‘There is ample reason to expect that the incoming administration will attract protest rallies like sugar attracts ants, perhaps more than the outgoing administration ever did.’
THINGS are beginning to quiet down, on social media as well as in day-to-day life (thank God). Many people have taken down posters and streamers and stickers that used to adorn their cars and houses (I took down the streamers around my house in Laguna on Election Day itself), and, except for those who had their property walls painted with murals, sooner or later we will have no more visual reminder that we just came from a divisive campaign that ended in a massive landslide for one party.
The reminders will be emotional/mental, unless you had a tat of your candidate’s ballot number. But that can be tattooed over as well if you so desire.
Of course, there still are numerous posts on social media from supporters of one candidate who confess to having a difficult time in accepting the results. A few friends of mine have actually cut themselves off from social media (for how long I don’t know); others continue to use it to express the various stages of grief they are going through (DABDA, remember?)
One friend who has had a considerable following due to his science related posts announced his exit from posting — only to be back a few days later; I guess he missed the interaction with his followers and fans? Because, let’s face it, social media can be addicting.
Thankfully, I haven’t seen any of my friends from the winning side gloating on social media, and I hope they wouldn’t do so anyway – especially in public.
One does not put salt on wounds ever. There’s a law of karma.
But the dialing down of static makes me wonder: is this the calm before the storm?
There is ample reason to expect that the incoming administration will attract protest rallies like sugar attracts ants, perhaps more than the outgoing administration ever did. With the collapse of many party-list groups associated with the Left, there is now enough reason for cadres to take to the streets and “paint the town red” with slogans the way they used to do.
Even remnants of the “yellow army” who have now suffered two straight electoral rejections have every reason to be noisy, if only to remain in the public consciousness. The overwhelming defeat in 2022 threatens to make them irrelevant if they do not remain active, and they will not be wanting for issues anyway.
On the other hand, the overwhelming mandate will act like a wet blanket over any hopes and dreams of instigating a bigger segment of the population into protest action, at least in the short term. I suspect that many Filipino voters will not look kindly upon people who will act like all they want to do is bring the government to its knees. There will be a certain honeymoon period for the 31 million or so who voted to support the presumptive President and Vice President and this the 15 million who were outvoted just take into serious consideration.
Actually, rather than encourage protest actions this early in the term, the losing side would be better off returning to the drawing boards and chucking out the window the 2019 and 2022 playbooks it used.
Then again, sometimes it is far easier for a losing side to blame its defeat on everything but the simple fact that it misread its target audience, and that, at bottom, the campaign messages were not representative of the hopes and dreams and aspirations of the voting public.
Misdiagnosing the reasons for such a massive and overwhelming rejection may in fact be the real calm before the storm.
