Being raised by parents with an accumulated total of 5 university degrees (something awe-inspiring for their generation), with Philosophy, Literature, and Journalism among their studies, the act of reading serious newspapers, especially during the weekend, was instilled in me since the age of 9. And it is a ritual I still follow almost every day in several languages.
In Greece, such a newspaper was Kathimerini. Kathimerini shaped the political understanding, and linguistic command of those searching for a compelling (albeit heavily authoritarian and opinionated) read regarding current political, social, and financial developments. The frequent line-crossing of some of its intellectuals was quickly forgiven as soon as the reader glanced at the list of its contributors, a ‘who is who’ of Greek intelligentsia. And being an institution leaning to the moderate conservative in a country where most established thinkers belonged to the left, it presented an even more remarkable achievement.
If only things were as impressive today… Perhaps one could argue that the dramatic decline of worthy thinkers internationally could not leave a small country like Greece unaffected or that it is only natural for the decline of top-level journalism in my native land to penetrate even an establishment like Kathimerini.
However, a recent article on a subject of seemingly minor significance managed to sum up all the deficiencies so representative of what cultivated modern readers anywhere would rather not read.
Sporting the title ‘Naivety and Self-Help’ (my translation from Greek), the columnist attempts to comment on a successful Greek author’s recent predicament: it seems the author in question has tangled himself in financial difficulties, not paying taxes and contributions to the state via one of his businesses, being invited to visit the police station, as a result.
Summarizing, the columnist attempts (at best):
- To use this as an example of the failing teachings of self-development books and this author in particular
- Highlight the contrast between seeming success (a best-selling author and TED lecturer) and reality, where most everyday people live, choosing the latter as preferable and realistic
- Underline the old saying, ‘something shining is not always gold.’
In effect, all the contributor accomplishes is:
- to degrade the authors, readers, and genre of self-improvement books (the 2nd most popular internationally)
- Deconstruct the personality of the accused author in the development section of the article in a personal manner
- Produce a piece of intellectual deficiencies, a journalistic code of conduct that raises eyebrows, and the use of circumstantial evidence as proof for his claim.
But let us begin with the title. According to the columnist, ‘Naivety’ must be the apparent characteristic of authors and readers of such books. As this term must inevitably apply to both ends of this industry, the same must be true about the ‘Self-help’ part. While the wording is downright incorrect (since such books are categorized as ‘self-improvement’ or ‘self-development’), it also seems to be intentional: in Greek, ‘self-help’ also implies a most common act of lonely physical self-gratification, something our contributor seems to suggest on the intellectual plane.
The risk of such a connotation suggests the columnist’s emotional involvement with the subject or the accused author, undermining his objectivity, with the possibility of backfiring: the reader could assume a similar level of ‘self-help’ (definition: self-gratification without tangible results) about his article.
But out of good faith, let’s leave assumptions aside and analyze what is actually written…
At first, we are instructed as to what such books are Not: they are no literature, no essays, and certainly not scientific, he says. Well, we had gathered as much… By proclaiming them ‘wishful thinking,’ ‘naive simplicity,’ ‘delusional and overconfident,’ and ‘trying to convince that life is better than what it seems, more manageable, more exciting’ the columnist attempts to address the newspaper’s typical audience of conservatives with an average age of 75.
Having written five books of self-improvement myself, the next time I am invited to a university, college, school, or music school, in ambitious businesses or by inventors-entrepreneurs of the Greek diaspora, I should tell my young talented audiences that their thinking should not be derived from their wishes and goals but from complexity, having a vision is an illusion, confidence should be diminished, and life is not as good as it seems, it’s out of control, and not as exciting as they might think!
The columnist continues by stating that such books are way too easy, without complicated thought processes, unable to torture their readers with critical thinking. According to him, their approach is one-dimensionally positive, everything seems to be a decision away, and happiness seems to be a choice! ‘If we stay away from toxic people, all will be good,’ he concludes with evident sarcasm.
It is a problem the noted intellectual Nikos Dimou (a great former Kathimerini contributor) has analyzed in sufficient detail. I was six years old when I first met him, and although Ι disagree with some of his expressed views, my admiration has not diminished. Dimou was espoused as a poet-writer by top Greek intellectuals, including Nobel prize winner Elytis, but later enjoyed a rather relegated status in arts and letters as soon as he wrote his best-seller ‘On the unhappiness of being Greek.’ To Greek intelligentsia, including the conservative one, accessibility equals inferiority.
I will admit that the accused author is no Nikos Dimou, and he would have never attracted praise from a Nobel Prize winner. But the same (if not worse) can be said for the contributor of this article despite his superb linguistic command. Although he indirectly claims critical thinking, he espouses beliefs most average Kathimerini readers have left behind. And the accusation of ‘easy read’ derives from a two-fold problem endemic in Greek conservative ideology.
1) The idea that only complex creations are worthy of literary, artistic, or intellectual merit.
In classical music, some of the most complex creations were deemed monstrous, while the melodies of W.A. Mozart penetrated the centuries in ways only a 10-year-old could. And he wasn’t much older when he wrote some of them… The same applies to literature, paintings, architecture; the list is endless, proving that simplicity is priceless.
2) The idea that only suffering and torture give meaning to life.
In this case, intellectual torment (πνευματική βάσανο) brings to mind the most archetypal religious ethics as well as the intellectual puritanism of yesteryear, unbecoming of leading journalism.
Again, attempting to use the contributor’s logic, I should use my self-improvement books to preach that the young, talented, ambitious leaders of tomorrow should have doubts, not be too optimistic, a good decision here and there will not make a difference, and happiness is not a choice but an accident. In addition, they should insist on mingling with toxic individuals…
Speaking of toxicity, I started thinking more about the contributor than his subject at that point for reasons unknown. I guessed he must be in his 70s, an age most Greek intellectuals have reached when cynicism becomes a daily routine, until I looked up and saw the photograph of a young man above the article. Some of my distinguished former professors are well into their 80’s (B. Zander) or 90’s (M. Pressler) and still sound far more positive, excited, and motivated. Researching them on Youtube would be highly recommended to the Kathimerini contributor.
Millions of young worthy thinkers and doers who follow such mentors would surely love this columnist’s helpful approach! And although irony is the weakest sign of intelligence and indeed a sign of weak authorship, my readers will have to forgive it today, as I am attempting to simulate the current Kathimerini writing style.
No wonder Kathimerini-type journals do not attract younger readers or young leaders anymore, even though Greece is full of excellently educated, overqualified youngsters sporting their Ph. D.s from top institutions in the USA, UK, France, and Germany. The only problem is that the New Democracy party (a party much to my liking than its undefined opposition), which the newspaper supports, needs to lure those high achievers as voters ahead of upcoming elections…
It is easy to imagine a postdoc at LSE or MIT reading an easy self-help book with pleasure. Hard to imagine they would waste as much time as I did reading a toxic article. But then again, reading something light and being positively surprised is better than something heavy leading to disappointment.
Back to our article, it is in the middle section that the refined slaughter of character takes place, as well as the more grave miscalculations…
1) The columnist claims that, in short, anyone mentoring others on success and happiness must be prosperous and happy himself and certainly not owe money here and there. In other words, all priests are without sin, all family therapists enjoy perfect personal lives, all good parents always embody and practice precisely what they teach their youngsters, and all pilots can fly all aircraft!
Or, to put it differently, the reason Michael Jordan had P. Jackson as a coach and was following his instructions was because Mr. Jackson could play better than Jordan on the court! And an actor like Jack Nicholson listened to a young director’s teachings (Martin Scorsese and S. Kubrick come to mind) because the director could act better.
2) He attacks the author personally and based on partial data.
First, no matter how successful, an author does not belong to the prominent and heavily criticized part of the public sphere. Authors are no politicians, journalists, fortune 500 business people, or even show-biz celebrities, despite if they did a TED talk. By attacking an average citizen, using his name, questions are raised as to how far such a practice could (should) go, out of what motives (serving a private agenda or professional grudge?), and with which consequences (how improbable a suicide attempt is, for example, if the targeted person is under distress or other unfavorable psychological state).
Secondly, financial difficulties derived from businesses are not always a clear indication of business failure, even in countries more prosperous and less prone to a crisis than Greece. Numerous billionaires worldwide had insolvent companies and bankrupt entities as part of a strategic plan or emergency decision.
But on a more humane level, financial difficulties may also owe their existence to elements in our most intimate sphere: Inability to pay a debt off or mandatory contributions could be due to a personal problem (sudden outrageous healthcare bills), personal tragedy (death in the family leading to temporary psychological impairment), or even simpler things like accountancy miscalculations or a legal action that has not been in effect yet. No such reasonable doubt prevents the contributor from claiming a tone of infallibility.
From my experiences in the USA, France, Germany, Poland, and Switzerland (countries I lived/live in and not just visit), I can attest to cases where a ‘misunderstanding’ took place between a citizen and the authorities, taking 1 to 4 years to set straight. In the end, written apologies and compensations for the citizen were in order…
On top of that, hard-hitten by multiple financial crises, Greece became an ecosystem of dead businesses as advertisement money stagnated everywhere. If only our author were the first or the last to miss a payment in this country…
But as it turns out, the accused author is not a failure after all! He was a successful businessman for years, had good studies in his CV, his books and talks are best-selling (according to Wikipedia, he is considered a phenomenon, translated into twenty-something languages), and a quick visit to his social media verifies his vast popularity. As internationally acclaimed painter Y. Tsarouchis used to say (a friend of Matisse), ‘success is not easily forgiven in Greece’…
At this point, finding out more about the contributor seemed a priority. Any reader would only imagine what a career path and extraordinary accomplishments one must be able to display to partially excuse himself for such an attack on another colleague (albeit an easy-book one) with such authority and confidence.
‘Born in (location), grew up in (location), studied Law but never exercised the profession. He has worked in advertisement since (date) and in the electronic and printed press.’
This is the combination of his two (2) available CVs! That does not mean he is necessarily not a brilliant writer/journalist/intellectual when at his best. He may also be too modest to brag about what he has done, thus the laconic description.
To most readers, however, it will inevitably seem more probable that the accused author is famous for what he has done himself (both triumphs and mistakes), while the Kathimerini columnist appears to be known because of Kathimerini. On the one hand, a self-made doer everybody has heard of, and on the other, someone most of us would probably never come across if he were not part of an entity that perhaps overshadows him.
With all due respect to my favorite Greek newspaper, a pressing question seems appropriate: What does it take to be a columnist in Kathimerini these days? Are there transparent criteria and objective qualifications applied across the board? A quick revisit to old Kathimerini pieces and the comparison leads to depression…
Especially now, with people in Greece demanding meritocracy and debating whether this is even possible in a country that never learns, such a question gains dramatic significance. After evidence that incapable public servants contributed to the death of 100 people through the fires in the Mati area (previous government) or the derailment and crash of two high-speed trains killing dozens of youngsters (current government) due to incompetence and neglect by key supervisors, top penologists claim that even political structures (and their representatives) should be held responsible for hiring the wrong employee.
One might argue that no misfiring recruitment of an intellectual or journalist ever resulted in massive deaths. And that’s a good thing because the criteria approving such journalism may give the impression of similarity to the criteria that placed the inexperienced and under-trained railway controller on guard that fateful night.
The comparison may be stretched or unfair even, but before I apologize, I will remind you that this was not the first time…Years ago, a relatively unknown pianist internationally was allowed to write an essay about herself, complaining that she was never invited to the big concert hall of Athens for a recital, as if the newspaper was her private Facebook page. I am trying to remember if it was on Kathimerini or Vima (another top publication), but I do remember she finally got invited and hasn’t written in a newspaper since.
Nothing should surprise us in a country where familial and friendly connections are paramount, penetrating the workspace in almost every professional field. Even though we cannot be sure it is the case here, we do know that The Square and the Tower (Hierarchical Structures and Networks of Individuals) in Greece are inextricably linked, unlike any other ecosystem, contributing to chronic excessive brain drain with disappointed young experts choosing ecosystems of greater meritocracy. If N. Ferguson ever decides to write a study about it, it will become an even greater best-seller than the one of N. Dimou.
In another instance, Kathimerini roasted an American entrepreneurial scientific institution through another contributor. Evidently, those newcomers in California were doing things differently than their counterparts in Oxford, Cambridge, and Massachusetts.
Years later, they were part of the establishment. Thus Kathimerini praised them through another contributor, showcasing yet another classic problem: Greek intelligentsia being unable to independently evaluate what is worthy and what is not, awaiting the seal of approval from abroad to hail those it previously condemned.
I had this discussion on three occasions with esteemed philosopher and Mozart lover C. Giannaras, a most distinguished Kathimerini contributor, discussing the likes of Callas, Mitropoulos, Skalkottas, Bachauer, Kavakos, personalities Greeks espoused only after they were unanimously recognized abroad…
Kathimerini frequently claims it envisions a Greece more extroverted, able, and competitive internationally if only young people could unfold their talents, abilities, and potential. It also has meritocracy high in its public agenda, has used excellent investigative journalism to reveal the chronic dysfunctions of the Greek ecosystem, and is perceived as espousing the top professionalism of conscious leaders.
By allowing contributors to write pieces representing everything that holds Greece back (outdated notions, questionable criteria, loose level of expected credentials, elastic human sensitivities, personal attacks, and articles where irony is the only subject (the case of Mr. Theodoropoulos comes to mind although his cultivation is undisputed), it makes all of us Greeks abroad feel that this ‘other Greece’ Mr. Papahelas (the director and outstanding journalist himself) envisions is slipping through our fingers again.
Closing more personally, nobody can claim that I am leaning to the political left or innocent of some degree of snobbism. A degree some current Kathimerini contributors have long surpassed… Nevertheless, deconstructing one’s reputation is outside my interests. I also do not doubt that our young columnist has the potential to become a great commentator in the future.
But in the meantime, Greece, like the rest of the world, is at a difficult crossroads, which this newspaper has repeatedly acknowledged in its editorials. It may be time we all do our best, according to how big each of us is. And Kathimerini being monumental, is expected to meet higher standards.
In its defense, the columnists’ subject wasn’t of great importance. But as any author of self-development books who respects himself would say, do the easy things with perfection so you can do the complex ones well.