Take a gawk at this: "For the people of modern democracies are being steadily disenfranchised, and the institutions responsible exist in a haze of unaccountable decision-making, where nameless Olympians sit in judgment on all mankind . . . The fact is that transnational bureaucracies offer an unprecedented opportunity to obtain power without accountability." Good stuff, what? From the pen of eminent professor Roger Scruton, writing in the Telegraph the other day. Nothing like a bit of rabble-rousing populist rhetoric first thing in the morning. (I particularly like "haze", though I was disappointed he didn't work in something about "power without accountability" - or responsibility, if you prefer - being the prerogative of the harlot through the ages). And timely too, what with Nice and Gothenburg and our supposed increasing disenchantment with the operations of the EU. So, all thanks to Roger, whom I used to think was on the far right, the bete noire of liberals everywhere, but who must have shifted when I wasn't looking.
And what sort of person works in the unnamed institutions referred to, the ones existing in that haze of unaccountable decision-making? Why, the bureaucrat.
The bureaucrat comes in for quite a hammering these days. If you keep in touch with the media, you will know that to be a bureaucrat today is to be an utterly contemptible person, a sort of lower life form, an amorphous grey thing dedicated only to fact-checking, filing, filling out forms, and making highhanded decisions affecting thousands of people without any concern for the outcome. Never mind that quite a few Irish people, men and women, have risen to positions of high authority and considerable power in bureaucratic institutions such as the EU: they are, we would have you believe, no more than conscience-free generals in the amoral grey army.
Indeed, it isn't only the image of the bureaucrat that has become so entirely negative; the meaning of the word itself has changed. You can still find dictionaries today which attach no judgment to the word, but the New Oxford Dictionary of English now defines bureaucrat as "an official in a government department, in particular one perceived as being concerned with procedural correctness at the expense of other people's needs." A bad person, then. And no doubt the Eurocrat is an even more corrupt specimen.
The notion of bureaucracy as intrinsically evil is not entirely a modern phenomenon. Suspicion always seem to attach to institutions with "bureau" in their title: the Federal Bureau of Investigation comes to mind, as does the deservedly notorious Bureau of State Security which operated in South Africa under the apartheid regime.
This newspaper has its correspondents in cities around the world, but we are careful not to speak of our "Washington bureau" for example. The phrase has something of a Cold War creepiness about it, and the last thing we would want you to think is that we harbour among our staff the occasional bureaucrat.
Right. Moving to considerably less grey matters, I would be interested to know how successful has been the radio advertisement in which RTE's Ms Anne Doyle exhorts listeners to renew their television licences. Ms Doyle's distinctive voice rings out regularly these days on radio, politely but firmly warning viewers of unlicensed television sets that they are easily traceable and could face fines, or worse, if they do not come within the law.
(I am given to understand that) Ms Doyle has a considerable following of male fans who tune in to her news broadcasts and to Crimeline despite having minimal interest in news or crime. Are we to believe that if some of these viewers have failed to renew their licences, they will do Ms Doyle's bidding and rush to the post office immediately? In fact, the campaign may have the opposite effect: there is something about the radio advertisement which, possibly because of Ms Doyle's association with the Garda on Crimeline, suggests that the presenter herself will be the one to administer perhaps quite severe justice. This thought may well keep many otherwise law-abiding male viewers nervously, but eagerly, awaiting a firm knock on the door.
bglacken@irish-times.ie