Rise and Fall of Mama’s Boys
Stephen Bartulica is a Croatian parliament representative on the conservative side of the isle. He’s a member of the Domovinski Pokret (Homeland Movement), the party with the same target audience like right-wing bozos Nigel Farage and Marjorie Taylor Greene. The kind of populist who may be against gender ideology, but missed a few spelling lessons in school if his “idealogy” slogans are anything to go by. At the moment, he’s getting grilled by mainstream media after admitting that his mother is subsidising his family’s finances though he’s already over 50.
To say he’s become a laughing stock of social media and liberals who collectively rejoice for finding another reason to mock conservatives. Some took out their calculators and came up with a humiliating result: after deducing mortgage payments, he’s left with less than 40 Euros to cover the daily expenses of his family. Before you wet yourself from laughing, there are a lot more layers in this financial lasagna than it seems at first sight. What followed was his public statement detailing the background and sources of his finances. While there’s a reason to assume a shady dimension to the income of current political figures in the Balkans, it’s more likely that the scandal triggered so much outrage because his parents were footing the bill for sonny boy’s everyday life.
While his political doctrine is stupid at best and a downright mindfuck at worst, laughing at his ride on mommy’s checkbook is hypocritical in the cultural context of the Balkans. The number of people I’m related to or friends with who live either with their parents or in inherited real estate is huge. Being scandalised by Bartulica’s situation doesn’t work if you’re one of these people. You’re gonna cry whataboutism? Go ahead, that’s my point exactly. While in many other parts of the world kids are incentivised to leave home as early as possible or make a living on their own buck and dime as soon as they are able to, that’s not how it works here.
Call it grifting or love, sometimes it’s difficult to tell the difference. Children are introduced into the family business or settle in a multigenerational household which has its perks, like free babysitting even if you don’t necessarily live under the same roof. People who are now having a field day with these embarrassing reveals should have a look in the mirror. All of them profit in some way from their parents and other immediate relatives even if they aren’t nepo babies like Jaden Smith. Either through inheritance or small everyday gestures that might not feel like much but they’re raising your quality of life without you having explicitly asked for it. The other day I got a bag full of delicious cherries from my sister in law’s garden. I can afford to buy them but that’s not the point.
It means I don’t have to because we’re family. Cherries aren’t a down payment for a house but the principle is the same. Parents have done worse for their children than what Bartulica’s mother did for him. I don’t need to vote for him nor would I. As someone who’s living in my family home without paying rent, apart from utilities, I’m calling bullshit on those on moral high horses looking down at him. Every time you accept your family’s favour or a service you’d otherwise have to pay for, you’re a nepo adult. I don’t care if your parents live in a mansion or a small suburban plot, it comes down to the same thing. You’re likely to get into the bakery business if your parents have one: they laid out the groundwork so you don’t have to. Just keep the wheels of it turning and don’t waste money.
There were people calling out his ignorance, hubris and corruption. They opined about brainwashed wackos fuelling his success due to their propensity to elevate the worst embodiments of human nature as something aspirational. It’s almost a carbon copy of the ammunition used by progressives in America and Great Britain. Of course, the lack of a serious reputational setback is another expected similarity. Those who love the guy will continue to do so whatever happens. For the rest it’s nothing but a brief dopamine shot and material for journalists in need of an idea before the deadline. It’s what you’d call low-hanging fruit. Many politicians associated with the movement also paint LGBT issues as the EU-induced boogeyman that’s about to lure your kid on the dark side of the rainbow.
The movement shares a deeply emotional connection to Christian nationalism. Its American equivalent found its cause in book-burning paranoia that’s not familiar from the history books only to those who didn’t learn anything from them. Or at least not what tends to follow after certain books start disappearing from the library shelves. That’s an another familiar phenomenon, as the very same thing happened in Croatia after the fall of Yugoslavia, where massive amounts of books by Serbian authors or in Cyrillic script were thrown away as if it were the pest. They then found their way to flea market where you can now buy some valuable pieces for basically nothing. The same is true of other vintage stuff.
You could also say that Bartulica’s party is as close as it gets to Michael Gove’s UKIP in the UK or the Tea Party in America. With the difference that this guy definitely isn’t a hockey mum. Yet he seems to have a brain as thick as a hockey puck. His mum wasn’t particularly delighted by the hoohah that stubbornly refuses to go away. It turned him into the favourite punch bag of many who are distressed about the current state of affairs in national politics. At the last national election, one of the most prominent left-wing parties took a severe blow that left it shattered to pieces in many places outside the big urban centers like the capital city. That’s not really a surprise because in patriarchal, conservative cultures, there’s only so far you can go with policies and rhetorics appealing to middle class hipsters.
Whatever we make of the main character in this embarassing little tale, it won’t make too much of a difference because many do live this kind of life. Their parents support them when help is needed. You can call it family values. When it happens on highest social levels it’s less consequential. Privilege shields you from the repercussions of your misdemeanours. The opposite is rather an exception. It reminds me of a Seinfeld episode where George tramples women and children to save himself from a fire hazard. He’s merely shamed by the firefighter for his selfishness. While this guy might be up for more, don’t be surprised if it just fades away. Others got away with worse. While they’re in a public limbo, they’re still far from prison. Until that changes, mama’s boys have nothing to worry abou
