And now, for something completely different…

Dziś dla odmiany po angielsku. Esej napisany na jedne zajęcia, ale wydaje mi się, że warto się nim podzielić. Prove me wrong.

Winston Churchill once said: “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” This statement may have been true right after World War II, it may have been true when the Cold War raged between Soviets and the U.S., but is it valid now?
Living in Poland, in a country that for almost fifty years was under the influence and control (even though not always direct or full) of the Soviet Union I find democracy more of a curiosity, than a working political system. We have been independent for over twenty years now. We have fought for our freedom and have earned it and yet, we do not comprehend it. We have striven for it for so long, that somewhere along the way we have lost the understanding of what it actually means.
For an average citizen of my country the word “freedom” is not necessarily connected with “free will” – the putative ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. It merely means “the right to oppose authority and to act selfishly”. This can be seen in the tiniest of things – in people jaywalking, littering, crowding to enter a bus or a tram, not allowing the passengers to leave it first. One may say that such things are not a problem, they are merely manifestations of human egoism. At some point, however, even those minor problems, minor acts of not respecting others form a critical mass that we cannot accept and allow for anymore. They become a serious problem, a problem, of social awareness.
I cannot even recall how many times I have heard that my city is filthy and ugly. That no one cares about the downtown buildings and that they resemble slums. It is an obvious fact, that I cannot really argue with, but there is one tiny detail that is omitted in this statement – people. The stereotypical view of a person living downtown is that of an alcoholic and a bum. I know for a fact, however, that this is not always the case. I have a number of friends living in the city centre that are neither. Some of them are students, some of them are working professionals. Sadly, however, for most of those people the surrounding filth is the responsibility of others – they will not paint or completely renovate the façade of their buildings, they will not make their alcoholic neighbors stop drinking or stop them from urinating in their own yard. It is hopeless.
But is it really? Does the fact that we cannot change another person mean we should not put more effort into making our surroundings better? Would noticing that the place we live in does not actually end at our doorstep and that spray-paint on walls can be quite easily covered with paint be so hard? Would calling the police when someone vandalizes our surroundings really cost us that much? Obviously not.
We do not put much value into things we get because most of our material possessions can be easily replaced. Of course, we still need to earn money to buy the things we want, but their constant availability diminishes their value.
We are lazy and we are afraid, we lack motivation. As Chuck Palahniuk once said: “Our Generation has had no Great war, no Great Depression. Our war is spiritual. Our depression is our lives.” We have no unifying philosophy, we have no common goal. We do not make concerted efforts to achieve something, as we have nothing to achieve. We do not feel that we have actual influence on any important decisions and that makes us reluctant to make even the smallest ones. Without serious needs, things that the whole of the society actually needs, democracy becomes more of a weight. Luckily, it allows for passing responsibility into the hands of others, and we exercise this ability whenever possible. We ask others to make decisions for us, and when they do not do as we expect, we complain. Ironically, those responsibilities, along with the ability to make our own decisions, are exactly what previous generations fought for.
One might say that since the battles for what we needed have already been resolved and won, we should stop worrying about them and make the best use of what we were given. If everything works as planned, who needs more fighting?
The short answer is: we all do. The long version is a little more complex.
It is true, that over the span of the last two centuries we have made great progress, that our society has greatly developed in most areas of science. It is true, that we have managed to reach the point where most national borders have been established permanently, only to be removed or at least blurred a half a decade later. It is true, that we have lots of freedoms and social differences such as social background, race or creed are less and less important. It is not true, however, that we have reached the point when everything works as intended. We are not at the peak of our society and if we ever were, we are already tumbling downhill.
What is the reason for such a status quo? Abundance. We have too much of basically everything, be it material possessions, or choice. Without the solid impression that we need to make an actual effort for good things to happen we opt not to do anything. Without ever being thirsty, hungry or in any way oppressed we prefer inaction over any kind of action. Because it is easier. Because it is effortless. Because others can make an effort instead.
Another, maybe even more important reason is the very basis of capitalism: money. It has been said that everything can be bought nowadays. That everything has a price tag attached. However true this pessimistic sentence may be, I strongly feel that it requires an addition: “Whenever something can be bought, we find something that we want that we cannot afford”. Yes, consumerism allows us to buy many things, but one of its basic assumptions is that there has to be something we need and is currently out of our range. We always need to need more, strive for more, and spend more money. Why would a person spend their hard earned money to cover up graffiti if they can spend a bit more money and buy a shiny new Iphone?
Opinions that capitalism and consumerism are evil are quite popular and quite often repeated by bright minds all around the world. But those two systems, so deeply rooted into democracy, cannot and will not ever be an enemy needed to force social change – too long have we been corrupted by them, spoiled by them to oppose them now. All in all, do we really suffer from being able to satisfy our hunger or thirst? Is satisfying our needs really such a bad thing?
Surprisingly for some, a solution to this corruption can be found in religion. Do not misunderstand this statement: I am no man of faith and I do not think I will ever convert to any kind of religion. It has, however, provided humanity with one basic concept, that has proven to be a useful tool in building up social awareness all throughout history: sin. Exaggerated as they sometimes are when perceived by conservative minds, Sins were invented as pointers on what we should do and what we should not. They were guidelines made (at least in my opinion) by man in order for other men to live their lives in peace (and sometimes to live at all). Now, in times when religion is no longer as respected as it used to be, the authority of an invented supernatural being that reinforces the meaning of commandments and sins has diminished. Many people who decide not to believe in God cease to believe in sins, and without the awareness of right and wrong that they used to build, their wills are weaker.
Is democracy a failure than? Does it work or not? For me it does not. It has no set ideology, and by allowing us the freedom to choose nearly any set of values it allows us to choose none. The freedoms we get are illusory at best, and the idea of equality is long dead. Why should it matter if we are born with the same possibilities at hand? How we start our lives depends on how much our parents earn and how good a school they can send us to. Our later value is described by our ability to create, perform or to earn a lot of money (or all of it). Democracy leaves us with nothing.
What to do then? Am I just another worthless member of our society, who knows how to complain but has no idea how to change things? I believe I am not. I know that it does not matter if what I decide to do (or, in some cases not to do) makes a difference – even if the world will not become a tidier place just because I will not litter or clean up after my dog, I know I need to act. The only way to improve the world we live in is to create our own value system, our own hierarchy of sins, and remember it not matter what happens. Because no one will make the world better for us.
And because we may never find our Great War, because are lives have the potential to be dull and uneventful, we must do our best, for them to be happy and safe.