Trash arguments

As there are now less than two weeks prior to the elections, the online squabbles never seem to cease. On one occasion, I couldn't contain my disappointment and started a comment war with one user from our online buy and sell group. I called her out for posting political issues on a platform that was supposedly for small entrepreneurs. She answered me with a note saying that even the market place is a place for politics.

While she has her own point to raise, I still don’t find it ethical to use other fora as an avenue to discuss politics. Not even to make it as a tool to destroy others' candidates. At this point in the campaign season, spliced videos and manipulative memes still continue to reign over fake pages and accounts. They try to control the narrative with the elements of production work that are tailored for one to be convinced. When that happens, the truth is buried in only God-knows-where.

The arguments raised by supporters are not even valid. Most of them, and I apologize for this, are trash. Literally trash. For example, there were edited photos on the Uniteam's post-rally in Cebu at the South Road Properties vis-a-vis the Leni-Kiko's post-rally at Mandaue city. The uploaders wanted to prove their point that one camp is better because there was no garbage seen after the event. As if trash is a basis for good governance. As if these people who make a big fuss out of trash also take their garbage out for the trucks to collect. While the saying of cleanliness is next to godliness makes sense, it is a petty argument to bank on when we can just take up our arms and pick up the trash ourselves.

In less than two weeks, the hours spent on social media fighting is time wasted. There is no use waging war against a misinformation army that feeds on the gullible minds of the Filipinos. The way to convince people otherwise is through the natural way, face to face, human to human. It is in this method where we are able to see the eyes of the common Filipino and the discussion is made real. There are no emojis that serve as weapons nor .gif images. The discourse is real, tough, and genuine.

I remember back in college and high school, our different parties made a room-to-room campaign to advance their platforms. Now that social media campaigning has been really toxic, it seems like we can all put this practice into good use. There is no point past trash arguments. Again, we are in it for a leader who has a track record, a heart to serve, and the passion for the country. If we have to argue about anything, it would be about our candidate's stand on the different issues hounding the country; food supply, sovereignty, press freedom, prices of basic commodities, and the like.