Whether in Brazil, Portugal or China —which does not have democracy, but it may one day—everyone exaggerates a lot on the eve of voting. But never as much as now.
In second-round elections, like the one that is coming, when it would be more important than ever to know how to communicate, no one can even talk. Not even about what you agree on. Better keep your mouth shut.
It is true that the messages in a political campaign are always an impoverishment of speech. But it was never so poor, so empty, so sad and so grotesque. The objective is no longer to inform; just make hate.
Everyone says it out loud. Scream in black and white: He’s good, he’s bad. He is with me or against me. My God, he’s the Devil—capitalized names. No more shades of gray, rainbow colors or musical scales. The sound is a single note, which is equivalent to none. Conversation worthy of the deaf. Only past, no futures.
On the eve of this second round, nobody manages to produce joy that calms the rage of everyday life. Manichaeism took over words and imprisoned time. No questioning.
Friends get weird. Even mine—especially mine. Those who always called me just to chat, exchange an idea, chat or laugh, no longer do that. They just send messages. Those, you know? Videos and photographs. Memes and infographics. All screaming some unquestionable truth, loud and resounding, in my ear. Without wanting to know what I think, what I know or if that message was repeated to me a thousand times.
We’re not talking anymore. There is no conversation. For fear of the answer, we don’t ask any more questions. We just assert our side. Be it sweet or salty. Invertebrate cephalopod or banana cannibal. Nobody wants to understand anything anymore.
Single thought, mandatory meaning, without the right to contradictory. We’re not talking anymore. Afraid that someone will disagree, that someone will agree, that someone will speak! Our speeches are already all by message. Encrypted in the anger of the green network, this WhatsApp, which even in Portuguese doesn’t even mean “what’s going on”.
In the groups that exist there, where friends used to get together, today they are no longer places of debate. They are altars of affirmation—and therefore useless.
The hundreds, the thousands, the hundreds of thousands of messages placed there daily do not serve any purpose or serve any intelligent purpose. They are just the x-ray of a schizophrenic society that the excess of communication has made blind, deaf and dumb — and where democracy, with each passing day, is weakened.
With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
