“Levice” and “right” are mostly empty words today
For over 230 years we have been trying to push the full reality into 2 words: Left and right. They were born in 1789 in France erstwhile Members sat on 2 sides of the hall.
Today the planet sends probes to Mars, artificial intelligence beats man in data analysis, and global corporations have budgets larger than many countries, and we proceed to navigate according to a map from the phase age. It's not just a historical curiosity. This leads to increasingly misdiagnosis.
The planet has long changed the level of organization. 2 100 years ago, most cases were settled at national level. present we live on 3 floors at the same time:
-national State,
-great civilization circles (West, China, muslim world, India...),
-global level – financial markets, AI, digital platforms, migration, climate, cyber threats, language of political correctness.
Each of these levels is governed by a different logic. And in most debates, we act like there's only one. There's not a large deal missing. Their axes have changed. I'm not saying that differences of opinion are irrelevant. Politics will always be a dispute over freedom, security, the function of the state and the pace of change. The problem is different. Historical labels ‘levic’ and ‘right’ They are increasingly describing the real conflicts of the 21st century.
Let's take a look at the specifics:
- alleged right-wing parties pump social transfers and inducing public debt.
-Left parties are increasingly eager to defend the interests of global technological giants.
- States screaming about freedom build powerful surveillance systems.
- part of global capital is financed by campaigns that have been recognised as the domain of the extremist left.
When almost all action can be justified simultaneously as ‘left’ and ‘right’, this means that these concepts have lost their explanatory power. And the problem becomes dangerous erstwhile the tool becomes a tribal totem. "Lewak". "Right". Fascist". "Communist". This is simply a little frequent description of views, and increasingly a signal: “I belong to my flock”. The map ceases to describe the area – it itself becomes a weapon in combat. This is not just about the left and the right.
The biggest threat is not just disputes, but questions that have stopped helping. alternatively of asking “Is it left?” or “is it right?” Let's ask:
Does it even work?
Does it increase freedom or control?
Does it build work or claimability?
Does it strengthen sovereignty or weaken it?
Can the effects be measured?
Will it service the next generation?
These are questions that build the sense of politics. In my opinion, present the most crucial dividing lines run between centralization and decentralization, freedom and control, national sovereignty and global governance, man and algorithm, short-term political benefit and long-term endurance of civilization...
These axes aren't forever either. In a 100 years they may request another update. And that's what it's all about – constantly checking the map with reality.
Breakdown by Left and right is not the existential problem of modern man. It is only a symptom of a deeper habit: trying to describe an increasingly complex planet with simple opposites. The more complicated reality, the worse black and white reasoning works. No democracy functions well, describing the 21st century by categories from the 18th and 19th. And no civilization can solve problems that it can't even decently name. The end of the large theatre will not happen erstwhile the left or right is gone.
It will come erstwhile we yet learn to look at the planet as it is – richer than our old labels.
Written by Zbigniew Jacniacki
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