26 August 2021

In 2013 the American scholar Noam Chomsky lamented in a public speech the fact that corporations and the wealthiest Americans viscerally oppose the concept of ‘common good’. He warned that we are all at a moment of a concerted attack on “any rational and humane concept of the ‘common good’, sometimes in ways that are not only shocking, but also spell disaster for the species”.

Later that year the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, delivered a passionate speech focused on the idea that inequality is essential to fostering “the spirit of envy” and greed should be nurtured as a “valuable spur to economic activity” (The Guardian, 2013). He emphasised his position with a telling note on groups of people with low intelligence scores, seemingly ignoring the fascist history of that argument: “it is surely relevant to a conversation about equality that as many as 16% of our species have an IQ below 85 while about 2%…” using a rhetorical trick to make clear that his audience is having a high IQ, above 130.

We know now that the former gossip journalist who reached the position of Mayor of London became so popular with his ideas that he was elected (and still serves) as Prime Minister of UK. The ideas pilfered from some neoliberal think tank and other neoliberal groups were not limited to a kitsch discourse but are part of our life as a widely accepted doctrine. The cartoonish character is representative for our times; without depth, he is inspiring others to follow his model of sociopathic individualism and unscrupulous behaviour. With a manifest disregard for any sense of loyalty, love, compassion or care for truth, he was elected by people because we collectively normalised that set of antisocial values.

The inherent sociopathy of various prominent politicians, such as Boris Johnson or Trump, work as a source of inspiration for many. It is intentional. The only trick left was to make people believe that others are stupid and ‘poorly educated” (Trump’s favourite group of voters). The old Fascist logic of ‘us” versus ‘them’ was revitalised to gain popularity and power. It was repeated that “others” are exploited, and ‘others’ are ‘sheep’, the blind and manipulated. ‘They’ will work their entire life just to increase profit margins to some exploitative industries and abysmally rich tycoons. It is comforting to hear the message that “you”, so smart and strongly attached to the ideas of success and strength, are different. It is implied that “life will be great for people like you” and if it isn’t… then is just a matter of time to make it great. Or make it ‘great again’.

The idea of Common Good is at this moment of 21st century marginal or openly ridiculed, a vestige of times when empathy, kindness and care for others meant more than just a glossy leaflet where mission statements use them simply for their decorative effect. Recently, an article in The Atlantic is making this point, noting that “Some Americans No Longer Believe in the Common Good. They now are thinking only of themselves.” The author shares the concern that an increasing number of people simply don’t care if others are infected or even lose their life when all that is required is something as basic as wearing a mask in a pandemic that already caused the death of millions. This is happening in other parts of the world, not only in the United States; what is new is that this the pandemic is forcing us to drop the panglossian pretence and face realities. It is not all “positive” as it was stridently presented; not all things end on a positive note, and it is now painfully real that real life is not always playing on one single note, but on a variety of tones, some tragic and some soothing.

The reality is that we built societies on an idea of success that is entirely disconnected from any sense of social obligations. This is going beyond the old West vs. East differences. In the new context we find a country like China as one of the most ruthlessly capitalist country in the world, even when is being led by an elite that insist to be called “communist”. In fact, the only communist part left in China is the dictatorial reflex of Stalinism. The arrangements of economic life in China stay closer to America than any country or economy in the Northern Europe, for example.

The pandemic forced us to see that what we call “essential workers” have a miserable salary and most make the least money nationwide. We collectively realised that nurses, cleaners, doctors, teachers and so many others who are “key workers” for our societies cannot secure a decent living with their incomes in the areas where they work. This is not possible to be ignored anymore.

The glorification of a ruthless, randian, sociopathic capitalism is less appealing when we see that decades of tax cuts for the rich and constant trimming of budgets allocated to healthcare left us with a small number of hospitals, doctors and nurses. When a pandemic hits any appealing propaganda narrative is crushed by the reality is that all beds are taken and there are not even enough ambulances left. The illusion that ‘one day’ you can be successful just because you embrace the same narrative with the rich is gone when there is no nurse left to help you survive.

Covid-19 is still used to find excuses for flaws that have causes in decisions taken long before this virus was reported. At the same time, this pandemic makes visible what neoliberal propaganda managed to drown in vast volumes of information of meaningless entertainment. The stated value placed in individualism disappeared when profits were threatened by the need to protect people’s health and lives in the pandemic. “We have to live our lives”, “we can let it rip and reach herd immunity” even if this translates in tens of thousands of deaths (see the case of UK). The fact that ‘herd immunity’ cannot be reached when parts of population are not even considered (i.e. children) or that science proves that made-up numbers can’t make it work (e.g. BBC provides here a very useful video on how herd immunity can be reached) is ignored. The problem is that all these strident acts of mismanagement, cynicism, arrogance and disregard of humanity are impossible to be twisted into something else. One can’t twist preventable death for long. How much neoliberalism values human life looks different now, in the light of what happened in the last two years of this pandemic.

We have now a globalised world where the most important workers for society are paid the least. A CEO or a destructive corporation is often paid as much as all teachers in a state – or even more. When the world literally burns and weather is causing unprecedented damage due to climate change, in the middle of the pandemic, the very rich have nothing better to do than run in a shockingly immature competition of spending millions to prove who goes faster and stay longer in space.

We see clearly the price of this set of choices: very influential idiots who change our lives show their profound disgust for the idea of common good. The only visible concern for this global ruling class is to protect their irrational aberrations, even if this will cause death and irreparable damage around them.

The general assault against what really matters in education in the so-called “neoliberal era” is visible today. Health and education, the most important sectors for the advancement of common good, where targeted for decades with consecutive budget cuts and ideological pressure. We pick up now the fruits of new public management and other fads imposed with force by neoliberal groups. It also includes crowds of ‘poorly educated’, those who are supporting a range of absurd conspiracy theories or approaches indifferent to human life. For an open, educated mind they are just too absurd and it is hard to believe that one can seriously consider them. Here Borat found an endless source of humour; while it is good that we had the laugh we have to find a solution.

The inane and obsessive fixation in higher education on various “disruptions”, which promised ‘efficiencies”, “innovations” and other goods – but delivered nothing of substance, or nothing good – can finally find a space for application. And all that energy spent on building the next ‘disruptive’ thing can be used to deal with the real turmoil that is engulfing schooling and higher education.

We know at this point that Chomsky’s warnings were ignored. Unfortunately, he was right: we have now visible crises that spell clearly disaster for humanity. Covid-19 is forcing us all to look at the crisis and all that is uncovered as it is. The devastating impact on universities, health systems, economies and – most importantly – on our lived (not just stated) values is raising vital questions about how we reached this low point. Most importantly, it makes even the most naive, oblivious and thick leaders across all fields to realise that we are all in a new place, at a very different moment.

The sad irony of the ‘post-truth era’ is that facts insist to show up as they are. For example, many spreaders of lies about COVID-19 had to deal with this virus themselves, some losing their life. Climate change deniers watched their homes go up in flames or hit by deluge. That’s a brutal way to get in contact with facts, as they are. It is also impossible to deny it.

Mike Tyson supposedly had said that “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.” We see now that everybody likes a reassuring lie until facts hit back with vengeance. In this new reality we have another chance to answer some uncomfortable questions about our values, priorities and what realistic pathways we can use to deal with the pandemic and the most vital crisis, the climate change.