The malaise goes to the polls

We are emotional bugs.

How many times do we relapse into uneven friendships, ungrateful love, or toxic fascinations!

It also happens in politics, says the Franco-Israeli sociologist Eva Illouz, and it is convenient not to lose sight of her notes in an election year, because the link between emotion and votes flickers like a beacon.

Why we choose options that hurt democracy was one of the questions that Illouz addressed in Madrid, in dialogue with the psychologist Edgar Cabanas, at the Conde Duque Center for Contemporary Culture.

The author of

has just published in France

, a title that Katz will publish in Spanish at the end of the year.

Eva Illouz's new book, "Les émotions contre la démocratie", focuses on politics and analyzes different aspects of charismatic leadership.

/ Clarín Archive

Every current populist leader, affirms Illouz, calls himself democratic, but

.

In his essay, he compares populism to a worm that grows quietly inside an apple.

The populist game is to "keep people voting and empty the rest";

hence its danger, he defined in Conde Duque.

"Populism is a Trojan Horse."

Left and right changed their roles, alert Illouz.

The left is not perceived as transgressive: "it has become boring and disciplinarian. The left today is the adult in the room; the one that tells you, 'don't do this because in the future it will hurt you.'"

Examples?

Policies of deprivation in favor of the environment to alleviate climate change.

Meanwhile,

and a certain right wing with disruptive language (Trump in the US and Netanyahu in Israel were their examples, but we can think of someone closer), grows by channeling "a feeling of anger".

This book puts the magnifying glass on politics but Illouz always reflects on emotions and the way in which technology and uncertainty modify relationships.

The "utopia of romantic love will remain with us for a while longer", he guarantees her, however.

As?

In the face of so much discomfort and anxiety,

seems to be "more crucial than in the past, even though the conditions to achieve it are much more difficult."

Already in 2001, Drexler made that song mantra: "I carry your smile as a flag, and whatever it is".