I don't know about you, but I have the feeling of being trapped inside the series "La casa de papel", where the objective is to buy time to keep printing banknotes. Our paper governments dizzy us mercilessly in order to continue manufacturing votes.
We should have known the day the US elected a Hollywood movie star as president: Ronald Reagan inaugurated this confusing phase in which politics, celebrity and entertainment have merged. Voting is becoming more and more like liking a good Netflix series.
Now our political leaders reason as a Ronaldo or a Kardashian would: Which photo should I take with whom and in which prefabricated instagram-style setting to be trending topic today?
All their statements in the press are strategic exaggerations to put pressure on each other, or to make us believe something that makes us value one more and less the other in the polls: Pablo complains that Pedro has not called him once since this summer - as if he were a lover ignored by his beloved - and Pedro has become the first to tweet condolences - calculatedly poetic and full of high sentiment - at every disaster, tragedy or death around the globe.
Those on the other side are no better, with Santiago and his Western cowboy declarations, or Cayetana and her tantrums of airy indignation. What can we say about Trump, Boris Johnson, Salvini or Macron and Trudeau with their socks of drawings and colours.
This is more like a casting call for Oscar hopefuls than a showcase for political leaders of the developed world. We will never forget the photos of Pedro in aviator glasses in the Falcon ... I would give him the Oscar, if only because he works harder than anyone else, or spends more than anyone else. After all, he is making the most of all the national resources to which he has access thanks to his position as acting president.
All this provides plenty of laughs and saturates rivers of ink in print and online. But frankly, what are we playing at? As Greta, the environmentalist girl with Aspergers, said, "the house is burning down and you are doing nothing to put out the fire!
What exactly is being burned? Well, our right to hear the truth for starters. We're being treated like television viewers lying on the couch in flat brain mode with hours (or months) ahead of us with nothing to do. So much so that the economy slows down, operations are put on hold and we are left with more free hours to continue to be hijacked by the daily media spectacle of our elected leaders.
To follow the real problems of the country and the planet are without solution, without a plan, without a budget and without the will to solve them. All are televised declarations of measures without any anchoring in experience or practice. A brainstorming The result is a far-fetched debate that scores more points for making headlines than for demonstrating intelligence, responsibility or maturity. To such an extent that whoever says something mature provokes a general laugh, accompanied by more statements to the media with puns, among all the participants.
What do we do now, vote ????? But have they planted an "innocent innocent" hidden camera on us or what? How many times are we going to vote submissively again before we go into a rage? Will Pablos, Pedro, Albert and company then come out laughing and applauding our face of disbelief at such a sinister joke, while shouting "Innocent"?
Unfortunately, we do not have the upper hand. It is the hijackers who are the protagonists of these paper governments. Only they can end the films and give themselves a good jolt of reality.
In my business, change always starts with taking responsibility for the results: "I have realised what I have done or said, or made a mistake...". It's called personal growth. It's hard and it tastes bitter, but it's the path to becoming a real leader and not a liar.
We could ask our political leaders to each write a secret letter to themselves with all the faults and mistakes they dare to own - as we say in English, "own your mistakes". Then we would have to force them to repeat the letter as many times as necessary until they stopped dramatising Paulina Rubio-style and began to feel their hand tremble with the uncontrollable feeling of gravity that comes with writing the truth.
Or they could hire a coach to give them a refresher. fucking -with apologies-. If Rivera says "screwed". in congress, it's open season: we can all say shocking words when we want to draw attention to him and all his cohorts. They could invest some time and money in hiring someone to make them face up to what they are saying with their gestures and their media fuss while they pretend to convince us that they are forming a solid government for the nation.
But no. They don't hire coaches like that because it doesn't win them votes and it doesn't earn them undeserved time in front of the cameras or help them continue to accumulate votes based on manipulated perceptions. They are capable of spending millions to rent a TV set to practice their calculated gestures and perfect credibility performances before a debate. It is more of the same: investing in lies and running away from the truth.
In order to finally get out of this eternal Latin American novel and not have to vote fifteen more times, I will gladly give the coaching of truth, responsibility and service to the citizen - instead of to myself - to the first person who calls me.
Pino Bethencourt
Coach and founder of Club Comprometidos