Antonio Navalón
Today’s society is measured by its inability to define and clarify identities. If it is difficult enough to make a living, now the new generations have to face the mirror or a questionnaire and ask themselves whether or not they are binary. The children of these times are faced with an explosion and diversity of options that only lead to uncertainty about what and who they are. There is so much social confusion that the only clear thing is that nothing is clear. And amid all this is politics and what those who govern or seek to govern express or propose through the various – and so dominant – social networks.
Barack Obama was the president of the YouTube era, just as Trump was characterized as the president who used Twitter whenever he wanted. A few days ago, Ron de Santis – hand in hand with Elon Musk – sought to mark a turning point in how he presented his presidential candidacy by summoning hundreds of thousands of people to tune in via Twitter. The result? A complete failure. And not just because of the collapse of the website, which produced jokes, for example, from President Joe Biden or even Trump himself, but because of the economic loss and the setback that this attempt meant for the wealthiest man in the world and his latest multi-million dollar project, which is Twitter.
For a technology company, the success of its projects and product launches is everything. On that day, Twitter Spaces – the new platform Musk promoted and even intended to use to set up a presidential debate space in the upcoming elections – collapsed. Even before Musk appeared in the direction of the company with the little blue bird, the reality is that this application was losing more and more relevance. And since a strange and mediatic character called Donald Trump stopped using the platform from the Oval Office to express his thoughts, Twitter has never been the same again.
Of course, if de Santis – with the odd duo he forms with Elon Musk – ends up prevailing first in the Republican primaries and then eventually winning the presidential election, Twitter could see a significant upturn. However, we live in times when it is increasingly difficult to know where the boundaries are or how far we have to go to be aware of everything happening around us.
The sun is not a problem; we all need it to live. But it is well known that you can get burnt too close to it, and you can freeze to death too far away. And that is what is happening with a lot of political elements. We are in the midst of a moment when the stakes are rising everywhere. Naturally, as is always the case and as we were taught when journalism wasn’t about reading Wikipedia and writing a sentiment in the form of a tweet, the local had more power because it was what affected people’s lives the most. So even though the crisis is now global; even though we live in a curious situation; even though we have to witness how billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine under the excuse that it is only to have resources to defend itself, the conflict is still burning hotter than ever; despite all that, it is what happens inside countries that cause the most impact and damage. As the world sees the possibility of a Third World War in Europe gaining momentum, one must know where the sun is hot, where it burns, and the limits of political action.
The evil of many is not the consolation of fools, although we must have a space for collective reflection on what we are experiencing. We are living through the end of many processes with no clear signs yet of those that will replace them. I insist that faith moves mountains, and faith is a critical factor among many leaders, for example, the president of Mexico. The problem is that, without entering into the debate between faith and science, one cannot live by faith alone, nor can one expect science to solve everything. However, we live in a country where science, mathematics, statistics, and data simply do not exist. And the reality is that no matter how much faith the president has, data and statistics have to go hand in hand with his time in power.
At this point in the six-year term, it would seem to me to be an exercise in bad taste to start asking for an accounting of what has happened with Dos Bocas refinery – a project whose investment has risen by more than 46% – with the Mayan Train and all the climatic repercussions that its construction will have, or the controversies surrounding the military base transformed in to a mixed military-civilian airport (AIFA). There will be time to see and analyze what has happened with the mega-works and whims of this six-year term because visionaries always have to pay the price of going further and seeing further than others. Another thing is to know and determine to whom or how they will be accountable when the time is right. But until that happens, let’s stop wasting time.
It is not that Mexico is divided in two, into the country of the morning press conferences (mañaneras) and the land of the afternoons and evenings. It is that there is currently a collective trance, and – as Dr. Goebbels said – we expect lies to become truth by repeating them. However, we are fortunate because, in a few days, we will pass the cotton wool test. Despite the multiple polls surrounding the upcoming state elections in Coahuila and the State of Mexico, it has struck me that what would previously have been a massive political failure has been committed, which is to take the pressure off the election by showing prematurely that the election was unnecessary. There was such a big difference in Coahuila between the candidate representing the party of the current regime and the candidate of the previous administration or the new coalition that it was even unnecessary to hold the election. However – and being aware that anything can still happen – the president, his candidate, and his party miscalculated and are being surprised by the opposition.
As for the other election, I want to stress that the Electoral Institute of the State of Mexico is one of the few instances that reflect what the National Electoral Institute (INE) once was. That is why, except for the collective feeling of the mornings and that spiritual exaltation, it will hardly be possible to bring IEEM to the same situation with which the coffins of the former board members and president of the defunct electoral body were nailed to the coffins.
The regime cannot be touched; it touches itself. It is the one that is raising the stakes, and now the only stakes that will allow us to know where we stand are those concerning the election results in Coahuila and the State of Mexico. Let it be clear that I am not defending any party or regime; I am simply reflecting that if the victory is so clear and if we are confident that this victory will allow us to defy everything and everyone – allowing us to nationalize whatever we want and to disrupt or be part of the takeover of banks – the only thing we have to do is wait for the result.
We, the people who have suffered a lot, are always open or hopeful about surprising results. What I mean is that a complete electoral crushing and the installation of a regime that would also be a preview of what will happen next year would be surprising. Some have argued that the day Alfredo del Mazo became governor of the State of Mexico, Mexicans knew that Andrés Manuel López Obrador would be the president of Mexico.
The problem is that if the so-called “Va por México” alliance were to win – through a result that could later be questioned or defended – and win the next elections, it would trigger a conflict that would further divide the country. On the one side would be those convinced that faith moves mountains and that is enough, and on the other side would be logic and science.
And looking at the world in which we live, it is necessary to observe how the G7 summit held last week should not only have sought a solution to the various conflicts that afflict the world but should also have sought to establish efficient political models adapted to the present day. And regardless of whether they are left-wing or right-wing, political models are now measured by whether they are technologically acceptable. Despite all that has been said, we should not be mistaken since political proposals or offers should only have one aim: to make people happier than they were in the past. Here I have the feeling that, after the strength of the Trump model and after seeing how the next elections are being planned, the world has really reached a culminating point in its conquests. Now it needs to conquer its happiness so as not to be overwhelmed either by technology or by the wins of a few that are intended to be imposed on others by force.
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