Fake concern

By Michael Bergmann

The struggle to defend liberal democracy against the profiteers of political chaos is far from over. We should not delude ourselves.

As kind of a guidebook to recognize anti-democratic tendencies in contemporary populism not only in Europe and America, I recommend "What Is Populism?" by political scientist Jan-Werner Mueller. He argues that it is not necessarily a specific set of policies which should ring our alarm bells. It is, instead, a disrespect for pluralism itself which leads to a hostile attitude towards political opponents.

The problem is, however, that the aggression does not always show in the early stages. The defenders of liberal democracy should not pre-empt the intolerant exclusion, or they will fall into the populists' trap.

I feel that much will depend on our sensitivity to distinguish true concern from reckless agitation. Which leaders care? And who seeks nothing but confusion? We have to use all our senses to tell which political movements need to distract from motives other than care and concern.

Populist slogans overlap with proposals from all corners of the political spectrum. Though conservatives might be more often misled by those who pose as guardians of "family, religion, nation, state, law and order," liberals, progressives, social democrats, even greens and pacifists, are not safe from demagoguery. The "individual right" for example to bear arms or not to wear masks can be sold as a "liberal" idea. And never mind that "economic freedom" is actually quite the opposite of protectionism, discrimination in the labor market and of selective ties between political and corporate leaders!

Fake concern for the working class is so malicious that I hope to write on it separately. But even the peace movement has been a target. In my home country for example, some populist agitators pretend to be worried about American nuclear weapons while their real goal is to break up value-based alliances. Or they pretend to care about the rights of the Palestinians while their real goal is to incite new anti-Semitism.

An especially cynical case is a defeated incumbent's "concern" about the democratic process itself ― with the real aim to undermine trust in elections.

Fake concern is even much trickier to detect than factual lies. A moral judgment of political campaigns as dishonest should never simply be tied to specific proposals. And the followers of populist leaders cannot be blamed for believing in a concern for their interests. Not too many, I trust, will find the distraction, confusion and escalation itself "cool" and attractive.

Democrats must themselves respect pluralism and engage in debates as openly as possible. Then, the chances are high that fake concern, together with its selfish motives and aggression against opponents, will, as we are spectacularly witnessing these days, unmask itself.

The author (bergmann2473@yahoo.de) is a teacher in Seoul.