Freedom, truth and responsibility
Only the balance between these three words can lead us to address many of the problems
It is clear that, from a political point of view, the frequent end-of-year greeting has not been the traditional "Happy 2021!", but rather something combining great concern about current events, together with the desire and hope of being able to stop a series of trends that we have experienced throughout 2020. Of course, the most shocking is the health crisis, by itself and because of its consequences; but I do not feel in a position to give an opinion on the health crisis and I leave it to the experts. However, I would like to comment on the dangers that are affecting our political system of coexistence, which we conventionally call representative democracy. I believe that only a balance between the three words in the title can lead us on to tackle many of the problems we are now experiencing.
1. The political mess. The feeling of disorientation and mistrust in the political world has been growing for more than 20 years now, and lately it has increased, not only because of covid-19. It has been very easy to detect symptoms of illnesses of a political rather than a sanitary nature. The reasons are deep and many, but I want to focus only on the strength of the word that shaped the modern world, freedom; and on the weakness of two others that reflect very valuable personal values: truth and responsibility.
2. The century of freedom. The 20th century was undoubtedly the century of freedom. Several circumstances have contributed to this reality: the disappearance of many dictatorships, which has transformed a large number of authoritarian states into more democratic ones; the progressive decrease in gender inequalities, racial inequalities and xenophobia, which is improving the situation of millions and millions of people; the significant increase in the capacity to dispose of resources resulting from the creation of more wealth and better distribution, and, above all, the technological progress that has made a large number of new tools available, increasing their opportunities to act and their possibilities to make decisions, to choose and to exercise their rights in a range of areas: work, consumption, politics, mobility, communication, or the expression of their ideas.
We must be pleased with what this has meant, both for our personal and collective lives; but we must be able to analyse what consequences this freedom has in terms of the other two words.
3. The relativisation of truth. Truth, like reality, has almost never been an absolute concept. There are truths, there are dimensions of truth, there are perceptions of reality, there are perspectives, there are interpretations, and there are even opinions.
But this diversity, which is understandable, can never allow either dogmatism or lies to be accepted. Dogmatism is the expression of absolute truth, and lying or falsehood is the gross deformation of reality. The great power of information and communication technologies, together with the absence of adequate regulation, has meant that these two elements have recently filled our lives, both in commerce and politics. In the former, they have allowed many apparently free purchase decisions by consumers to be caused by distorted information and hidden algorithms. And in the second, we have seen real manipulations that have incomprehensibly, and also unconsciously, provoked democratic decisions in many countries, including some of the most developed in the world. And it goes without saying to what extent some of the political movements called "populisms" have been based on the excitement of emotions by exploiting false versions of reality.
It cannot be that no regulatory mechanisms have been put in place to monitor and hold accountable, if necessary, those who act in these sectors. Governments have to do it, but with transparency and with monitoring by external bodies; and it cannot be done, as is happening now, by the same large companies that control these technologies.
4. The need for responsibility. It is clear that a great increase in the use of personal freedom, as facilitated by the new tools, calls for the establishment of limits on personal actions to ensure the possibility of a calm social coexistence, not a jungle. An important part of these limits must be self-imposed, the result of one's own responsibility and the understanding that a person's actions can also have consequences in the lives of many others and even attack collective interests.
Unfortunately, in recent times we have witnessed shows of lack of responsibility, largely related to the transmission of the virus, but we could find parallel situations in many other fields. Responsibility requires measured behaviour, which must at least comply with the regulations, and which would have to go further if we accept, as I believe, the need for solidarity to be a civic requirement. I am not only talking about the health situation, but also about the contribution to ecological sustainability or the reduction of inequalities through taxation. Responsibilities are shared between citizens and governments. Without these measures, democracies are in danger.
