The great leveling has begun

Considering despotism under new democratic governments in Europe, Tocqueville mused that it would, "degrade men without tormenting them." This is precisely what is happening in Poland, where the people prefer equality, an easy lover, to liberty, a demanding one, and take this preference out on those individuals who have the opposite disposition.

Democratic equality grants that Radio Maryja and its listeners have a right to their political and religious views. The authorities in Białystok, guilty of vulgarity and historical ignorance, cannot be forbidden their religious sensibilities and the right to oversee taxpayer-funded theater. The consolidation of a media oligopoly comes on the heels of elections wherein the public, timid in its demand for liberty in culture, was supportive of the government's designs.

Yet these examples are also despotic. Radio Maryja preaches anti-Semitism and xenophobia, the authorities in Białystok are intent upon censoring theater, and the government's consolidation of power over the media is an infringement on freedom of the press.

In all of these cases, and many others, we see culture being pulled down; leveled by the democratic instinct, and reduced to discussions analogous to wondering about Shakespeare's sex life rather than contemplating his work. Thus does culture lose what is most important: its didactic aspect as a means for better understanding ourselves as human beings and its multifoliate capacity for expressing the human imagination.

Indeed, Polish culture seems to be receding into a sophomoric debate fit for a tabloid as each consecutive serious artistic effort is analyzed only from the point of view of phallic symbols, scandal, pornography and the like. All of this excites the public, but does nothing to raise its members to the level of excellent citizens.

Thus we see what Tocqueville called the two humors of a democratic people: "they want to be led, and they wish to remain free." The remedy for this democratic despotism can only be found in a noble, democratic culture of greatness. The question for Poland becomes: is noble greatness possible under a democracy?

Peter S Rieth, Zbigniew Raszewski Theatrical Institute