March 8, 2010

How much are you willing to sacrifice for the sake of your political beliefs?

Text by Ruth Manimtim-Floresca

To imply that certain persons are supporting a candidate simply based on their emotions, and not with their brains, is insulting. We all have our reasons for supporting the advocacy of certain hopefuls. But it is very wrong to assume that others are dimwits just because they do not agree with our points of view.

Heck, I have friends who support a couple of presidential candidates I will never consider voting for. But I respect whatever they want to post on their Facebook walls that speak about this or that achievement of those candidates. I am pretty sure that they are advocating for things they believe to be true. And they have every right to do that. What’s the purpose of campaigning after all if not to lift up your nominees in the eyes of others, right?

The same way, I have been posting links to articles that speak positively of my chosen candidates. Unfortunately, I have seen others focusing more on smear campaigning rather than touting the accomplishments of their own preferred contenders.

I’m sure most of us all have the same desire, to see the Philippines rise above corruption so that our children and the succeeding generations would have a brighter future. There is no doubt about that.

Still, as early as now, three months before the election, I have already seen rifts form between family members and friends due to election-related disagreements. I can’t help but wonder where will we all find ourselves at after May 10?

Tell me, what then?

Is it worth throwing away relationships just to forcefully drive home what we believe is true? How about the other people who also trust their judgment as sound? Can’t we at least make an effort to campaign for our selected candidates without offending those close to us?

Sure, go ahead and say all the nice things you can say about your candidates. You are very much encouraged to do so. But to force your beliefs and keep spreading dirt about other people’s chosen nominees so that they would also accept without question what you personally believe, is not leaving them any room for thought. To wit, you are treating them as incapable of deciding for themselves. Give them enough credit to research things on their own and form their own opinions.

If you truly believe that your candidates deserve to be elected, then go and campaign for them with every fiber of your being – flaunt their achievements to the high heavens as much as possible. If people become convinced by virtue of those positive things, well and good; but if they’re not, you have still done your part as a loyal advocate.

Many speak about having “political maturity” and engaging in “intelligent discussions”. But, if you keep on passionately insisting and focusing on the negative things about other people’s candidates, and including annoying comments about other people not using their brains, aren’t you more likely to earn animosity rather than support? Think about it.

Let’s relinquish that job to the already hundreds of websites and thousands of articles being churned out by highly paid webmasters and writers that we don’t have any personal connections to. Let them incur the ire or praise of their readers while we preserve our relationships with the people who should matter more before it’s too late.

Just my two cents …

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of HerWord or BusinessWorld.

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