The resignation of Boris Johnson It has been like his entire career: an absurd farce. The supposed-to-soon-ex-British Prime Minister has always been an outlier even by the eccentric standards of the country’s aristocracy. Johnson is someone who is able to combine pedantry, erudition, racism, vulgarity and constant self-mockery in two sentences. Someone who has both a lofty idea of himself to the point of bordering on megalomania and being pathologically incapable of taking anything seriously.
In postwar Europe, there are very, very, very few politicians who have done as much damage to their country as Johnson. Political creature with undeniable talent, his cynicism was one of the engines that precipitated the referendum on the Brexit and his unexpected victory. Johnson, convinced that he was destined for glory, made life impossible for two prime ministers until he kicked them out of office, without paying attention to the dire economic and political consequences of having turned one of the world’s most stable democracies into a circus. Leaving the European Union is only part of Boris’s heinous legacy and his political career.
What has made Johnson a politician capable of surviving multitudes of crises, one after another, until his fellow party members had to almost drag him out of Downing Street is, above all, his complete lack of shame.
Shame, the fear of being humiliated or reviled by those around us, is one of the most socially healthy human reactions. Most people who are not amoral sociopaths like Johnson feel a deep aversion to being singled out and ridiculed by those around them. Soldiers, it is said, enlist out of patriotism, but do not run away for fear of disappointing their comrades. Many social norms are followed for the same reason; gives us shame get caught doing something wrong. Humiliation is more powerful than punishment.
People like Boris not only don’t mind being caught lying, something he does constantlybut they do not feel the slightest remorse in doing so
When a guy like Johnson gets into politics, however, the political mechanisms of our democracies stop working as they should. First, because people like Boris not only don’t mind being caught lying, something he does constantly, but they do not feel the slightest remorse in doing so. Thoroughbred scoundrels don’t care about the truth; words are simply instruments to get your way, not tools to discuss ideas, facts, or realities. The extraordinary cynicism of the Brexit campaignwith its constant inventions, absurd ideas, and unrealizable promises is the fruit of this vital attitude.
Aside from their penchant for lying, scoundrels like Johnson don’t feel bound by social or legal norms. A normal politician, when he does something that is seen by voters as unethical, fraudulent, undesirable or scandalous, he backs down, hides, tries to apologize. Public censorship hurts them, and they fear the consequences of their actions, even without courts involved. Boris, however, has never had such qualms; rules and laws are for cowards and wusses, and anything that doesn’t send you to jail is perfectly acceptable. As long as he holds power and gets away with it, a scoundrel will do as he pleases; the only language they understand is pure political power.
Boris’s career has been a textbook example of these two behaviors. Someone who has lied incessantly throughout his career, who has broken all the rules, has been disloyal, mean, coarse, amoral and treacherous, and has never, never, never felt the slightest remorse for it. Boris is and has always been a jerk, and he is leaving office as such.
Anyone who had read, watched, or listened to him for more than five minutes could clearly see what kind of person he was. Good heavens, your hairstyle was enough for it
The real scandal of all these years, however, has never been Johnson. Anyone who had read, watched or listened to him for more than five minutes could clearly see what kind of person he was. Good heavens, your hairstyle was enough for it. What is scandalous, and depressing, have been all those politicians within the British Conservative Party who, whether due to personal ambition, naivety, or similar doses of cynicism, have followed Boris, voted for him, supported his ideas, and applauded every one of his stupidities until now.
Back in 2016, in a interview with Anne ApplebaumJohnson explained how ridiculous the idea of Brexit was. “No serious person wants to leave the EU,” he said. “It’s not going to happen.” Boris has always given a damn about the future of his country. The problem for the British is that their shamelessness, their cynicism, do have consequences.
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