Abstract
Background: The authors argue that in the last few years we have seen a recurrent pattern of social change. It consists in the strengthening of nationalist and xenophobic sentiments, a demagogic and deceitful campaign in mass media, which has already led quite often to “populist upheavals”. Main body: As examples of such already realized changes, the authors mention Brexit and its consequences, as well as the government of the victorious political faction in Poland. The authors are worried that such upheavals may soon occur in other countries. The authors attempt to characterize the repeated sequence of events leading to such transformations and determine what can be done in a situation of potentiated xenophobia and populist arguments. They emphasize what should be better understood and explained to citizens. They also discuss the implementation of appropriate changes in education and the promotion of cultural creations. Short conclusion: The most important actions that are able to suppress the emerging populist movement, as it seems should aim to (a) immunize the entire population against the deceitful arguments and (b) suspend the spread of these false arguments in mass media. The essence of these actions should consist on better understanding of the processes and in the implementation of effective changes in education at all levels, as well as on targeted cultural activity. This is also a challenge for actions in the field of public health.
Highlights
It consists in the strengthening of nationalist sentiments and a xenophobic attitude, followed by a demagogic and deceitful campaign in mass media, which has already lead to kinds of “populist upheavals” [1,2,3]
Our article is merely a commentary which expresses our particular point of view, we can mention its methodological grounds. The authors of this text have been watching the course of changes that have occurred in Poland, while the readers, as we think know very well the course of the campaign which led to the referendum calling for Brexit [4,5]
If the upheaval led to changes in political factions, it usually happens that the new elite tries to change electoral law or creates another way of staying in power [19]
Summary
Many of us wonder why in the last few years we have observed a recurrent pattern of social change. One can enumerate at least two examples of such transformations, namely Brexit and its consequences, and the winning political faction government in Poland [4,5,6,7,8] Such transformations are characterized by the feature that the members of a large social group take irrational, unfavourable decisions regarding their future. Though, the known sequences of events that have occurred in the past, e.g. during the last century, it is possible to distinguish such electoral decisions which led to adverse consequences It may be recalled how the taking of power was realized by Hugo Chavez in Venezuela [9,10]. The authors of this text have been watching the course of changes that have occurred in Poland, while the readers, as we think know very well the course of the campaign which led to the referendum calling for Brexit [4,5]
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