Reporting v. Reality
My best friend Sarah is participating in a foreign exchange program in the Czech Republic, so whenever I read an article that mentions the political deadlock in the region I think of her. Because reporting is so often sensationalized, I was curious how the people of the Czech Republic viewed this inability to produce a definitive government. Therefore I asked her how the elections had impacted the actual people in the area where she lives (outside of Prague). Interestingly enough, she informed me that the people are generally indifferent, and it is something that is rarely discussed. The Czech Republic suffered so much through Communist oppression that this lack of government legitimacy is a negligible aspect of their daily lives. I wonder if the citizens of all struggling democracies are this indifferent toward government failure or if this is simply a quirk of the Czech's in particular. It certainly makes sense for a people so desensitized to unsound and corrupt governments to feel this way, but if this is the case, then why is the electoral failure reported in America as an enormous tragedy for the Czech Republic when its own people do not even care?
posted by Michelle at 7:30 PM
2 Comments:
recounting that the people don't care about national politics in the czech republic is a slight misinterpretation. people are engaged in elections, care about candidates, and talk almost daily about the pro's and con's of the candidates in upcomming (tomorrow) city and senate elections -- and most importantely, they will vote. the system for the alotment of seats to the senate allows small partys to impact the political system and propose a plethora of candidates. czechs feel strongly that they have the power to impact the political system and take that responsibility seriously, however, they have enough faith that their rights are being protected that the issue of the undetermined national election is completely eclipsed by the senate and local elections. i find this somewhat reminisent to one proposed reason why american voter turnout is comparitively (to europe) low -- americans are contented/indifferent and/because they do not feel their rights are being compromised. i think that czechs feel a similar way about the undetermined national election. my host parents could not leave the country or go to college while growing up = noticably bad and unjust, -- the econmist thinks your government is irresponsible= fuck the brits, i still have all the freadoms guarenteed to me by the czech constitution and bill of rights. to say that they don't care is a misinterpretation of cultural and poltical goals. take a look at alfonso mucha's series of paintings "the slavic epic" and the historical motivation behind these epic paintings -- how can a people formerly opperessed for literally thousands of years feel that their government is a failure when they can lead independent lives. that sence of ethnic history is something so amazing to experience, and hard for americans to understand, and i think that it can not be ignored even when considering modern political motives and actions.
After reading your comment and rereading what I had posted I realized how inneffectively I conveyed what I was trying to say. I did not intend for it to sound like the people are indifferent or uninvolved in the process itself but rather that everyday life itself had not necessarily been adversely affected by the circumstances as some reports would have us believe. Thanks so much for the input. It's really interesting and nice to have a new perspective on things.
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