By Andrej Nikolaidis, CdM columnist
Democratic dialogue is good. There’s nothing to add here: everyone would want it for themselves.
But it also has its drawbacks. Let’s say … Too often that dialogue is like: some think the Earth is round, others think it’s flat – so let’s hear both sides. Ultimately: let’s vote, then let’s see. And don’t anyone tell that someone’s an idiot: we are an inclusive society, in which every opinion is equally valuable if it is communicated in the spirit of Habermas’ public sphere.
It gets even worse when mediation is involved, whose job it is to offer a compromise. Let’s say: the lower half of our planet is round, the upper half is flat. This is the right measure of compromise, its secret: the views of both sides must be included in the agreement.
This, obviously, is where the problem of truth arises. And common sense if you wish. But, we have already reached a compromise; we agreed on the truth a long time ago, didn’t we? It does not exist as one and whole, is that right? There is only a commotion of particular “truths,” the plural; we decide in an atmosphere of tolerance and dialogue, through public debate and social consensus, how we will arrange these truths and what kind of relationship we will bring them into. Objective truth must not be above particular interests – that is the secret of a happy and reconciled society. The people had enough fights over the truth.
As for common sense: the term is clearly outdated and offensive to those who think about the world unconventionally.
To paraphrase (I know a horrible, politically incorrect) line from Pekic’s script for “Time of Miracles”: “You, blind man, are moving. And you, dumb – tell him where and how to move. This is called an inclusive expert government in our country.”
Do you remember when we were telling them: to believe that a government made up of church and in church, a government admiring Ratko Mladic and Ahmadinedzad, a government led by an anti-vaxxer who moves mountains by faith (I mean: if the earth is not flat, how could he move Lovcen by faith? Religion is religion, but uphill is uphill), a government of one people and one religion, a government that hates the West and liberal values even more than it loves Russia and Putin’s autocracy …
Do you remember when we were telling them: to believe that such a government will harmonize Montenegrin society and accelerate its westernization is the same as believing that the Earth is a flat plate.
And what did they tell us about that?
That we are corrupt, that we keep privileges, that we are nationalists, that we intimidate the people…
We watched together when the ship was launched. Those with eyes full of hope that broken sails and holes in the hull are not an obstacle to successful sailing. We – in despair, because we knew that a flood was inevitable.
Now the ship is at the bottom, eels and moray eels are nesting in the wreck.
And we hear how those who smashed a bottle of champagne on a rusty crumb and pushed it into the sea are now wise about the limitations of their own vessel.
Yep, brothers and sisters… It’s balls rather than kidneys, is that right?
You know what, brothers and sisters. Take a look at your prime minister, being extremely happy while he receives the European report on the catastrophe he himself along with his team had done, as the greatest recognition.
He’s happy because his effort to destroy this country has been recognized and acknowledged. He laughs because he’s satisfied even though he knows he could have done worse.
With his hill-moving faith, your supposedly reluctant (“but what shall I do, there is no alternative”) assistance, and the fact that the Earth is a flat plate, nothing is impossible. Nothing, not even to plunge Montenegro into the sea.
