Dangerous trend
The conscious and widespread attempt being made to blur the normally separate roles of state institutions and officials has gone too far. As the recent case of the suicide of a Russian murder suspect in northern Greece has shown, this phenomenon is becoming ever more common. Scandalmongering journalists, assuming the gravity and professional bearing of a thousand coroners, question – without offering a scintilla of evidence – the official results of the autopsy, just because they feel like doing so. Newspapers interpret the decision by the Supreme Court prosecutor to launch an investigation into the precise circumstances of the events that shocked the Greek public as an anti-government conspiracy. Senior police officials appear – genuinely or otherwise – to be upset by the fact that the prosecutor ordered an investigation into the circumstances under which an extremely dangerous prisoner was transferred, notwithstanding the blatant operational negligence which led to the tragic and senseless murder of his two police escorts. With shocking cynicism, politicians of all stripes attack each other on a daily basis for nothing more than their own self-serving aims. Meanwhile, the viewing public looks on in dismay as these supposed pillars of the state trade barbs and accusations, with the unavowed objective of prevailing in the unofficial competition to star in television windows on nightly talk shows. Nobody seems to care, let alone worry, about the transformation of public institutions into a shapeless mishmash without beginning or end, where everyone supposedly has jurisdiction over everything and nobody takes any responsibility for anything that is done. It creates an atmosphere of utter incivility. Few seem to realize that in the long run, this highly unfortunate situation will erode the foundations of our democracy. If not halted, it will eventually render the state an empty shell, where illegality and impunity thrive.
