FLASH
Shkruar nga Roland Lami
The metamorphosis of power for such individuals does not begin with criticism, but with praise...
In Albanian politics, it is not uncommon for individuals who were the strongest voices of power until yesterday to appear today as its harshest critics. Figures who have defended every decision with conviction and blindness, who have built public discourse in support of the leader to the point of stupidity, at a certain moment change their tone and position.
Such pirouettes are not isolated cases but a pattern of behavior seen over 35 years on both the left and the right. It is precisely here that what could otherwise be called the metamorphosis of power begins, not as a change in reality, but as a change in the way it is read and articulated at a given moment.
The metamorphosis of power for such individuals does not begin with criticism, but with praise. At first, the leader is raised as an unquestionable figure and an almost personal trust is built around him. In this climate, career is not seen as the product of a mechanism controlled and pumped by the leader, but as individual merit. Individuals, intoxicated by the flattery of power, begin to believe that they were chosen because they deserve it, not because they are a link in a chain of loyalty and political suicide bombers in the service of the leader.
The circulation of elites does not appear as a direct imposition, but as a smooth flow that seems to come by itself. At first glance, everything seems like a normal process, some rise, some fall, some are replaced. But in the background, the pace and direction of this movement are determined by a single hand. Appointments, rises and falls are not the product of an open competition, but of a concentrated will. And as long as this arrangement produces beneficiaries and maintains a facade of functionality, it is not perceived as a problem - on the contrary, it is easily packaged as meritocracy and a democratic standard.
A well-packaged image is built around the leader by these beneficiaries as a reformer, progressive, visionary, statesman. It doesn't matter how much this matches reality, it's enough that it's repeated often and the leader seems to be flattered. The more people benefit from it, the more the level of praise increases, verging on stupidity. At first it sounds like gratitude, then it turns into obligation, and finally into a competition to see who can exaggerate it the most. In this logic, real ability has little weight, what matters is how well you know how to position yourself in relation to the leader. Praise is not done to convince others, but to show loyalty. And over time, it's no longer even a matter of persuasion, it's simply the safest way to stay in the game.
This is the point where personal narrative collides with institutional reality and individual experience begins to take the form of a more articulate reflection. Shock no longer remains just a sensation, but is gradually translated into public and institutionally communicable language.
At this stage, another shift begins, more difficult to articulate, the demand to be understood and supported by those you once opposed for the same reality that you now denounce. The same ones you yesterday labeled as blind, as dissatisfied or simply envious, today seem closer to the truth that you have only just begun to see. But this turn does not come without a cost, because it is not enough to change your attitude, you must also face the fact that you once contributed to the delegitimization of the same criticism that you are now trying to articulate. And it is precisely here that the tension arises between the need to be heard and the memory of how you chose not to listen.
The problem is no longer with individuals as isolated cases, but with the role they themselves play in building a conformist culture that serves power. With their behavior, excessive praise, and willingness to fall in line unconditionally, they make it easier for the leader to consolidate and seal an increasingly concentrated power.
But the irony lies in the fact that the same mechanism they have helped to build and protect, at a certain point begins to exclude them themselves. And when this awareness finally comes, criticism is not absent but comes late, without the weight and credibility that it would have had if it had been articulated at the right time. It is precisely at this point that power reaches its most efficient form when it no longer needs to impose silence, because it has managed to convince that speech changes nothing.
Lini një Përgjigje