There are very real schisms in Greek society reflected in conflicting political allegiances and these are fed by confusion and unclear thinking. Politicians who consider themselves leaders must answers some questions honestly to the populace and speak honestly to the Greek psyche to avoid a national personality split.
We saw on TV a few days ago – Sir Anthony Hopkins, one of the most respected actors in the world, who played the role of one of the most distinguished directors of all time and one of the greatest masters of thriller movies -Alfred Hitchcock. The new Hopkins movie unfolds itself inside the filming of the classic horror movie “Psycho” and all that went on to produce it in the early 1960s.
The basic idea of this old classic is there were two personalities fighting over the same mind, and only one of these could prevail. This tussle is the basis of the thriller.
By analogy, we in Greece are living a real thriller ourselves. Greece today has two competing personalities. One lives in fear and understands the future of the country in one sided terms, as just a geographical dependency of the all-powerful Northern Europe.
The other side of the personality is the one that does not know what it wants taking average voters to extremes. Some with nostalgia for the 1970s junta support the far right Golden Dawn party. Others from the extreme left are attracted by the radical left main opposition party Syriza. Even though their views don’t differ all that much, they do come into nasty conflict quite often.
As long as the split personality tussle goes on the thriller will continue and we predict the scenes of terror will escalate. This is the inevitable recipe of Hitchcock, until the end when it is revealed that during the whole time of the film reality was replaced with self-deception and self-deception with reality.
Let’s take a moment to ponder. Was there life before the Euro? Where there governments before that of Prime Minister Costas Simitis who brought us into the Euro? Was there a foreign policy which was multi-dimensional instead of blindly following the one that Germany marks out for us, as is the case of the last few years?
One side of this personality split thriller won’t even ask these questions. That means that the other side must do it, instead of terrorizing Greek society with the prospect of a civil war, essentially playing its dual personality role in excellent fashion.
Questions such as those above could lead to very interesting answers amid a world that is changing, becoming ever more complex, with new players that may potentially be allies or foes on the geopolitical scene.
We hope the answers to the questions above replace the minor demagoguery that is on the daily menu.
PS. Because time is fleeting we need to decide whether we become “psycho” or if we will speak to the Greek psyche.
