I discovered the connection between politics and psychopathology as a psychology student. It was March 9 and we were doing an internship at the Institute for Mental Health in Belgrade. All patients with aggressive episodes, psychopaths or sociopaths, came to therapy with broken heads. They proudly described tussling with the cops, while others ran away. An ideal opportunity to get rid of all your frustration, to prove your worth and show other "cowards" - how to behave!
These days, political populism radiates from the small screen. Serbia is once again the center of the world, more important even than Yugoslavia, directly related to China. Ever since Prime Minister Vučić received his Chinese colleague in an exalted manner, addressing him as "Comrade Li", we took off like on the wings of a Dragon, as RTS would say in a special broadcast. Up to this moment, we have built the Chinese power plant, the Chinese high-speed railway, and the bridge is already finished. The Chinese PKB and the Chinese port on the Danube are also mentioned. If there is more, I apologize, it is not a bad intention. I liked how the Chinese talk about politics vividly. The Prime Minister of China described our relations as: a fast train rushing towards a common future driven by our good wishes and friendship! This car with romantic and sentimental fuel could rush through Serbia and somewhat divert the public's attention from the disappointment caused by the shutdown of the South Stream project.
Since there is no gas or the Russians, the Dragon will fly to Borča in no time!
When politics gets so heated, the gentler and more sensitive psychic structures show a desire to flock to and imitate the politicians. Pop artist Maja Nikolić became famous for her phantasmagorical projects, which she bombastically announced. If I remember correctly, I may not follow the chronology which is also important here, but these are some of those projects.
According to Maya, Kosovo could have been solved by selling it to the Chinese, followed by the high-speed train project, where she was a special envoy. You will remember that she was genetically predestined for the railway?! The Germans wanted to build a hospital in Kuwait through Maja, and she successfully reconciled her duties on stage with responsible economic missions. When you receive a regular salary, then you work hard, said Maja.
These days, she is back in the public eye with the Spar company, of which she is the director. The plans are very ambitious, but according to her, also very realistic. The plan is a turnover of 17 billion euros, 120.000 stores and 200.000 employees whose basic salary, not to mention the minimum, will be around 500 euros. On the website of the company that sells franchises to STRs for 800 euros, you see a bunch of nebula with grammatical pearls like "a large number of articles"!
Of course, it is pointless to discuss the feasibility study of the Špar Nikolić project here, especially after the banter in the tabloids. Maja Nikolić provides the perfect material for that kind of tongue-in-cheek tone in the tabloids. I'm just wondering by what right? If those newspapers ridicule Maja Nikolić and her fantasies, the assumption is that "Blic", "Informer" or "Kurir" are oases of professional journalism where only sacred truths are published. Come on, please, Maja is completely in line with the editorial policy of domestic tabloids, it just becomes an unpleasant mirror image for them when she starts lying or making things up herself.
The second parallel that is imposed is repeated from the beginning of the text. In her fantasies, Maja Nikolić consistently follows megalomaniacal announcements from the Government of Serbia. If we announced the canal to Thessaloniki, which I have not regretted to this day, the mentioned sequence of projects more or less coincides with the visions of cooperation with the Russians, Arabs or Chinese. Even the way of presentation is somewhat similar, because Nikolić with wide eyes stacks non-existent billions in the air very much like our Prime Minister. That trance, almost of a prophetic type, is very recognizable.
Nevertheless, Maya's fantasies, or beautiful wishes, did not cost Serbia a single dinar, she is usually the only employee in her companies, with minimal founding capital. We can even say that those visions had a healing effect, because tabloid readers laughed out loud.
In populist political visions, only the Government is allowed to fantasize and fantasize out loud, offering plans and good wishes instead of concrete results? If you allow yourself to behave like the Government and announce to the world your own mirages and Potemkin villages as the whole truth - you will come out funny, on the wings of the Dragon or on the wings of imagination!
