Here is an essay I wrote a couple of years ago for the MOOC Understanding Europe[0] (before Brexit even happened) on some of the main reasons I believe the European project has such a bad rep, even among its own constituants. I chose to post this essay now as I still believe in the European project (if handled properly by people of vision who strive for the greater good of all its members), and I think that the points mentioned below are still relevant today (perhaps more so now than ever).
Like any human enterprise, no matter how noble the original intent behind it, the EU is an organization that has both flaws and strengths. Yet it’s on these flaws, whether real or invented, that people tend to focus, and the younger, more impressionable generations even more so.
It seems to me the chief reason the EU’s popularity has been on a downswing[1] stems from a lack of knowledge of what it is Europe does or the reasoning behind certain policies.
Below are three points that I believe contribute to the EU’s current status as the unpopular kid in school:
1. Culture: We currently live in the Golden Age of the Internet, where everyone must be connected at all times[2], whether though a smartphone[3] or at the very least at home through a modem or Wi-Fi[4]. Though the world is now, literally, at our fingertips, this doesn’t come without its share of cons, one of which is the rise of ADHD amongst its users[5]. This, in turn, has led to the proliferation of ever shorter articles and sensationalist journalism[6], and other derivatives such as reality TV, etc.—anything to get those people to click on your link or watch your show. The more outrageous, the better. In the midst of this mud-slinging industry[7], few are those who want to depict the EU (or anything else for that matter) under a positive light. Coupled with this is the fact that many people don’t even question the veracity of what they read online. A perfect example of this are chain emails people send each other by clicking the forwarding button faster than they can blink, thereby perpetuating the urban legend until it becomes dogma. But remember what Abraham Lincoln said,“[t]he problem with internet quotes is that you can’t always depend on their accuracy.”[8]
2. The EU’s own poor communication skills: As expressed in the point above, the Internet has revolutionized the way people receive and give out information. Not only that, but the IT world is a constantly growing and evolving one, and keeping up with it is a full-time job in and of itself. This is reflected in the EU’s poor performance of reaching out to the general population and informing it of its work. One has but to look at the EU Careers website[9] where people can register to take the admissions exams--it is cumbersome and so hard to use that even for people already working within the organization have a hard time navigating it. The EU’s own newsroom website[10] is foreboding. Its articles are mostly in the form of dry press releases that only the most stubborn are willing to sift through. But in our day and age, if news sites want to increase their readership, they need to have more pictures and write shorter articles[11] that are easy to skim through to get the gist. This is clearly something the EU has yet to develop, and quickly, for its opponents haven’t wasted their time and are dominating the blogosphere and every other i-sphere out there in the meantime.
3. Scapegoating: Blaming others for bad things that have happened, whether due to some outside force or because of personal failure, is a widely-spread human trait. Worse, this tendency is contagious as well[12]. When everything is going well, everything’s OK. But the moment things come crashing down, it’s time to organize a new witch hunt. The latest large-scale wave of such criticism started after the economic crash of 2008, which saw a “brutal recession unfold”[13] and many large institutions falter, bringing many helpless people down along with them. People blamed everything and everyone, from the 1% in the US (Occupy Wall Street movement, for example[14]), to the EU in Europe. And so, in the midst of that chaos, those EU detractors’ voices that had barely been heard during times of prosperity suddenly “attract[ed] more and more supporters.”[15] And as history has proved over and over again, it’s hard to fight the herd-like mentality.
Drawing from these three related points, I believe the first step for the EU to change its image is to understand the human psyche. It cannot hope to regain its citizens’ confidence without making drastic changes to adapt to modern times. In short, it needs to improve its own propaganda.
Footnotes:
[0] Taught by Professor Alemanno of the HEC via Coursera.
[1] As seen, for instance, in “the turnout at the EU elections [that has gone] from 63% in the first electionEuropean Paradox?
(1979) to 43% in 2009.” MOOC course, Video Lecture 1.8: What is the
[2] “According to a new ICMPA study most college students are not just unwilling, but functionally unable to be without their media links to the world.” [link]
[4] See “Penetration rates of Electronic Communication Services in the European Union,” p. 6 E-Communications Household Survey Report, Published June 2012 [link]
[5] Article “The screens culture: impact on ADHD”, US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, published online 2011 September 24 [link]
[6] See article “Yellow Journalism of the 21st Century” by Justin Schuster, The Politic, published February 28, 2012.
[7] Point mentioned in the MOOC course, Video Lecture 1.7: Debunking some of the European myths.
[11] See article “7 Powerful Facebook Statistics You Should Know About” [link] – “Photo posts get 39% more interaction” and “Shorter posts get 23% more interaction.”
[12] See article “Shifting Blame is Socially Contagious,” University of South California Press Room, published November 19, 2009 [link]
[13] “The Great Crash, 2008 – A Geopolitical Setback for the West” by Roger C. Altman published by the Council on Foreign Relations [link]
[15] MOOC Video Lecture 1.8: What is the European Paradox.
