As usual, it’s Bauman (or whoever I’m reading) and me. I offer my analysis of the text and use these posts to advance my own understanding of the text. So please no more emails about not being able to find the exact quotes of what I say in the text.

This is Bauman’s most recent book, and as has been his habit in recent years, it’s organized as a dialogue with a conversation partner Bauman finds interesting. (In this case, it’s Ezio Mauro, an Italian journalist).

Everybody is disappointed with democracy because the only form of democracy we know exists within the confines of a nation state and depends on the capacity of national governments to resolve the issues that matter to citizens.

National governments can no longer do that, though. The problems we face are engendered  outside of national borders and can’t fully be solved within them. The Zika virus, international terrorism, the refugee crisis, ISIS, the climate change, the global economic crisis, huge migratory flows – no matter how much some like to fantasize about their nation-state having caused all these problems and, consequently, being able to solve them, deep down we know that this fantasy is stupid. None of these issues will be solved unless there appears some entirely new form of global coexistence that nobody is even trying to imagine right now.

People are terrified that the nation-state democracy is failing and are acting out against it out of fear and disappointment. Turning to reality TV stars to play the role of politicians is a collective way of signaling that we don’t take nation-state politics seriously any more because it offers us nothing of value. Turning elections into a farce is a way of showing the finger to the collapsing system of state management.

[To be continued. . .]

P.S. It is unbelievable that the spellchecker keeps changing Bauman to Batman. I haven’t watched a single Batman movie in my life. Or cartoon, or whatever they are.

The hospital where I gave birth was evacuated today and the highway leading to it was shut down for hours because some people saw an abandoned duffel bag and a cell phone with wires and reported a possible bomb threat. A really creepy looking robot was brought in to inspect the suspicious objects, creating a panic among mental health patients. It turned out there was no bomb but people are understandably nervous.

This is an environment where people can end up voting nervously and fearfully.

I did everything wrong but arrived at the perfect results. This takes skill.

Another word I hate is “politicize.” People only ever use it as a defense from hearing anything they don’t completely agree with. It’s a childish way of hiding from the world which consists of closing one’s eyes and hoping that this would cancel any uncomfortable reality.

“Don’t politicize the election!”
“Why do you always have to politicize every discussion of the US Congress?”

Whenever anything at all happens in the world, one has to brace oneself for a chorus of nervous nellies and meek mikes to start chanting, “Don’t politicize!” And everybody is expected to cater to their childishness.