Companies are very demanding when hiring a new employee. That’s right. They search in the CVs presented by the candidates for the position to occupy something more than indications of knowledge and academic or technological training, as well as experience and attitudes in line with their job demands, that is, the ideal person to occupy the position offered. In politics, it doesn’t work like that.
Lately, there has been a lot of talk about the harmful effect that social networks are having on politics or the challenges and threats that until now uncontrolled – and who knows if uncontrollable – artificial intelligence represents. But the problem comes from much further afield. It starts with the live television broadcast of the parliamentary sessions. Overnight, his lordships became actors, performers and, in more and more cases, pathetic actors, each with their own scriptwriters and image consultants. Therefore, goodbye to ideologies and calm debate aimed, despite differences, at achieving the common good.
But filmmakers like Charles Chaplin had already noticed this drift with his brilliant satire The Great Dictator (1940) or the no less brilliant and hilarious To Be or Not to Be (1942), by Ernst Lubitsch. And the actors Mussolini and Hitler put it on a plate. But it was Shakespeare who, long before, warned us that life is a theater, as anyone who follows a live plenary session of the British Lower House can see, especially during and after the farce of Brexit, not to mention parliament. Spanish, let alone Catalan, especially since the launch of the process.
The list of actors turned politicians is already quite extensive and continues to grow. There is Volodymyr Zeleneski, who before being elected president of Ukraine, was already a famous comedian on television in his country, precisely as a character who mocked politicians.
Ronald Reagan was a mediocre Hollywood actor who was twice elected president of the United States, a position he held by constantly telling little jokes, often unfunny. Before entering the White House, magnate Donald Trump already showed despotic ways in a television program in which he fired people mercilessly. It seems that this man is always acting, just like Boris Johnson, who has such a hard time repressing his clown skills.
Of course, the case of the Valencian actor Toni Cantó turned politician is unparalleled, as he jumps from party to party like a bee from flower to flower. Script requirements. Desire to thrive. No ideology.
Famous comedians like Pedro walk around his house at large international forums. They have no shame when it comes to expressing their opinions on topics about which they know nothing – or very little – about. But their opinions not only go around the world, but are taken into consideration by millions of people.
Now, the cast grows and diversifies, which is outrageous. The new president of Argentina, Javier Milei, asked for the vote of his fellow citizens brandishing a chainsaw and with the face of a serial killer from a horror movie… and he won! Pablo Iglesias jumped from the sets and radio studios to the vice presidency of the Government of Spain. Hugo Chaves was the king of television. Berlusconi, a communications magnate, was a singer on cruises in the Mediterranean in his younger years. Beppe Grillo doesn’t need a business card.
One of the greatest contributions to the cast comes from the geeks, who have risen to the top after succeeding in the media and networks. There are also parliamentary “speakers” with a vocation for stand-up, no matter how much their lack of grace may sting. But the thing doesn’t end here. More and more politicians, once their career as such has been exhausted, rush to the gatherings, flood the networks and media with their nonsense and contribute to the progressive erosion of democracy.
Maybe we should be more demanding when it comes to hiring (voting) our political representatives.
