Editorial: Answers

Certain questions are difficult to answer, but that does not mean they should not be posed.

What exactly is going on in Greek society?

Of late, a number of hair-raising incidents have surfaced – the recent, cold-blooded murder of 19-year-old Alkis by members of a football fan club (photo, memorial), the revelations about a hell-hole old-age home where the elderly were severely abused in Chania, Crete, and the murder of a seven-year-old in the Athens neighbourhood of Kypseli with the subsequent cover-up, wound society.

Violence, which has been much discussed over the past few years as a political phenomenon, has taken on a different form. It may not be a tool of confrontation or indicative of a new crisis, but that does not mean it is less dangerous.

The pandemic did not strengthen the necessary defences. All that has happened and come to light recently demonstrates that violence has seeped into the core of society. Becoming accustomed to it leads to more blood and makes it easier to shut one’s eyes and mouth and turn the other way.

When a heinous crime comes to light and as long as the klieg lights of publicity focus on it, expressions of shock and horror abound. Yet, the “bad moment” when a crime is committed is neither unforeseeable nor unavoidable.

How many more lives must be lost for us to decide that something must change?

The answers are difficult, but deep down we know them. Perhaps the time has come for us to articulate them loudly.