But this is known and has been diagnosed by many, here and elsewhere. What has struck me over the past few weeks, as I was able to take a bit of quieter time off work and look around me, is the state of mind of a lot of people who are somewhat or fully aware of this situation.
They basically know that there is a massive transfer of wealth from the majority to a small minority, they see inequality rising and institutional solidarity being chipped away; they know that the political class is part of the problem and the parties of the left are only notionally so these days, ie that they are a lesser, slightly gentler, evil rather than a real alternative. They saw massive transfers to the banks and now they see the sustained calls to dismantle the social programmes that (still) work.
And they don't care anymore.
They don't expect that any politician will change this - indeed, those who have a chance to get to power are all more or less enabling it, and the others - well, they have no power and no chance to get any. And they don't expect that they are going to be able to do anything themselves in any meaningful way.
Call it despair, call it despondency, call it ignorance, but a lot of people are willfully retreating from the political scene. Add to that the need to focus on surviving - keeping your job, finding one, facing spiralling healthcare or debt service costs, etc... and you have people who by choice and by necessity are on their own. They don't find help when they need it, and they can't or won't provide it to others, because they don't have the resource, and because they can't see why they should pay for others (again - whether they believe they are already paying for bankers or for browner people)
Which in turn feeds selfishness in society, as people close off to one another beyond their immediate circle, and lose trust in government. (And by the way, this is why the "they all do it" meme is so corrosive - it destroys belief in, and support for, collective action, and as such it is always right-wing propaganda. We know ours are corrupt, but yours are too, so we'll stick to "our camp" against the alien you).
Most of the time, this just translates into brainless consumerism for those who still have money, and sullen bitterness for those who don't. But occasionally (and maybe this week-end's shooting can be seen as a warning), it can bubble up into something nastier. In fact, given the media's tendency to ignore or mock obviously left-wing protest movements, and to shine a light, often favorable or at least neutral, on rightwing events, people may be forgiven from thinking that hate-mongering populism seems more likely to succeed in changing things than the more idealistic kind.
And this is noticed, which feeds yet more cynicism and retrenchment into one's own.
It sounds like we rather desperately need hope and change.
Comments are closed on this story.