The Great Unmasking: From Athletics Track to Reality TV

When writing an article as ‘The Great Unmasking’, the question arises as to which category it belongs. Is it Politics, now that The Hague is described and plans by politicians (see image Rob Jetten, PM The Netherlands) are dismissed with a grain of ‘AI Salt’ sausage, or is it culture, because we actually expect nothing other than the entertainment that befalls us daily? Be that as it may; I choose culture and consider it a privilege to witness how AI is sweeping through the current structure and its representatives.

The Great Unmasking: From Athletics Track to Reality TV

An early morning musing on politics, the citizen, and the AI ​​centrifuge

It is a persistent assertion in the media and public debate: governing the Netherlands today is supposedly a virtually impossible task due to the ‘major challenges’ and the omnipresent uncertainty. But who is this ‘we’ that finds itself in uncertainty? Is it the citizens, or is it the caste of ideologists with their political account managers? 

After all, politics has been running laps on an athletics track for decades. One way or another; ultimately, one always looks at the back of the next runner. It is a relay race, a cabaret that has long failed to mobilize the citizens. The stage for protesting has passed.

The real unrest among the administrators, therefore, does not stem from the so-called societal challenges. The real panic strikes due to the sudden realization that AI as a tool unmasks the very purpose of running laps. While the runners on the track toil for their lap times, the stands empty. The citizen no longer sits watching, but shares knowledge, draws inspiration from AI, and simply turns their back on politics as irrelevant. The ‘major challenges’ turn out to be ordinary management issues; the real challenge is the looming irrelevance of the entire political theater.

Yet this unmasking does not lead to a hard break or active revolution. There is no question of coercion in our culture. The Binnenhof belongs to the Netherlands, just like the King and a beer with a guitar in the park. The Hague still embodies us, but the nature of the fascination has changed. What binds the citizen and the politician today is existential doubt about AI: will it cost jobs, and will unattainable new structures emerge?

It is precisely in that uncertainty that the Binnenhof becomes the ultimate equalizer. The citizen watches with fascination as politics attempts to set up ‘centrifuge lines’ around AI, while the technology mercilessly ‘cancels’ its own ideological ambitions. Shooting oneself in the foot: If AI writes policy and calculates scenarios more efficiently than an entire ministry, the purpose of traditional representative democracy is the first thing to disappear.

The citizen fearing for their own job sees live on television how those in power are confronted with exactly the same irrelevance. The mystique of power dissolves.

With this, the Binnenhof has been transformed into the highest form of reality TV. It no longer has any direct utility for the future, but it does entertain. We watch the melting process of the system just as we watch a good series. There is no revolution with a bang; the system dissolves into the soft landing of total entertainment value, while the citizens absorb the technology into their own culture.

And now, with a sharp mind and thoughts in order: put on your boots and head to the barn. The cows won’t wait for the outcome of the centrifuge. Get to work for today!

This article cannot be interpreted as an attack on a politician, nor understood as a complete denial of the usefulness of a parliament and its right of representation of the citizens in a democracy. It is understandable that representatives are losing sleep because centuries-old forms of government and associated transitional structures are being shattered, while not even a start has been made on an integration model in which the AI and the elected representative must play a major role in conjunction.