Merlin, Monti, Merkel and the Art of Controlling your Environment
The European Dream of Camelot
It is the moment when fact is wrapped around fiction forming yet another
Gordian Knot to give birth to a legend. Since the dawn of time the bards
have written songs in honour of their fallen heroes, Achilles and Hector, Leonidas
and his brave 300, Alexander, Odysseys, Romulus and Remus, Beowulf, Robin Hood and of
course Arthur and his knights. Ever since the latter took a hold of the minds of the people, Camelot
stood respectively for noble chivalry, equality symbolized by the fabled round
table as well as the loyal camaraderie of an unfailingly generous brotherhood
of knights, as hey upheld a strict code enforcing morality and sublime beauty in
the name of protecting the weak.
Today, Camelot is usually associated with J.F.K’s presidency. Granted after Seymour Hersh’s The Dark Side of Camelot, the shining halo around the 35th president of the United States has dimmed a little and proved Washington was not only geographically far away from Wales.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines legend as a body of popular stories, unfortunately non-verifiable, that are handed down from a mythical past to become part of the cultural identity of a people. So much so, that the medieval tales dribbled into popular culture, remaking and reshaping the Knights’ tales of yore into post-modern TV adaptations like the GK-TV version, Camelot (2011) or even more recently the BBC series Merlin, which not only keep the legend of Arthur alive but help create a different legend.
Out cultural obsession with heroes and hero figures seems to leave us with the bitter aftertaste of reality when looking for guidance in the elitist circle of European leaders in this century. Merlin and Arthur seem to fulfill exactly that role on screen, but nowadays first-time voters are frustrated by politics junkies. Where are the undoubted leaders? Where are the heroes who slay dragons and manage crisis after crisis? Compared to Merlin, Merkel's wand waving technique seems rusty. While Merkel seems to have gained the reputation of an unflappable Merkelator in a power suit, this most recent crisis does neither seem to warm her voter's hearts not those of her colleagues across Europe. The French president made it pretty clear that the he will not have the same relationship as de Gaulle and Adenauer, Schröder and Chiraque, Sarkozy and Merkel. So is marriage à la franco-allmande at stake if the crisis takes hold in the core of Europe?
The fine tuned engine of the Euro that propelled the European Unity to the next great leap forward seems to corrode. Yet, the only answer our political figureheads present is procrastination, when its really high time to at least begin thinking about solutions, otherwise circumstances might just force their hand. Alea iacte est.
But the menace of the Euro crisis is not the only threat the peaceful union faces. Those devout leaders in France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece etc. are confronted with insubordnation in their own countries. The grass-roots movement against the austerity policy dictated by their own presidents has has quite loudly and sometimes violently made it clear, the people might no longer want to listen to pretty speeches about making sacrifices.
Brussels is not as far away as you might think. But then again, every single head of government is elected by their very own - currently very disgruntled - people. It's the new nationalism that brings the European Union to the brink of breaking apart, because the politicians, like the rulers of the old, cannot lord over anyone if they are ousted and no price no matter how prestigious might help them save face. The Nobel Peace Price is not the Sword in the Stone. It was lost in the raging sand storms of time, the lady of the lake is no more and Avalon sunk into its mists, only the round shape of a table remains. In Europe it became the rotunda of the European parliament. After the devastating destruction of the Second Great War in the 20th century, the consuming desire and fierce need for peace on the continent planted the seed of a European family tree, with today 27 member states, united under the blue banner with one common goal, to save the single currency, come what may, because, even though the Nobel Prize committee disagrees, that is what really seems to hold the Union together. Maybe the shape is what matters and it becomes a good enough symbol for the new dream of peace and prosperity in a unified Europe. But then again, we might lose that dream entirely if we don't start buckling down, the old dream hasn't changed. It has gotten bigger. It has gone global.
So while we still can, let us toast to the open boarders, to escapism, to unemployment insurance, to bail out programs, to good hearted tax payers – the real unsung heroes of the crisis – to the media commentators and crisis experts, to leadership and the ‘good life’ whatever it is and wherever it happens to be.
Today, Camelot is usually associated with J.F.K’s presidency. Granted after Seymour Hersh’s The Dark Side of Camelot, the shining halo around the 35th president of the United States has dimmed a little and proved Washington was not only geographically far away from Wales.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines legend as a body of popular stories, unfortunately non-verifiable, that are handed down from a mythical past to become part of the cultural identity of a people. So much so, that the medieval tales dribbled into popular culture, remaking and reshaping the Knights’ tales of yore into post-modern TV adaptations like the GK-TV version, Camelot (2011) or even more recently the BBC series Merlin, which not only keep the legend of Arthur alive but help create a different legend.
Out cultural obsession with heroes and hero figures seems to leave us with the bitter aftertaste of reality when looking for guidance in the elitist circle of European leaders in this century. Merlin and Arthur seem to fulfill exactly that role on screen, but nowadays first-time voters are frustrated by politics junkies. Where are the undoubted leaders? Where are the heroes who slay dragons and manage crisis after crisis? Compared to Merlin, Merkel's wand waving technique seems rusty. While Merkel seems to have gained the reputation of an unflappable Merkelator in a power suit, this most recent crisis does neither seem to warm her voter's hearts not those of her colleagues across Europe. The French president made it pretty clear that the he will not have the same relationship as de Gaulle and Adenauer, Schröder and Chiraque, Sarkozy and Merkel. So is marriage à la franco-allmande at stake if the crisis takes hold in the core of Europe?
The fine tuned engine of the Euro that propelled the European Unity to the next great leap forward seems to corrode. Yet, the only answer our political figureheads present is procrastination, when its really high time to at least begin thinking about solutions, otherwise circumstances might just force their hand. Alea iacte est.
But the menace of the Euro crisis is not the only threat the peaceful union faces. Those devout leaders in France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece etc. are confronted with insubordnation in their own countries. The grass-roots movement against the austerity policy dictated by their own presidents has has quite loudly and sometimes violently made it clear, the people might no longer want to listen to pretty speeches about making sacrifices.
Brussels is not as far away as you might think. But then again, every single head of government is elected by their very own - currently very disgruntled - people. It's the new nationalism that brings the European Union to the brink of breaking apart, because the politicians, like the rulers of the old, cannot lord over anyone if they are ousted and no price no matter how prestigious might help them save face. The Nobel Peace Price is not the Sword in the Stone. It was lost in the raging sand storms of time, the lady of the lake is no more and Avalon sunk into its mists, only the round shape of a table remains. In Europe it became the rotunda of the European parliament. After the devastating destruction of the Second Great War in the 20th century, the consuming desire and fierce need for peace on the continent planted the seed of a European family tree, with today 27 member states, united under the blue banner with one common goal, to save the single currency, come what may, because, even though the Nobel Prize committee disagrees, that is what really seems to hold the Union together. Maybe the shape is what matters and it becomes a good enough symbol for the new dream of peace and prosperity in a unified Europe. But then again, we might lose that dream entirely if we don't start buckling down, the old dream hasn't changed. It has gotten bigger. It has gone global.
So while we still can, let us toast to the open boarders, to escapism, to unemployment insurance, to bail out programs, to good hearted tax payers – the real unsung heroes of the crisis – to the media commentators and crisis experts, to leadership and the ‘good life’ whatever it is and wherever it happens to be.
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