If politics and football are alike in something, it is that the two hobbies, because few are professionally dedicated to one or the other guild, bring out the worst in citizens on social networks. As for the king sport, Twitter has been flooded with controversial images, until this Sunday when the national competition ended. Missed penalties or requests for red cards that don’t come out of the referee’s pocket have been commonplace in a turbulent season. There have also been accusations of bribed referees but, deep down, the fan considers them to be isolated incidents and continues to go every weekend to his stadium or pay for his football TV channel. There is a majority belief in the system.
A similar thing happens with politics. Social networks draw the bile of tweeters when, for example, the future mayor of Valencia, MarÃa José Catalá, announces this same week that she has become a mother and introduces her son Francesc. “Francisco, mason”, an anonymous person told him. The problem comes when the political system is called into question from a group with influence and practically everything begins to be questioned.
Two events have happened these days in the networks that should set off the alarms and, even if they don’t have to happen, make their promoters rectify. One was the accusation of electoral fraud launched by some conservative sectors on the occasion of the last meeting with the polls. At the closing ceremony of the last campaign, the president of Madrid, DÃaz Ayuso, went so far as to say about Sánchez: “He will leave the way he arrived, with an attempt to hide”. The unfortunate news about vote-by-mail fraud was the breeding ground for this dangerous speech.
The second fact refers to the holding of general elections on July 23, in the middle of summer and, moreover, the Santiago Bridge. It was also circulated that the current Government was trying to commit an alleged “fraud” for the chosen date. Yes, it is true that there is a health risk, mainly for the older members of the electoral months and in areas with higher temperatures; but from there to talking about an attempt at electoral martingale there is a line that it would be better not to cross.
Both are dangerous claims for trust in the democratic system. Questioning it is a real risk: it generates anti-systems. The political scientist Lluis Orriols said yesterday in these pages that “dark times are approaching, times of confrontation”. Therefore, light and clarity are needed. And no more muddying the field.
