Everyone is calling for a discussion although nobody wants to talk. Everyone is pushing for a debate, but they only care about shouting out their arguments. The louder they shout, the more they show they do not intend to listen to anyone else.
Politics once used to be a service. Now, it is more about imposing your own perspective, which means it completely lost its original function. When democracy was born in ancient Greece, a representative of people listened to those people and later presented a plan for satisfying their demands. This made him the representative of people. Nowadays, nobody listens to people. Instead, people are supposed to listen to their representatives and adapt their needs and expectations to that voice. It was obvious during ‘the Polish Education Round Table Talks’. The Prime Minister could listen to the voice of teachers. Unfortunately, the voice was too bitter, and he started to tell teachers what they could expect of the government, at the same time inviting them to the round table, which became rectangular.
In contemporary politics, the voice of people does not matter. What matters is people’s ability to tick the right box on the poll card. Instead of listening, politicians impose topics; instead of solving problems, they generate problems themselves; instead of offering their hand in reconciliation, they lift it up to shake a threatening finger. In one of her works, Olga Tokarczuk wrote that it is best to talk to yourself. At least, there are no misunderstandings. In a political monologue, which has replaced dialogue, there are no arguments. Because even if someone had a change of heart, they will not assess it critically. The more so that it was not an opinion on a topic, but only a reminder of who people should vote for. Therefore, it is no surprise that politicians stopped thinking about the common good of people. The only thing that matters is winning votes. The opposition criticises everything, so that nobody thinks they support the government. The government discredits the opposition, so that nobody thinks they are weak. A Finnish saying goes, ‘You will not build a bridge with words – you need wood.’ Unfortunately, what we have left is a political promise. An empty one.
