A citizen from that world

Here, to God, Kolinda is thanking you. Well done, that's no small honor,' said the citizen, staring at the newspaper, to the citizen, who, by coincidence, is also her husband.

'Me?!' the husband gasped.

He thanks the citizens of Split. And I guess you are also a citizen of Split.'

'Ha, just this little bit more, until he becomes a citizen from that entourage... And on what occasion is the president thanking me?'

"On the occasion of the attack on the Red Star water polo players on the waterfront."

'Don't fuck me?'

'Honorable Rich. Here's what she wrote on Twitter: 'Hooliganism is a scourge contrary to the ideals of sport, and any violence is unacceptable. I thank the citizens of Split who immediately stood up for those values."

'Wait a minute... I sleep, as tiny as I am, watching TV, reading a book, solving a crossword puzzle, having pasta and beans for lunch and then trying to sleep on the couch. Nissan, therefore, stands in defense of any 'values'.'

'Well, not all citizens of Split watched television and solved crosswords, fuck it...'

And Nissan, to be honest, doesn't even notice that the others killed themselves from defending any 'values'. Especially when it comes to, as you said, the ideals of sport and the unacceptability of violence. It was for the citizens, as far as I could manage, every other day.'

'And listen, your president is better informed.'

'How will she be better informed in Zagreb than I am in Split?'

'Why are you being silly now, dear? Well, you know very well that the government always has information that is unknown to the rest of the nation. The government knows better than the citizens what the citizens are doing. It has precise information that the citizens, by doing nothing, are most energetically defending the collection of 'values' that they currently carry.'

'And what does it mean to her that they are citizens 'immediately stood up for those values'? When the hooligans were chasing and beating the water polo players from Belgrade, wasn't the waterfront full of Split citizens? And what did those citizens, and there were hundreds of them, then - that is, 'immediately' - do?

They struggled and looked at the shoe, or they turned their heads to the other side and pretended that it was none of their business. Right?'

'And yes, that's right…'

"When that guy jumped into the sea, only one girl gave him a hand to go ashore, she wouldn't even say she was of age... So, you stand on the waterfront, you torture yourself and you don't move while the beachwise and violence goes on, you behave as much as Pizdun, and in this way you "immediately stood up to the defense of values" as a citizen. The President of the Republic of Croatia will declare your indifference, or your stubbornness, as a heroic humanitarian feat.'

'And listen, honey, maybe the president is thanking all the citizens who they are not lemali water polo players from Serbia. Do you understand? It may be that she thinks that it is enough to pass by a Serb and control yourself so much that you don't hit him on the head with a pole, and thus you automatically stand in defense of sports ideals, the policy of non-violence and civil humanism. Who knows, maybe soon he will receive state awards for it. And you can't deny that the vast majority of Split citizens will be on the Split waterfront on Saturday it is not beat Serbian athletes, but they were beaten by an insignificant minority, a handful of citizens whom we call hooligans.'

"Well, it's a shame that Kolinda didn't have Twitter in the nineties, while in Split we had Lora in full operation..."

'Why, dear?'

Even then, all citizens of Split knew what was happening in Lora, because those few lunatics from an independent newspaper informed them about it in detail, but not all citizens imprisoned, tortured and killed civilians of Serbian nationality. Only a handful of them did that, and the vast majority pretended not to know what everyone knew. Is that right?'

'That's right. Some tortured and others tortured.'

"Well, if there were Kolinda and Twitter, those who were tormented would receive a public thank you from the highest state position."

"Well, they got it, honey, if only it wasn't pronounced loudly and launched on social networks. Although I must mention that, regardless of everything, it was not the citizens who opened the camp in Lora, but the state government, the same one that Kolinda represents today. In this way, by opening the camp, the government "stood in defense of the values" it considered important. She protected sports ideals and said that 'any violence is unacceptable'.

It's known, dear, but in later trials, arranged by the state, it turned out that the crimes in Lori were the whim of a group of hooligans, and not the implementation of state policy... You see how in the case of an attack on water polo players, tradition is conveniently renewed: the government announces after committed crimes and thanks the citizens for not doing what the government is urging them to do all the time.'

"That's how the lady from Pantovčak washes her hands of herself and the citizens, because the hooligans are fully responsible."

'Understood. If we imagine all the Croatian civil society, headed by the dear leadership, for example, to a carefully maintained city quarter, then the hooligans are those containers by the road into which we put the skovkas produced by the entire quarter.'

'What would this great concern for the citizenry be, my dear? Populism?'

'Populism, propalism, prolupism, the same dick... It doesn't matter what we call the technique of involving citizens in blood crimes.'

"As far as I'm concerned, the task of the populist government is to make citizens feel good all the time. If you happen to be silent in a depressed or stupid way, the government is there to take the burden off your soul and thank you for your exemplary behavior. To me, it looks like a shaman's joke, every now and then you organize sessions of collective self-relief.'

'The logical thing to do. Because it would normally be expected that many citizens of Split would feel ashamed that the vagrants in their city are beating Serbs, just because they are Serbs, while they are suffering, walking peacefully and minding their own business.'

'Well, the tribes feel ashamed too!'

'Of course, dear. That shame would mean something more. One could start with shame. In our circumstances, that is the only emotion in which it would be worth investing hope... But the government doesn't want that, fuck it. It involves citizens in blood crimes in a positive and cheerful way. They make sure their split heads and distended kidneys don't spoil their mood. The emergency psychological help service reasons: why should citizens be depressed because of the violence that is happening right under their noses?'

'Yes, I picked up that logic. Triba and a citizen who will say: You see, whenever I knock and turn my head to the other side, whenever I heroically torture, they praise me on Twitter. So my moral situation is completely okay.'

'Same as what happened with Lora. Kolinda didn't have Twitter to announce herself at the time, but in that general silence, the message from the top of the state was clearly recognized: Thank you, citizen of Split, why are you constantly tormenting me!'

'There, my dear, you're teasing me a bit with your dialect musings. Do you torture like when you are silent or torture like when you massacre?'

"Nevertheless, dear, don't bother with the details now..."

(portalnovosti.com)