Greece’s great alibi

Upon the centennial of the American Civil War, Life magazine commissioned author and poet Robert Penn Warren to write an essay marking the moment in time. Warren complied with The Legacy of the Civil War, a brilliant work that analyzed the long tentacles that the conflict extended into 20th century attitudes in both the North and the South. Warren characterized the South, because of its defeat in the war, as possessing The Great Alibi, which, crudely rendered, could be reduced to “Yankees stealing the family silver,” a meme I heard more than once in my Southern childhood from the older folks. There had never been much silver in my family to steal, but no matter – this is what generations of Southerners had blamed their actual or borderline penury on for years. Having such a pet explanation is handy in fending off personal, family, or regional criticisms. How convenient it is never having to submit one’s failures to the harsh light of self-criticism.

I can’t help but feel much the same kind of mental operation is being performed today by the Greeks, who are enduring heavy criticism from other countries – particularly Germany – for being so lax in managing their financial affairs. These criticisms are prompting some truly unbelievable reactions. For instance, Reuters reported this morning on an interview given by the Greek Deputy Prime Minister on BBC Radio that completely jumps the shark in terms of ministerial idiocy. After employing a kind of everybody-else-was-doing-it excuse for Greek financial woes, the Deputy PM then turned his vitriol upon the Germans, basically proclaiming that they had no right to criticize – because of World War Two! Yes, you read that right. The choicest quotations:

“They took away the Greek gold that was at the Bank of Greece, they took away the Greek money and they never gave it back. This is an issue that has to be faced sometime in the future. I don’t say they have to give back the money necessarily but they have at least to say ‘thanks’. And they shouldn’t complain so much about stealing and not being very specific about economic dealings.”

Welcome to the Greek version of The Great Alibi.