Willful Ignorance
&
The Danger of Populism
Politics is like sex. It fills people with euphoria,
expectancy, and a shallow, reckless acquiescence that’s akin to madness. It uses
a combination of lies, conspiracy theories, fear-mongering, and outlandish promises
that can’t be kept to woo voters. It does so with unrelenting hypocrisy, and nothing
demonstrates it better than the political position widely known as populism.
Yet, as has been demonstrated again and again, the reality of governance always
contradicts the lofty stated principles that encapsulate many a campaign
rhetoric. Still, virtuous citizens, citing disappointment with mainstream
politics, repeatedly fall prey to charlatans—the
so-called advocates of the common people, counterfeit revolutionaries, and the
phony heroes—who claim to be populists.
 |
| Beppe Grillo |
In February 2013, following the disastrous tenure of
Mario Monti, an austerity-obsessed bureaucrat, as interim Prime Minister of
Italy, the people were so disappointed with politicians and politics that they
turned to a comedian named Beppe Grillo. As founder of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, Grillo had
previously organized what he called V-Day celebration (the “V” stood for
vaffanculo, which means “fuck you!”
or “fuck off!” or “go fuck yourself!”), effectively establishing himself
as a quintessential populist, the man to rescue virtuous citizens from the
money-dominated hypocrisy that politics in the country had become. Not
surprisingly, the anti-establishment feeling in the country catapulted him to
third place in the 2013 election. But once in parliament, rather than put the
old dogs to shame with a populist agenda, the elected officials of the Five Star Movement began their tenure
with a bitter and well-publicized fight over the amount they were entitled to
as allowances, etc.
 |
| Alexis Tsipras |
In January 2015, Alexis Tsipras of Greece, riding the
wave of anti-austerity feelings in his country, led his party, Syriza, to victory in a snap legislative
election. His campaign promise was to end austerity. Once in government, he faced
a different reality – if he needed bailout funds from the European Union, he
had to implement austerity measures because, in the world we live in, who pays the piper dictates the
tune. It became increasingly clear that a refusal to accept the bailout terms would
lead to Greece’s exit from the single European currency, or Grexit. Tsipras had
two options: accept the terms of the bailout and apologize to his people for
his inability to save them from further hardship or refuse the bailout
terms and lead Greece out of the union into uncharted territories. Tsipras did
neither. He called a referendum instead, insisting he wanted the people to
decide whether to accept the terms of the bailout or not. As far as populism
goes, he was on the verge of making history. He actively campaigned for a “No”
vote and the people voted accordingly. But barely hours after the referendum, Tsipras
dropped his anti-bailout finance minister, Yanis
Varoufakis, ignored the people’s vote, and accepted the terms of the
bailout, plunging his country into the darkness he had come to deliver them
from.
In Britain, Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independent
Party, UKIP, promised the people
 |
| Nigel Farage |
that if they voted to leave the European
Union, the £350m that his country pays to the EU weekly would be used to
bolster the National Health Service. No one asked him how he planned to do that
seeing as he was neither in government nor in any position to guarantee it. Well,
as it turned out, the UK voted 52 – 48 to leave the EU. The morning after, just
like bad sex, Farage denied that he had made the promise.
Basking in his victory, Farage went to the European parliament and insulted everyone in the
most hypocritical rant of the Brexit drama. In spite of the victory of the Leave campaign, he and all UKIP MPs still
maintain their seats in the European parliament, many say because he wants to continue
to receive the €16m that EU taxpayers give his party every year. Interestingly,
for all his anti-EU stance, Farage is clearly one of the major beneficiaries of
the European Union.
What’s worse, some of the people who voted to leave
the EU regretted it the morning after,
again, like bad sex. In a piece
published on Quartz.com, Marcie Bianco said, “Voters’ confusion about the
consequences of their actions is indicative of a larger trend. Civic-mindedness
in the digital age increasingly seems to rely less on reason or facts and more
on passion. In the case of Brexit, people voted emotionally. Many voters were
fueled by a xenophobic nationalism reflective of a larger, global uptick in
nationalist movements worldwide – including Trumpism in the US.”
Some of those who later regretted voting to leave the
EU said they did not know their votes could make a difference. That, on one
hand, is as idiotic as it sounds. On the other hand, it seems that in the era of social
media, people’s minds are conditioned to irrational words or posts that can be
edited or deleted in the name of freedom of speech. But in real life, unlike
the artificial world of social media, irrational words and actions have
consequences. They can’t always be edited or deleted at will, and therein lies
the danger of populism. Unfortunately, freedom of expression, like the late Umberto
Eco (author of The Name of the Rose),
once said, has become the “Invasion of fools.”
According to him, “Social media gives the right to free speech to a lot of
idiots who, in the past, only aired their views at a bar after one glass too
many, which, of course, caused no real damage to the collectivity…But with
social media, they are put on the same pedestal as Nobel laureates. In the
past, the television had uplifted the village idiot with the impression that
the viewer was superior. Now, the nightmare scenario of the internet is that
social media has elevated the village idiot to the status of truth bearer.”
The veracity of his claim was demonstrated in The
New York Times with a report, which explained that activities on pro-Brexit
Facebook pages—more than 11 million likes,
shares, and comments—exceeded the engagement on pro-Remain pages. Likewise on
Twitter, the Times’ John Herrman, citing analytics firm Talkwalker, said there
was “a substantial lead in leave-related hashtags
over remain-related hashtags in May, suggesting there was more discussion on
the ‘leave’ side.”
And in an article entitled, “The science
of why people insist on making idiotic choices,” Professor Andre Spicer of Cass
Business School, City University London, wrote, “In the UK, we have seen a
broad consensus of economics experts warning that a vote to leave Europe would
be disastrous, but the majority voted to leave anyway.” He offered the
following explanation, “To find the real reason
people seem to disregard the views of experts about important matters, we need
to look at how we process information. In The Stupidity Paradox, a recent work I
completed with Mats Alvesson, we asked why, in a world of increasingly smart
people, we so frequently end up making incredibly stupid decisions. One reason
is our inbuilt cognitive biases. We often make quick decisions about complex
issues on the basis of our past beliefs or even
chance associations. After we have made these decisions—which often
happen in a matter of milliseconds—we start the laborious process of proving
ourselves right. We seek information which justifies decisions
already made.”
The Brexit vote, not surprisingly, has
convulsed UK politics. Even before Boris Johnson—
 |
| Boris Johnson |
leader of the leave vote—was stabbed in the back (some
might say, good riddance!), his political star did not look bright anyway. A
comment in the Guardian
newspaper summed it all up nicely: “Perhaps many Brexiters do not realize
it yet, but they have actually lost... Throughout the campaign, David Cameron
had repeatedly said that a vote for leave would lead to triggering Article 50
straight away... but, in the midst of the sentimental nautical references of
his speech yesterday, he quietly abandoned that position and handed the
responsibility over to his successor. As the day wore on, the enormity of that
step started to sink in: the markets, Sterling, Scotland, the Irish border, the
Gibraltar border, the frontier of Calais, the need to continue compliance with
all EU regulations for a free market, re-issuing passports, Brits abroad, EU
citizens in Britain, the mountain of legislation to be torn up and rewritten
... the list grew and grew.”
 |
| Boris Johnson & British PM David Cameron |
Continuing, the commentator said, “The
referendum result is not binding. It is advisory. Parliament is not bound to
commit itself in that same direction. The Conservative party election that
Cameron triggered will now have one question looming over it: will you, if
elected as party leader, trigger the notice under Article 50? Boris Johnson
knew this... If he runs for leadership of the party, and then fails to follow
through on triggering Article 50, then he is finished. If he does not run and
effectively abandons the field, then he is finished. If he runs, wins and pulls
the UK out of the EU, then it will all be over - Scotland will break away,
there will be upheaval in Ireland, a recession ... broken trade agreements.
Then he is also finished...”
 |
| Donald Trump |
Populism, like cancer, is something evil that spreads destructively. The examples of Italy and Greece cited above explain it all. Now too, the UK has begun to reap the fruit of its willful
ignorance. In the US, where the Trump madness has stunned many, perhaps no
observation is more apt than the words of Winston Churchill, “Americans
will always try to do the right thing—after they’ve tried everything else.”
Anti-globalization sentiments once had a voice, a bold,
logical voice that was easy to relate to. That voice pinpointed the hardships inflicted on those who had been abandoned, ignored, or forgotten
by the so-called principle of openness and internationalism.
It identified the millions seared by unfair
global trade deals that favor multinational corporations who evade taxes, close
factories, and siphon jobs to places where labor is cheap and exploitation is overlooked. 
But this backlash, propelled by a rampant batch of
populist politicians lost its way when they transformed the sentiments into a
hate movement. So, anti-globalization became anti-immigration, anti-minority, anti-Islam,
anti-LGBT, and blind, sometimes senseless, opposition to the Status quo. And now, it has lost its voice.
His unrealistic budget plan almost
caused a government shutdown, forcing him to withdraw his proposal to build the
wall with Mexico (estimated cost: $67 billion). What’s
more, in his first 100 days in office, he has spent nearly every weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate, playing golf, which
cost taxpayers an estimated $20 million. (In comparison,
Obama’s cost $97 million in 8 years). 
