Thursday, February 9, 2023
manilastandard.net
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
manilastandard.net
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion Columns

A crisis of civility

Jude AcidrebyJude Acidre
January 31, 2022, 12:10 am
in Columns, Opinion, The Fifth Gospel by Jude Acidre
Reading Time: 5 mins read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Email

“A positive and issue-based campaign looks easier said than done.”

Mudslinging – that is the plain and simple way to describe the phenomenon that is now commonly referred to as “negative campaigning.” But far from being a nascent reality, openly criticizing one’s political opponents is as old as the art of political campaigns itself. As early as 64 BC, the Roman politician and orator Cicero would advise the politicians of his time “to remind the people of what scoundrels said their opponents are and to smear these men at every opportunity with the crimes, scandals and corruption that they have brought upon themselves.”

More than two thousand years since Cicero, negative campaigning continues to be an important political strategy. Many politicians would find it helpful in improving their political chances to raise personal attacks and criticism in order to dissuade voters from supporting their opponents, or at least to diminish their palatability among the electorate.

But what really is the price of open negative campaigning? The consequence may actually be more appalling than we think. While many would suppose that comparing and contrasting candidates would necessitate frank and candid criticisms of one’s political opponents, its effects on the quality and depth of political participation can really be worrisome. In fact, the increasingly polarized political environment has actually derailed attempts to build a more mature and highly engaged political constituency. The truth is what makes people believe that politics is bad and corrupt is fueled much by negative propaganda rather than an objective appreciation of facts and reality.

Here is where politicians must play an important role – that of instilling responsible political engagement. Not only does negative campaigning polarize opposing political groups, it effectively discourages the reluctant and the undecided. This has become even more apparent in this age of social media when anonymity has made it easier for the unscrupulous to hurl accusations and distortions against their opponents, without taking responsibility for them.

The truth of the matter is keeping a positive and issue-based campaign looks easier said than done.

ADVERTISEMENT

Why? Because negative campaigning actually works. It is often believed that our brains are wired to negativity and that we respond more readily to a negative opinion of people and things. Even from a marketing perspective, people easily remember a negative issue than a positive trait. The same is true with political candidates. Voters are often quick to react to a negative issue than to commend someone’s accomplishment. Even when it comes to political issues, it is more likely for one who starts thinking favorably about a particular policy could easily be convinced otherwise, once bombarded persistently by its supposed downsides.

The truth is politics all throughout history has exploited much of how our brains are hard-wired to seek out and remember negative information. Even when one is presented with nine positive facts, voters would have the tendency to remember the negative statement despite how remote the possibility of it being true. It is like the proverbial half-full glass, there is always a greater tendency to think of it as half-empty. The electorate is not easily convinced by positive political rhetoric but could speedily be swept away by negative conjectures. In fact, negative campaigning can often be more compelling than an honest presentation of facts.

Pontius Pilate famously asked the Christ before his passion, “Quid veritas est?” “What is truth?” Unfortunately, many unscrupulous politicians have mastered how to manipulate snippets of truth to compose a total abstraction of what is true.

This is where political actors must be reminded – the quality of our politics is defined by our own individual actions. When we go negative and normalize mudslinging, then we tacitly agree to purposeless aggression and unwarranted hatred in politics. Clearly, for whatever reason, nothing positive can be achieved by way of negative aggression.

No matter how commendable the end may be, the lack of charity and civility in politics will always end in even greater compromises. One who cannot be kind in his words cannot be expected to be compassionate in his actions. One who cannot be decent in his language would find it difficult to be respectful in his actions. That is an ever present truth in all matters of human interaction, politics included.

In a more concrete sense, negative campaigning will not only discourage the undecided or polarize opposing sides, but it also erodes the people’s trust in the political system and confidence in their political leaders – or worse, their respect for public institutions. It is no surprise therefore that even if there are more well-intentioned than corrupt people in government, the people are often quick to assume that corruption has somewhat overtaken our political institutions.

Political candidates must be reminded that politics is not simply a matter of winning elections, but more importantly it is a question of strengthening public institutions. Thus, political actors have a huge and important responsibility of ensuring that the way we do our politics serve to embolden politics and not undermine it.

One more thing. Negative campaigning is the best barometer of a candidate’s self-perceived political chances. For example, opposition candidates are likely to resort to negative campaigning simply because there is a slimmer risk of potential backlash. Simply put, a candidate will try to make his opponent look bad because he cannot afford to look any better.

Second, most negative campaigns indicate that a candidate is trailing behind in the polls and the only possible way for them to catch up is to pull others down.

Our voters must be wary of those who do negative campaigning. It is either because they have nothing positive to speak about themselves, or at least look any better compared to their opponents – and second and even more sadly, it is because the candidate wouldn’t care less about getting the system into disarray.

Negative campaigning can be entertaining, but what is certain in the end is that the joke will always be on us. If all we want is a more mature political engagement, then candidates must distinguish themselves from their opponents by way of discussing ideas, not idiosyncrasies, and platforms not personalities.

Negativity can never persuade us towards positive action. The often unnoticed reality is most candidates are good people who are sincere in their desire to serve others, and improve things in a way that they think is best. Politics is no license for us to think or say that our way is the only way, and insist that others are plainly wrong. Degrading each other’s character has no place in a mature political society, because its higher purpose is achieved when the best of leaders can always disagree without hating each other.

Tags: mudslingingNegative campaigning
ADVERTISEMENT
Jude Acidre

Jude Acidre

Related Posts

Taxing the rich

byManila Standard
February 9, 2023, 12:15 am
0
8
Taxing the rich

Instead of a wealth tax, why not impose higher taxes on luxury goods frequently bought by the very rich? That’s...

Read more

Albatross

byLito Banayo
February 9, 2023, 12:10 am
0
8
A crisis president

"Sooner than later, our exasperated president will in the still of the night ask himself why he even aspired to...

Read more

The ICC investigation

byFlorencio Fianza
February 9, 2023, 12:05 am
0
8
Money matters

"It would be much better if there is only one speaking on behalf of the government instead of many giving...

Read more

Regret up, 3 years after UK severed ties with EU

byAFP
February 9, 2023, 12:00 am
0
8
Nullity of marriage: a defense in bigamy cases

By Caroline Taix "But neither Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government nor the opposition Labor party are promising any change...

Read more

A geopolitically tense crisis

byManila Standard
February 8, 2023, 12:15 am
0
8
A geopolitically tense crisis

The shooting down on February 4 of a high altitude, large, slow-moving Chinese spy balloon by the US military suggests...

Read more

Roberto V. Ongpin, 86, patriot and hero

byTony Lopez
February 8, 2023, 12:10 am
0
8
UnionBank buys Citibank’s local business

"Not many people know it but EDSA I was triggered by greed and was won by a lie" Ten minutes...

Read more

Print Edition

View More

Recent Posts

  • Gov’t rates high ‘overall’ but low in inflation fight
  • DTI lists higher SRP for 70 food products like noodles, milk, bread
  • SC junks graft case vs. Enrile, others over coco funds misuse
  • Government asks ICC to stop resumption of drug war probe
  • PH Constitution ‘dynamic,’ can adapt to times
  • Taxing the rich
  • Albatross
  • The ICC investigation

Advertisement

Latest News

Taxing the rich

byManila Standard
February 9, 2023, 12:15 am
0
8
Taxing the rich

Instead of a wealth tax, why not impose higher taxes on luxury goods frequently bought by the very rich? That’s...

Read more

Albatross

byLito Banayo
February 9, 2023, 12:10 am
0
8
A crisis president

"Sooner than later, our exasperated president will in the still of the night ask himself why he even aspired to...

Read more

The ICC investigation

byFlorencio Fianza
February 9, 2023, 12:05 am
0
8
Money matters

"It would be much better if there is only one speaking on behalf of the government instead of many giving...

Read more

Regret up, 3 years after UK severed ties with EU

byAFP
February 9, 2023, 12:00 am
0
8
Nullity of marriage: a defense in bigamy cases

By Caroline Taix "But neither Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government nor the opposition Labor party are promising any change...

Read more

Smarting from the Turkey-Syria killer quake

byNorman Cruz
February 8, 2023, 11:58 pm
0
8
No to Manila Bay reclamation and quarrying

In light of the magnitude 7.5 earthquake that killed thousands in Turkey and Syria, members of the Manila Disaster Risk...

Read more

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

ABOUT US

Manila Standard

Manila Standard website (manilastandard.net), launched in August 2002, extends the newspaper’s reach beyond its traditional readers and makes its brand of Philippine news and opinion available to a much wider and geographically diverse readership here and overseas.

Digital Edition

In tone and content, the online edition mirrors the editorial thrust of the newspaper. While hewing to the traditional precepts of fairness and objectivity, MS believes the news of the day need not be staid, overly long or dry. Stories are succinct, readable and written in a lively style that has become a hallmark of the newspaper.

Download – Today’s Paper

Search

No Result
View All Result

6th Floor Universal Re Bldg., 106 Paseo De Roxas cor. Perea Street, Legaspi Village, 1226 Makati City Philippines

Trunklines: 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Pop.Life
    • Newsmakers
    • Hangouts
    • A-Pop
    • Post Its
    • Performances
    • Malls & Bazaars
    • Hobbies & Collections
  • Technology
    • Gadgets
    • Computers
    • Business
    • Tech Plus
  • MS ON THE ROAD
    • Sedan
    • SUV
    • Truck
    • Bike
    • Accessories
    • Motoring Plus
    • Commuter’s Corner
  • Home & Design
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Construction
    • Interior
  • Spotlight
  • Gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • Events
    • Seminars
    • Exhibits
    • Community
  • Biyahero
    • Travel Features
    • Travel Reels
    • Travel Logs
  • Pets
  • Advertise with Us

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Install Manila Standard Web App

Install App