AC for Me, Not for Thee
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The weather forecast for my area predicts 38 degrees C (over 100 Fahrenheit) on Thursday. I really hope that we will not have any power interruptions, as surviving without air-conditioning (AC) at such temperature (and fairly high humidity, characteristic of the East Coast) is problematic. Interestingly, the cooling system of my PC shuts down at about the same temperature level as the cooling system of my brain.
Of course, things are much worse in Europe, where most buildings entirely lack AC. This is one of the reasons we avoid Europe in summer. In this blog, I’ve commented on the delusional nature of the European leadership (for example, here), which is an important proximate factor driving Europe to become an “asabiya black hole”. The current heat wave, which has already killed thousands of people, is the most recent “shock” to the system, which reveals how screwed up Europe is (by “Europe” I primarily mean the European Union).
As an illustration of this point, consider the recent scandal having to do with the building where the headquarters of the European Commission are located.
The Berlaymont building in Brussels, seat of the European Commission
According to the reporting by Politico,
The European Commission’s headquarters was forced to shut down its air-conditioning system on Friday due to the heat wave.
Staff working at the Berlaymont building received a text at midday, reading: “BERL — URGENT — Due to extreme weather conditions, forced shut down of air cooling system from floor 1 to 7 for the rest of the day.”
The 13-story building is home to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, her 26 commissioners and about 3,000 staff. Von der Leyen works on the 13th floor, and most of her commissioners’ offices are housed on floors eight or above.
Belgium and much of Europe have been sweltering for the past week, with record-breaking temperatures.
The Commission issued guidance for its staff earlier this week, which included avoiding going outside at the hottest times of day, drinking water regularly and starting work earlier.
But the advice angered some Commission staff who work in buildings without air-conditioning, including DG AGRI, according to internal communications seen by POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook.
“It’s like feudalism,” a Commission official working on a lower level of the Berlaymont, granted anonymity to speak freely, told POLITICO on Friday, referring to the fact that upper floors housing commissioners got to keep their AC on.
Indeed. While technologically our modern societies are completely different from medieval kingdoms, we have not moved very far in political organization. Despite being ostensibly a democratic society, EU is governed by a small elite not that different from the one that ruled the Holy Roman Empire. Remember, the Emperor was an elective office. But just as medieval lords, who cared little for the peasants, the European political elites have a similar disdain for the common people. Rank translates into privilege — today just as in the thirteenth century.