A Greece of two faces?
It seems that today many of us live in a constant state of trying to defend ourselves against taking responsibility for our actions, against showing maturity, moderation, restraint and self-respect. This applies to Greeks who wear sandals while driving trucks with poorly secured loads, worn tires and fixed speedometer readings, and who force anyone trying to overtake them off the road – intolerant citizens who swear and honk their horns aggressively (as it is never their fault). This also applies to the ostensibly dignified, ideologically progressive Greeks who are driven by profit, the tie-wearing careerists who have no scruples about skipping lines, forging documents and generally acting in an exploitative and unfair way. All the above creates a picture of Greece that is totally in full concord with the rotten, corrupt, indifferent narrow-minded sector of those in power who only succeed in undermining the quality of daily life. This image is also sharply contradictory to Greece as EU president, which, in that capacity, hosted the Accession Summit in Athens earlier this week, signed common proclamations and made promises for the future – and, as a country, is part of a union founded on the ideals of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. All countries sweep certain things under the rug. But Greece is playing a dangerous game wherein each of its proclamations builds an image of a country that each of its actions slowly destroys.
