I come from a generation that was taught—and I stress the word “taught”—that to earn respect in society, mean something in it, and then hold important positions, one had to study. To study meant gaining an education and academic degrees, and turning the knowledge acquired in this way into trust. We have moved away from this model of social advancement. We have devised shortcuts: insolence, boorishness, slander, and the public destruction of competitors—whether political or professional. Such negative behavior is most often cloaked in pseudo-patriotism, and even religion.
Lies in the Polish Parliament
If lies, insolence, and the justification of fraud and fraudsters, as well as collaboration against Poland’s raison d’état, are the norm in the Polish Parliament; if society is guided by emotions when choosing its leaders rather than their qualifications or predispositions—then we have what we have now. The lawmakers, that is, the parliamentarians, behave like hooligans, proposing unlawful conduct to their voters. People behave in ways that they are able to translate their leaders’ expectations into through their own understanding.
I sometimes try to talk to people fascinated by their leaders’ ideology and politics—most often, I encounter aggression from them. Leaders know perfectly well that they treat their voters as objects. As I write this column, I am receiving reports that another young person, this time a 15-year-old, has attacked a school caretaker with a knife at one of the schools in Poland. The caretaker did not survive the attack.
In my opinion, legal monstrosities emerge from the Polish Parliament. I fear that these monstrosities are deliberate—because their unconstitutionality is obvious even to people without legal training. I demonstrate that politicians, in their entirety, bear full responsibility, from beginning to end, for society’s behavior and the functioning of the state. An irresponsible person gets into Parliament only when irresponsible people elect them. If we want a brawler and criminal to hold a parliamentary mandate, that is the kind of environment that elects them.
Eliminating Decent People from Public Life
The state permits decent people to be eliminated from public life when it allows widespread hate, impunity for those who spread it, and no opportunity to clear one’s name of slander. The radicalization of young people stems precisely from the primitiveness of Polish politicians and from placing their own interests above the stability of the Polish state. The incompetence of offices and officials, and society’s deep sense of helplessness in the face of erroneous or harmful decisions by state authorities—all of this causes various frustrations.
Please imagine for a moment what these young people hear every day at home if they decide to engage in such radical behavior. What kind of environment are these young Poles growing up in? Civic education, which taught prosocial behavior and genuine patriotism, was ridiculed. After all, only the system has changed, not society—it is still the same Poland.
I write while simultaneously listening to journalists’ and politicians’ comments about the so-called “knife attackers”—and no one sees the causes of these incidents. To win supporters, politicians decided to buy votes by yielding to the radical demands of various groups—even those that should be eliminated from society through appropriate legislation. Winking politically at criminals has consequences. This pyramid of absurdities is collapsing—as we can see, at a great cost.
Politicians have reduced the operational capacity of law-enforcement agencies by taking away their funding and powers, including staff positions—so we are seeing the results and a chain of events. It is at the operational stage that such behavior is investigated and prevented before it occurs. A strong police force is also a considerable threat to dishonest politicians—hence the side effects.
Examples of social behavior could be multiplied, but one thing is certain: as long as we place our trust in the hands of irresponsible people, we will continue to expose ourselves to danger—and very real danger at that. “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”