Fines

There's no freedom without risk. This very thought was floating around in my head when I got a letter, and it was a fine. A fine is always bad, no matter how well deserved, but lately I'd say it's worse. Driving through another city, I took the wrong street and apparently entered a street where traffic was prohibited. Until now, I haven't been able to tell. Why didn't I see it? Perhaps it was poorly signposted? It doesn't matter, because the fine works through blackmail: if I pay quickly and refuse to protest, they'll give me a 50% discount. Since traveling is complicated and they probably wouldn't agree with me, they encourage me to pay and keep quiet. It's not very edifying.

In the days of bandits, you could feel safe around your home, but if you wandered too far, you could easily fall into an ambush. Today, when I have to drive to an unfamiliar place, I fear a poorly placed radar or a half-hidden no-parking sign. Sometimes the signs are unclear, sometimes they even contradict each other.

Some people say it's done on purpose. I don't believe that, but the distrust in the administration has a lot to do with the way it has spread: it's increasingly infiltrating everywhere, while, paradoxically, it's becoming more distant, harsh, and cold.

Fines, moreover, aren't just monetary; there are also moral ones, which come to you on the radio, on TV, or in newspapers, and which consist of making you feel bad if you don't follow the official line. In the debate on immigration, for example, I see a similar case to what happened with education. All were well-intentioned, but politicians who sent their children to private schools gave carte blanche to educators who led education to the disaster it is now. The administration scolds, but never takes responsibility for the consequences of its decisions.

And so we reach figures like Mazón, and, further down the line, the Trumps and their variants, because irresponsibility first stops the coup, and it seems like nothing is happening, and it only becomes clear that whoever rules, rules. But you feel helpless in the face of economic power, like a child lost in a market. Now you see frightened politicians, accustomed as they were to no one holding them accountable, while they did hold us accountable. This is nothing to rejoice about, because the spiral leads even further down, but the collapse of public services, the brazenness of corruption, or the lack of protection for the Catalan language have those responsible beyond the voters, and I don't think those in power can look at us and tell us it's our fault and that we'll pay for it.