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Words that require content

2024-05-09 17:50:00, Opinione Ardi Stefa

Ardi Stefa

One of the characteristics of today's political discourse, both by politicians and by journalists who simply report news about politics, is the constant inflation and misuse of words.

Because in their mouths the words become only slogans, but without any more substantial content. Often times they are just meaningless words with no real content, which means that no one is held accountable for uttering them.

Even worse, they are simply calls for external consumption, as if the speakers want to show us that they are on the side of the citizen, winking at everyone and acting completely differently.

It's just that in this way the political discourse is constantly depleted in meaning and essence, turning into mere slogans, often meaningless, which even they themselves don't believe and alienating citizens even more from politics.

But words are not and cannot be used as empty symbols. Words have content, they refer to realities, they encourage discussions, they create conflicts for the meaning given to them, but also with the way they are combined by whoever uses them, as they should be.

Words are a means of communication, of expression to maintain a certain position on issues that are critical or not, for life itself...

This means that words do not have owners, especially those that have abstract content and meaning, which must be concretized by whoever uses them in certain situations.

If we were to take the word security as an example, then we would have a lot to talk about, since it is a word that is abused a lot.

Not only in terms of organized and ordinary crime, not only in terms of the political system or the safety of life, property and family.

If we try to look at what makes people insecure, then another concept of insecurity emerges. Because people are not insecure just because they are afraid of a thief breaking into their house, or being run over by a car on the street.

People feel insecure because the salary ends before the end of the month. They feel insecure, because they see prices increasing every day and not in fair proportion to their salary. They feel insecure, because at any moment their employer throws them out on the highway for no apparent reason. They feel insecure, because they don't know how much their pension will be, if they will ever get a pension, because the years of work are increasing, the youth are leaving and the insurances are not declared as they should be.

They feel insecure, because the health system penalizes them with life and health . Because one day the landlord can arbitrarily raise their rent or evict them and there is no law to protect them.

They feel insecure because their children increasingly feel abandoned in everything and that the school does not guarantee them a job and a decent salary. They feel insecure as the youth is increasingly leaving, aging Albania at an infernal speed. They feel insecure, because they see models not worthy of the family and society itself, which are raised by the media on a pedestal, directly affecting the basic cell of society: the Family!

So, if insecurity comes mainly from all this, then we understand that this word, security, needs to be reconceptualized.

To take the real dimension of life and property protection; dignity of work and salary; the real dimension of the perspective and future of young people; strengthening the state, but also the free initiative of the individual; securing property and taking measures for a dignified life, both when working and in old age. To take the dimension of social protection of citizens from abuse, any abuse and by whoever commits it.

Normality. And this word is violated by politics and the media, wanting to present politics as the only tool that restores and guarantees normality.

However, normality for citizens is a complex concept with many parameters.
The normality that citizens want is to know that they will have work the next day as well. Normality is when the citizen knows that he is not at risk and that the state has some protective instruments for him.

Normality is when free healthcare is not as expensive as it is today and if you get sick and go to a state hospital, you don't have to dig deep into your pocket.

Normality is when the wage earner does not deprive himself of basic needs, food or entertainment.

Normality is when citizens have faith in the education system and that if the child studies then with his diploma he will be able to find a job, make a career, do something in this country and for this country.

Normality is when society believes that meritocracy is at the root of everything.

Citizens consider it normal to have information, real and neutral, where different opinions can be heard and debated without insults, insinuations about it.

It is normal that after the elections the government belongs to everyone and the opposition fulfills its institutional role. When the majority is criticized, the latter should not be arrogant towards dissenting voices.

From this point of view, we are far from being in "normality".

But justice is also an abused and misused word.
Justice does not mean only having laws, courts and prosecutors; to have penalties and acceleration of the procedures for granting it.

Justice for the citizen is knowing that the same rules apply to everyone. For ordinary citizens and the powerful. For the simple voter in a corner of Albania and for the deputy, minister or official who abuses.

Justice for citizens is equality before the law and to understand and believe that there is no more impunity and that the powerful are no longer immune.

To understand, believe and feel that society and the state have rules and they are respected.

Justice is blind, and when a parliament, government or its ministers are caught in corruption and crime, they are not in a hurry to hide behind immunity or create laws that put justice under the hoof and protect them, even by making deals with the opposition. Justice is when those responsible take the legal responsibility they deserve.

Justice means dignified wages and meritocracy, laws that really protect employees, fair redistribution of income in favor of marginalized groups, not according to Marxist-Seleninist principles, but according to meritocracy, qualifications and perspective. Justice is the consolidation of the rule of law.

In this context, security, normality and justice are words that politics and the media do not give the content and weight they should really have.

Politics and the media often give them interpretations, content and meanings other than those I mentioned above.

The point is and the problem lies in the fact that at a time when citizens are looking for security, normality and justice in the face of the reality they live in (reality, which is shaped by government policies and the approving silence of the opposition) there is no political or civic force that can address their discontent and uncertainty and be able to turn it into a desire for change by offering a vision and a compelling alternative political proposal.

Because citizens do not need someone to tell them their problems. They know this themselves and probably much better than anyone lecturing in parliament or television studios. They know much better than the opposition politicians themselves who talk about poverty, but their salaries are ten times higher than ordinary citizens and their profits and benefits are hundreds of times greater.

Citizens do not need a "resonator" of their discontent. It is not enough for them to see their anger simply as a political slogan, nor do they need politicians to repeat the same "empty words" and in turn maintain their political status-quo.

Citizens need to be convinced that, step by step, security, normality and justice can really be achieved in our country.
Can it be achieved?