Ministers of the Spanish Government and commentators from their ideological area praised the angry concentration of university students who, proclaiming the slogan
Shortly before the elections, the Complutense was sponsoring Ayuso: it was not an elegant distinction, certainly. But once again, the rejection crystallized in the form of an escrache or siege. For many of those who oppose Ayuso, the hatred against her is ethically justified. She deserves to be treated with anger.
Pedro Sánchez also receives constant vilification. The right-wing press in Madrid, from the most extreme to the supposedly liberal, describes him as the incarnation of evil. It is claimed that his government is illegitimate and that he sells the country to his destroyers to stay in office. Sánchez is hated even more than Zapatero, who had already broken all records for contempt. He is the personification of Anti-Spain. To coincide with the King, he arrived a few minutes late for the October 12 parade. But he did not forgive him for the whistles and scorn that come to him every year in this circumstance, coming from the guest boxes at the event (many of them military relatives).
From the shouting, an insult stood out: squatter. The Moncloa squatter. More than an illegitimate president, Sánchez is a usurper. A thief. The right-wing press was amused by his delay and glossed over the catcalls and insults that had erupted from the official guest area.
We could cite hundreds of similar examples. I am convinced that the procés would not have taken place without the prior demonization of the adversaries. The taunts against the Iglesias-Montero family might not have taken place without those that Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría received before.
Two vices have been normalized in politics and journalism: 1. Anything goes against the adversary, turned into an enemy. 2. Although all sides attack each other bitterly and unceremoniously, none of them renounces playing the victim when the attacker is from their own side.
Social networks have promoted these two vices to paroxysm while helping to fragment society into impermeable ideological tribes. Tribal conflict is becoming addictive. The same thing happens in all other western countries. In the United States, the civil war has ceased to be a memory to become a possibility. Since each side explicitly aspires to crush the adversary, some ask: is democracy in danger?
The ancient Greeks distinguished between Demos and Oclós. Demos appeals to the nation of responsible citizens, who love their country, care about it, take care of it. Oclós means “mass, crowd”. When collective life depended on a visceral mass, the Greeks spoke of ochlocracy. The manipulable, instinctive, furious mass. Clashing crowds. We are an ochlocracy. At this rate, we will never reach democracy.
