This Has To Stop

THIS HAS TO STOP

By Anton Antonio

August 8, 2015

Facebook remains to be the most popular social media platform nowadays.  It’s the ideal venue to spread goodwill and strengthen family and friendship ties.  Advertisers have also acknowledged the huge market potential of this social networking site.

Political parties, operators and handlers are also taking advantage of Facebook to spread information about their candidates and their political adversaries as well.  As expected, information on their candidates will be managed to be all good while all bad for the opposing candidates.  Why is this so?  Let’s consider the political potential of Facebook.  There are about 38 million Facebook users in the Philippines.  Eighty five percent of the 38 million are of voting age so there should be 32.3 million Facebook-using voters out there.  And 32.3 million potential voter catch is just too tempting for politicians not to dig their hands into.

There really is nothing wrong in using social media for any purpose… including political purposes for that matter.  (In fact, it is even being used by terrorist groups to recruit additional personnel.)  Candidates are even engaging the services of marketing experts and computer graphic artists to come up with the best infomercials.  Sadly, however, these are the same people who create the image-demeaning visuals for the opponents of their patrons.  (Please see accompanying screen-grabbed image from Facebook.)  But it seems like this practice has gone overboard this early and will become nastier during the official campaign period.  Official campaigning has not even started and would-be candidates have not even filed their certificates of candidacy but things are beginning to take a turn for the worse.  The vilification and image-wrecking is already in full throttle. 

Lately, Facebook is oozing with so much negative materials about presidential frontrunners.  This makes a voter wonder if he is forced to inevitably choose from a basket of rotten apples.  There are two critical considerations that candidates will have to contend with:  (1) That there is a “tipping” point for bad publicity… at some point trash being thrown by a candidate will eventually backfire on him; and, (2) That social media netizens are an opinionated lot and no amount of political advertising and evangelizing could sway them.  The Facebook population could see through the trash and discern if they are already being taken for a ride.  It will be an error to push mudslinging beyond a certain threshold.  Netizens, at present, are still entertained by the negative information circus… but, at a certain point, they will get annoyed by it.

Campaign strategies should, at the very least, revolve around the governance qualification and competence of a candidate.  Mudslinging may be part of the political entertainment… but, again, at a certain point, this has to stop.

Thoughts to promote positive action…

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