Pandora’s depressing déjà vu
I must admit that I’m finding the whole Pandora Papers thing a bit depressing, despite my best efforts not to. Five years ago, the Panama Papers exposed wrongdoing by rich and powerful people. Then the Paradise Papers exposed wrongdoing by rich and powerful people. And now, here we are in 2021, it seems rich and powerful people are still doing wrong, and nothing has been done about it by anyone capable of doing so.
It feels a little bit like being punched in the nose by a procession of strangers, and gradually coming to the realization that the police officer over there isn’t helping because he hasn’t noticed, or that he doesn’t care, but because he’s on their payroll.
Even the name chosen by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists is a bit grim. I appreciate they wanted to keep to the alliterative theme established by the two previous giant data dumps, but Pandora really doesn’t help my mood.
- “We call the project Pandora Papers because this collaboration builds upon the legacy of the Panama and Paradise Papers, and the ancient myth of Pandora’s Box still evokes an outpouring of trouble and woe,” the ICIJ explained.
Trouble and woe. Great, just what 2021 needs more of.