I love American wrestling but most of it happens to be faked, although sometimes the impression is that those famous big men in America are fighting in earnest. The picture in our local political life is totally different.
It is more fun to watch our political biggies in the ring than the American wrestlers, because our politicians wrestle too, and there is nothing fake in their wrestling. Our toughies usually go for real. Yes, they wrestle! Not figuratively! They wrestle in the physical meaning of the word, and they are demanding a wider arena, never confining their parrying bouts to a simple wrestling ring. They rather do it on parliamentary floors, in downtown streets and on the television too for the public to better observe the enticing details of their frequent battles. They are also far more creative and versatile in their athletic skills – they wrestle, they box, they kick, they twist arms, and they swear out-loud right into each other’s faces into the bargain. Isn’t this interesting! You don’t even have to go and purchase an expensive ticket for watching our political animals fight. Just sprawl on your beloved comfy sofa in front of your TV screen, get yourself supplied with several bags of your favorite crackers and a couple of nice beers, and enjoy the show of Georgia’s political giants squashing each other’s mugs. All this – on a rather jovial note! If seriously, I definitely suspect that the nervous system of some of the politicians in this country needs immediate therapy. Otherwise, there is enough evidence to believe that they will not only injure each other but will harm the reputation of the Georgian politics in general and damage the good name of the entire nation too. The bungling politicians, who often go physical with their colleagues from the opposite side of the aisle, usually justify the blunder or the foul slip of the tongue with blaming the opponent in the provocative conversational tone, triggering a physical reaction or a bad language. This is classic! ‘I was provoked’ – these would be the universal utterance, used for justifying a politician’s faulty action, absence of tact, screaming, banging of hands on the desk, getting hysterical, smashing whatever object might be handy at the moment, and finally, using the fists. I have seen the legislators and members of government of other countries getting emotional, whistling, making noise, using some choice epithets, sounding stentorian, energetically gesticulating, menacingly finger-pointing at an opponent and even swooning over the lectern, but I can hardly recollect the politicians, so readily beating each other black-and-blue right in front of the public, the public which had once elected them to lead the nation. The only question which is persistently trying to elicit itself is if a trusted politician can afford being a ridiculous idiot who cannot even make a peaceful and judicious discussion with an opponent even if the opponent is presenting himself as a barefaced enemy. Why a politician of that ilk should occupy a responsible post, directly affecting the fates of his fellow citizens? Maybe because it does not matter at all what kind of incumbent politicians we have – how significant a country are we after all to ask of a politician to be that solid?