QUOTATION # 48.

[ON ACCOUNTABILITY]

“All of it evinces the same underlying message echoing throughout the country…….accountability is for the little people, immunity is for the ruling class.

If this ethos seems familiar, that is because it has preceded some of the darkest moments in human history – the eras of violent purges, authoritarian dictators and sharpened guillotines.”

UNTITLED: Anane Asare, acrylic on paper, ?1998, Private collection.

“There is no guarantee that is our future – and let’s hope it isn’t our destiny.

Whether or not things proceed in that terrifying direction, though, the moral question remains: what can be done to restore some basic sense of fairness and justice?”

Melania Trump with Kwesi Essel-Blankson at Cape Coast Castle; 2018. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

“Of late, one proffered answer is hard-hitting journalism – and there is no doubt that righteous media vigilantes……have occasionally sparked some much-needed paroxysms of accountability.

However, for every investigative reporter doing the hard work to break open a much-needed story of corruption and criminality, there is an entire machine that continues to provide platforms to those who are firmly ensconced in the accountability-free zone.

…………To wedge open the gates of the accountability-free zone, everyday citizens will have to be organized enough to overcome already-well-organized money.”

THE MOURNERS: Ablade Glover, oil on chip board, 79x126cm, 1969. Signed. Private collection.

“…….It will require support for companies that offer different models of corporate behavior, and it will require swarms of cable-news-addled dittoheads to shut off the TV and instead support other forms of media that are serious about questioning, scrutinizing and challenging power.

…….And at a cultural level, it will require any and all efforts to rescind and deny social status to those who have committed egregious war, financial and sexual crimes — and it will require doing that even if those miscreants wear nice suits and have gilded credentials.”

UNTITLED: Mehdi Smyej, 2018. Courtesy of the artist.

 

“This is no easy way forward and there are no shortcuts – but if we avoid this path, then the accountability-free zone will fortify itself and we will likely see the rise of an institutionalized form of moral hazard that dooms us to a tragic repetition of history.”

              DAVID SIROTA.

5 thoughts on “QUOTATION # 48.”

  1. Good morning Nii, this has me thinking…
    We all need to ‘ raise that game ‘. Regards

    1. Yes, indeed.

      We all need to step up and shake up the “harmonious mediocrity”.

      Have a great day, OAJ.

    1. We see it everyday in its hydra headed form ( continuing with the head and locks imagery 😜), as it pursues a relentless and all encompassing mediocrity.

      Have a great day, EB.

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