How we wish we didn’t have to worry about the future of the world!
Same for climate change, rising unemployment, and technological excesses. How we wish we didn’t have to fear a terrorist strike as the children leave school or in one of our airports! A war near our borders or on the other side of the world… a riot in our neighborhoods or in our countryside… And deep down, as we all know very well we are living in terrible times, as has always been the case in history, and that a sudden and horrific disaster can remind us, by striking at any moment. So we do everything we can to forget reality, to exorcise the evil, denying it, to believe and lead others to believe that the falling sky no longer exists and that since we are happy, there is no cloudy sky.
Therefore, for months we have been pretending to be infatuated with irrelevant issues, such as Pokemons hunt or more serious matters with sports at the Olympic Games. We are also pretending to argue passionately about the length of swimsuits, on the need to talk about it. In France, we attach more and more value to new candidates—on both sides—as they hit the campaign trail for the next presidential election, one side or another, the return of old horses or ambitious young foals, without being concerned with their programs, which should nevertheless be our ultimate focus.
We all are well aware that this is not really important, none of these topics deserves our mobilization, that it is a light and insignificant comedy. We know that horrific tragedies roam about our heads and we would like to think that, pathetic and naive, that we can ward them off, outside the field of possibility by turning our attention to issues in the media and private conversations that should not, if we would come to our senses, become the object of our attention.
Until the next terrorist attack, the next financial crisis, the next drought or other disasters that history will create to bring us back to the essentials: the world is in a very bad state. That is the truth of the matter that nothing may durably conceal.
And then, when the new wave of woes will recede when we have performed our thousand and one rites and consolation ceremonies, instead of finally starting to build sustainable dikes to protect us, we will seek out new whims of other imaginary scandals, trivial and innovative games to cling to in order not to think and take action.
When will we understand that by acting in this way, by refusing to require from politicians that they speak solely about their programs and actions, from journalists that they be solely concerned with events which carry the future, from companies that they solely produce really useful goods, in a socially and environmentally sustainable manner, we dig the grave of humanity? There will come a time when, after a final tidal wave of woe that we will think temporary, as usual, we will no longer be able to act with dilettantism. Then darkness will settle permanently in the world, and we will die from our carefree laughter.
But let no one say we were not warned. Let no one say that nothing was possible. Politics is something other than a game or a show. In any case, that should be the case.