The wave of politicians caught after inflating their curriculum or that they have corrected after the case of Noelia Núñez seems to stop growing. The resignation of the already popular leader, who maintained three false versions of his training on different websites, has acted as revulsive and is splashing the summer of cases of politicians who lie, exaggerate or bulge their professional profiles. And that without needing it strictly: their positions are by direct designation or vote of citizens and are not associated with academic requirements. So why do they falsify them?
Behind, beat a social, cultural and professional context that, in practice, ends up imposing this type of academic demands. “A priori in the case of the political class it would not be necessary to have a university degree, but there is more and more this mandate of at least a minimum of training to exercise certain positions,” explains Óscar Prieto-Flores, Sociologist of Education and professor of the University of Girona. The expert believes that what “is not bad” in some cases such as that of the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who abandoned his studies in Harvard, “in others as in the political sphere there is that social pressure.”
The point is that those who lie end up putting the interest of showing the rest what they are not or have in front of the truth. “They are public characters and want to present themselves as solvents and that they are able to manage well. If you add to that they will be exposed, they will already look at them, this effect occurs. We could say that it is the exposed ego that tries to justify that it is prepared for what it says it will do,” summarizes Guillermo Fauce, a doctor in psychology and professor at the Complutense University of Madrid (UC).
It is the exposed ego that tries to justify that he is prepared for what he says he will do
Guillermo fauce
— Doctor in Psychology and Professor of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM)
Noelia Núñez, who gave the unusual step of resigning for this reason on July 23, was not the first or the last to gain her curriculum, but recently two more resignations joined her: those of the socialist of the Valencian Community Jose María Ángel and that of the Extremadura counselor with PP and Vox Ignacio Higuero. The list of politicians who included for years academic merits that they did not possess has been growing over the days and in it are also the president of the Senate, Pedro Rollán, or that of the Popular Party of Navarra, Javier García Jiménez.
These are the latest examples, but cases of caught politicians have accumulated for years. One of the first was Luis Roldán, former general director of the Civil Guard with Felipe González, who presumed a degree and a master's degree he did not have. The Madrid former president Cristina Cifuentes obtained a master falsifying notes, as we revealed at eldiario.es, and the former president of the PP Pablo Casado took a master's degree without studying it and boasted a postgraduate degree in Harvard that it really was a four -day course. The former socialist minister Carmen Montón obtained another master plagiarizing part of her final work.
The “banality of lies”
“There is an attempt to project in a competitive context in which more and more capacity and experience must be shown and in which the rest of citizens are required broad degrees and a lot of experience” to access positions and jobs, says Fauce. However, this framework is common and no one is alien to him, but not everyone lies. “Almost everyone at least tries to beautifully put their curriculum and present yourself in the best possible way, but that is one thing and another is to lie and raise, for example, a degree that one does not have. This is a red line, it cannot be that they lie to us because that means that the system has broken,” says Fauces.
Who undermines these values will be able to do it with others at any time, because he will always believe that ethical rules can skip lying
Arash Arjomandi
— philosopher
The philosopher Aash Arjomandi also focuses on this issue and, using Hannah Arendt's popular expression, refers to the “banality of lies.” Arjomandi believes that the phenomenon of falsifying professional profiles being a public representative “is a consequence” of what he calls “anthropological myopia” by not taking into account that veracity and transparency “are supreme values” that “support all others.” “Who undermines these values will be able to do it with others at any other time because he will always believe that ethical norms can be skipped.”
The philosopher also mentions other factors, among them, that “the profession of politics is attracting and absorbing professionals who do not have the level or qualification” but that “feel they should” show themselves to the rest and refers to how “the search for public recognition has been aggravated due to social networks.”
Demanding a title is a way to reduce our democracy, because it is not only based on the fact that everyone has the right to vote but to be chosen
In this sense, the professor of the Public University of Navarra Sergio García Magariño sent a few days ago to the “excessive posture” that comes to “break even the limits of decency and truthfulness” and that is a consequence of “a type of society in which the truth almost does not matter, only the image and appearance.”
THE DEBATE OF THE TITLES
After the wave of academic lies, another debate also emerges: that of the relevance of demanding university titles or academic training to those who make up the political parties or electoral lists for elections. In this sense, the entrepreneur and founder of the Sannas Association, María Álvarez, refers to this in this article in which he positioned himself against. “Politics was supposed to, unlike work interviews, was a form of representation, not a contest of merits,” says the columnist, which provides data such as only 41% of the population in Spain has higher training (48% between 18 and 25 years).
Prieto-Flores coincides and ensures that this filter is, in practice, “a deprivation to exercise a political or representation” to people who “have no studies.” “Although I understand the dilemmas that arise, it is a way to reduce our democracy because it is not only based on the fact that everyone has the right to vote but to be chosen,” says the sociologist, who believes that less politicians would falsify their merits if they were not demanded. What the teacher defends is the need for representatives to be in teams “with highly qualified professionals who guide elected politicians.”
Politicians must be very prepared and high -level people, they must have a very solid academic training and experience, in addition to vocation. In practice, it is what we ask any other professional in any other sector
ARASH ARJOMANDI Over opposes. “Politicians must be very prepared and high -level people, they must have a very solid academic training and experience, in addition to vocation. In practice, it is what we ask any other professional in any other sector. But, in addition, politics is essential for the development of societies and those who exercise it are managing and managing vital issues and affecting millions of people,” believes the philosopher, which rules out to see it “as an elite” “The doctor who has some different studies but that he has had to train for that.”
In what all voices coincide is the need to implement control and transparency mechanisms. “It would be basic and necessary as in other processes that there were ways of corroboration of the titles they say,” says Prieto-Flores. “The system must be more supervisory so that you cannot lie and, if lied, it is detected in time,” adds Arjomandi.
