High Noon

Is there anyone who did not know who ordered the political assassinations in the nineties? Is there anyone who really does not understand the political background of the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djinjdic? Or maybe someone does not know how long was Sarajevo bombed for? Maybe someone is uncertain about why and how people were killed in Srebrenica? Are there people who cannot make a connection between the “humane resettlement” and the glorification of the “only Serbian victory” with the crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina? Or maybe someone is unfamiliar with the regime which was in power in Kosovo during the nineties? In the words of the outgoing Prime Minister “let no one explain stuff to us…” It would be extremely useful if, for example, he, the President and the future Prime Minister would publicly state on Radio Television of Serbia: “Yes, we knew, and now we want it to be publicly known”.

In the word of Gary Becker, the society, the country, the state – have as much crime as they are ready to invest into curbing it. The means are legal, judicial, police and, of course, political. This can be understood in the following way as well: there is almost no crime that has not been approved, in some way, at least tacitly, by the authorities, which rely on the opportunistic society. The same is true for corruption. One should also add the strategies of rationalization, justification and topic changing, in the media, in particular those funded by the state – and thus, allegedly, reputable. This refers not only to high-level crime, but even more to everyday safety and certainty that basic freedoms and rights are respected. Is there anyone who does not understand how discrimination of minority groups is possible? Or why the security of everyday life for ordinary citizens is deteriorating, as they must endure violence of all sorts, since institutions and organizations who’s duty is to help and protect them are not doing their job? Or why are, as they say, the institutions not functioning?

If there is a lack of interest in reading articles by Becker and others from the Chicago school of economics, which in not hard to understand, the movie High Noon is actually a better substitute. So if you can’t see by looking at the reality, you will see through the movie.

Translated by Bojana Obradovic

Peščanik.net, 03.04.2014.