Mendacious, incompetent, evasive and dull

Suppose we invent a Ruritanian character called Erik Merstar who after a successful legal career enters the Ruritanian political arena. Via rapid promotion  he manages to become party leader then after a fortuitous collapse of the governing party he becomes Grand Minister of Ruritania.

Unfortunately for the people of Ruritania, Erik Merstar turns out to be mendacious, incompetent, evasive and dull. Suppose we try to find out why that is by considering his upbringing, beliefs, character and personal circumstances.

We might begin by asking people who know him quite well. They generally say he is intelligent, quite personable away from the political arena and committed to the heavy responsibilities of Grand Minister. Others say he is rather odd and inclined to be cold at times, but nothing out of the ordinary, yet they are part of his social circle with all that this implies.

We might go on to ask a few pundits from various sections of the Ruritanian media and political spectrum. As expected, they give differing views about his ideology and motives, some saying he has no ideology and his motives tend to be swayed by the strongest consensus. Ruritanian pundits prefer to maintain a consistent narrative though, what they say has to bear some relation to what they say more generally and have said in the past.

Other pundits say Erik Merstar is an ideologue with a strongly globalist outlook which doesn’t necessarily put Ruritania at the centre of political debates. They say this ideology is rooted in his days as a student radical while doing his law degree at Ruritania State University. These pundits prefer to maintain a consistent narrative too though.

Yet what Ruritanian people still see is a mendacious, incompetent, evasive and dull Grand Minister. That’s it for Erik, there is nothing deeper, it’s all there on the surface. Apart from what we see, we just have stories about character and influences, but they are just stories which vary significantly depending on the storyteller.

Mendacious, incompetent, evasive and dull – beyond the stories that’s it.