In a perceptive article this week in the Basque newspaper Deia, José Ramón Blazquez observes that most of our decisions are based on unconscious feelings, as consumer studies suggest. If this is the case, then surely our political and economic decisions follow the same pattern. So, he asks, why has no government ever set up a Ministry for Emotional Management? Isn't it vital for our governing institutions to understand popular sentiment and know how to respond to it?
He suggests, sensibly enough, that where heightened public emotions are concerned there are better ways for a government to react than chasing people through the streets and hitting them with nightsticks. Such responses, which the ruling Popular Party in Spain seems to take for granted, can only make things worse. Similarly, legislation which imposes severer limits on public demonstrations, as we have seen during the last year not only in Spain but also in Russia, can only increase public feelings of frustration and discontent.
Well, in practice I daresay that public feelings only really come into the democratic equation at election times and that what we call Campaign Management is no more nor less than Emotional Management in disguise. In between elections, naturally, the need for such analysis appears to fade away.
In my fantasy novel King Abba the ruling Rational and Scientific Party has established that there can be only one rational and scientific answer to all problems, and therefore the basis for alternative viewpoints no longer exists. As here, where politics and science get together, I am afraid the danger is immense. Feelings and emotions have no part to play in this scenario. And I fear we are already well along this road at the level of European administration.
With what emotional consequences? Blazquez warns that feelings of frustration and injustice that are unattended to do not disappear, they only fester and turn to hatred. This is a warning that all governments, both east and west, need to hear. Recent events in Boston show the baffling path down which we must travel when there is emotional ignorance in government.
CJM
May 2013
