A few years back, I stumbled on The Walking Dead (TWD). At the time, I was working on a talk on democracy and philosopher-citizens that I had to deliver in Milan. Somehow, I started drawing parallelisms with the political situation in Malta. Those parallelisms have now sadly materialised.
TWD uses a metaphorical narrative tool used by many philosophers, especially in the Anglo-American world, in order to analyse human nature and society. They analyse our world by removing what makes it civilised.
In TWD, humanity itself is removed. Most humans become zombies – a threat – the remaining humans also become a threat to each other. It is a return to a Hobbesian state of nature where ‘felicity’ becomes “a continual progress of the desire, from one object to another”.
We flirt with this type of Armageddon whenever there is a pandemic, a war or a natural disaster. One thing would be missing in all these scenarios – besides zombies: the collapse of society with all its organisational features. The state still governs and help is somehow always under way. Because of this lack of total breakdown, humans keep up hope of returning to some sort of pre-event normality.
However, there is another type of collapse to be analysed in TWD. The breakdown of ataraxia (serenity). Survivors are at all times under pressure. They cannot trust anyone because anyone could potentially be a threat. Is this happening to us as well?
TWD also describes how seemingly good-natured people end up in gangs. The human desire to feel safe in hostile environments leads to a phenomenon called ‘allegiance’. It is this same desire to belong that leads people to find refuge in every other type of group and subculture. Nevertheless, it has to be practised with parsimony. Overdoing it may escalate into further tribalisation, whereas Malta needs detribalisation.
For all the good that coming together based on a common objective may bring, there is the possibility that the ‘us’ will also disproportionately lead to conflict with ‘them’.
When humans regress to a state of nature, their moral beliefs are anaesthetised and their survival instincts resurface. Everyone interprets the right to survive as an individual, family or group as is expedient to him or her. There is no common good anymore. There is exclusively, individual ‘good’.
Now, let us imagine that there is no total collapse of society but the political infrastructure is so worn out that the citizens feel to some extent on their own. They lose their ataraxia. They have to grab what they can in order to survive. The question arises: is Maltese society silently encouraging this behaviour by creating a culture of amoral familism and impunity and, in so doing, landing the whole nation into the ‘rogue states’ category?.
A brave minority is resisting this looting culture.
A brave minority is resisting this looting culture- Alan Xuereb
Nonetheless, the inevitable consequence of this resistance is a process of hyperpolarisation. ‘Them’ against ‘us’.
An eye for an eye appears prima facie plausible. However, this is how civilisation ends. One feels disheartened by the fact that, notwithstanding what we now know, Labour is still approaching a super majority.
Malta is currently caught in this dual moral contradiction of punishing the PN for past faults and somehow rewarding Labour notwithstanding all what is happening here and now. TWD’s narrative explains how some may manipulate people’s insecurities in order to justify the necessity for aggression, claiming that, at least, the killing and raiding benefits others besides those committing the acts.
Labour’s pseudo-neoliberalism uses exactly this ‘ultra-utilitarian’ formula, as anthropologist Elisabeth Croll would put it. We have seen what happens when a journalist is isolated and dehumanised.
As a reaction, some well-intentioned persons may call for the boycotting of these scoundrels from disseminating their mendacities. For example, by not giving them space on any free media portal. But, cancelling ‘them’ might galvanise their support base having exactly the opposite effect of that intended.
One cannot fight tyrants by becoming tyrants. Not giving in to the lex talionis is healthier than promoting a toxic cancel culture, which may ultimately result in a political boomerang. The gap may widen.
Instead, one has to promote critical thinking and political education. One should encourage a philosopher-citizen mentality not a ġaħan (sic.) mindset. By yielding to those toxic tactics, one would be condoning the behaviour one wishes to prevent. It’s a long haul!
Remember the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: evil always carries the seeds of its own destruction. Extreme civil punishment tactics have to be used judiciously. Like the ex-speakers recently did.
One has to focus more on a propositive message. Malta needs more goodwill cooperation. One also needs to trust that silent population that is still undecided.
The ‘us’ has to grow to include the ‘all’. Otherwise, we’re all walking dead.