawyer) with her ignorance or free interpretation of the law, the top candidate for the European elections with her (lack of) geographical knowledge, another lawyer, now state secretary and also a candidate for MEP with her occasional intellectual pearls (the circles and the route through Šentilj from Ljubljana to Maribor). Strike here, strike there, strikes everywhere. The government, however, behaves as if nothing is wrong. They talk about problems but do not solve them. They bury their heads in the sand like ostriches; if they do not see it, it does not exist. The failure of domestic policies is concealed by increased political activities abroad. But it seems they fail in style, showing the people that they can fail internationally as well as domestically.
STRIKE HERE, STRIKE THERE, STRIKE EVERYWHERE. THE GOVERNMENT ACTUALLY BEHAVES AS IF NOTHING IS WRONG. THEY TALK ABOUT PROBLEMS BUT DON NOT SOLVE THEM. THEY BURY THEIR HEADS IN THE SAND LIKE OSTRICHES: IF THEY DO NOT SEE IT, IT DOES NOT EXIST. THEY WANT TO HIDE THE FAILURE OF DOMESTIC POLICY WITH INCREASED POLITICAL ACTIVITIES ABROAD.
With the help of lackeys from two or three TV stations and numerous newspapers that sing their praises every day, we step into the realm of post-truth, where both the ruling and their servile media try to give the impression of rational, sincere, and appropriate concern for the truth, which is sometimes hard to dispute. They all pretend to be committed to justice, truth, and reason, but in reality, they only mimic these qualities, all just to stay in power. However, their surrealism is slowly fading, and only the deluded (ignorant, foolish) do not see that this post-truth is essentially a large cluster of lies.
Every meeting of the foreign minister with some dictator from third-world countries (European and American politicians apparently have no time for her) is portrayed as a great diplomatic success. And what if more than 10,000 women in Slovenia do not have a gynaecologist, it is important that we are heard fighting for the right to abortion for all European women. If we cannot enable a patient to see a specialist within thirty days, we can enable them euthanasia in thirty days. And what if we do not have extra money for pensions, it is important that money is found for our NGOs and cultural activities of the former Yugoslav republics’ nations. These are our voters, fighting for us, for the red star. And it is important that a large number of computers were bought from “friends”, it does not matter who will use them. Foreign companies are relocating their production to other countries, entrepreneurs complain about ever-increasing burdens, healthcare is collapsing… The people, getting poorer, endure all this quietly and live in a favourable post-truth zone. Sad but true, almost surreal!