NORMALIZED SCHIZOPHRENIA

The editorial staff of Charlie-Hebdo is massacred, criminal heads of state gather at the head of the procession in Paris to defend freedom of expression; Christine Lagarde, whose salary as head of the IMF exceeds 30,000 euros per month⁽¹⁾ made a speech in Brussels, during the Grandes Conférences Catholiques, and the newspaper La Libre, partner of the event, took up his cynical and speciously philanthropic remarks:  » You don’t have to be altruistic to support policies that will raise the incomes of the poor and middle class. Everyone wins, because these policies are essential to make stronger, more inclusive and more sustainable economic growth possible « Those who have stood up to the injunctions of the Commission and the vultures of the IMF and the World Bank in Greece are being chastised by Jean-Claude Juncker and his clique. The one who is lecturing is the former Prime Minister of Luxembourg, a notorious tax haven, whose responsibilities in the Luxleaks are more than unclear, and who will be thanked by becoming, in 2014, President of the Commission; Freddy Thielemans tries to convince the populace of the benefits of the new Neo mega-mall at the Heysel… and leaves his mandate as mayor to enjoy the… financial benefits as secretary general of the Brussels Exhibition Centre⁽²⁾.

Defense of free speech from the censors, promotion of equality in the service of inequality, moral admonitions from a lackey of the robber bankers, making of a private throne orchestrated from the public. Look for the error!… there is none. These few examples are only the illustration of the unacceptable and accepted arrogance, whose heralds are sure that the indecent contradictions of their demonstrations and their words will remain silent, so much so that the mass media are busy describing their gesticulations without ever linking them and enlightening us on their stakes. Their very status gives them their prestige and their untouchability. But if they are accepted, it is also because our brains have been prepared to do so and that we have a whole way of thinking about the world that makes these contradictions invisible to us: little responsibility, for example, in poverty when, according to the myth, the only effort would allow access to wealth; no revolt, or so little, when we are told that a Belgian footballer will receive 330,000 euros per week of 5 days, that is 66,000 euros per day, or 8,250 euros per hour if we count eight-hour working days. But many people still keep their eyes glued to the screen showing the latest match. Normal when the norm is the absence of limits. The supreme indecency is that of not even seeing it anymore, and therefore not finding any reason to be indignant.

What some perceive as contradictions are not, however, the pathological manifestations of a healthy body, but rather the signs of the normal functioning of a destructive system where some struggle to maintain their advantages while continuing to pretend that they are working for the common good. Morality in this show is a game.

Barbarism is not coming, it is present and constantly improving. And continued indifference and acceptance portends the worst. The good Western thinking will always evoke the barbarity in the other, will perceive in him the monster, sending back to him the image of modern and successful society that the « savages » should imitate. Yet it is the West that has the monopoly on terrorism, looting and killing to maintain a « non-negotiable » way of life.

To constantly attribute the fault to the other, to perceive in him the « barbarian », is to tacitly define our position as human and preferable; it is always to refuse to see in what way the situation of the other is linked to our own.

Alexandre Penasse