I went to Twitter in search of information about the World Cup and ended up entangled in the dialectical vacaloca of political campaigns, where candidates and followers come up with lies and crazy arguments. With the idea of detoxifying, I went to play soccer with friends, only for, at the end, several to say goodbye with a ‘Sign for the country’.
To begin with, it seems to me that people who focus too much on politics do so not because they are interested, but because they are not willing to take care of their own lives. It is a distractor; Thus, if things do not work out for them, it will never be their fault, but rather the leaders’ fault. Make no mistake: unless you live in North Korea or something similar, the person most responsible for your actions is you, not those in charge.
Then, when talking about elections, it is worth quoting the late George Carlin: “If you have selfish and ignorant citizens, you will have selfish and ignorant leaders.” And I am not only talking about the candidate with the phrase of firmness for the country, but also about the progressive infantilization of the electorate, increasingly precarious in understanding. Without saying that before we were the Greeks at their peak, you have to see how vulgar everything has become. It is known that politics has been and will be the territory of false, wealthy and corrupt people, the issue is that now it is also the territory of the ordinary, which is why Carlin’s phrase makes so much sense.
I can stand a clumsy and crooked president, but it is difficult for me to be governed by someone who trims his beard as if he were going to appear in a soap opera casting and wears soccer jerseys in a context other than playing a game. Seeing the rise of tawdry is painful, but it is what it is, that is why Colombia is a world power in reggaeton, the films that sweep the box office are superheroes and everything Lina Tejeiro does is news. It is normal then that we have candidates of the same style. Today, Colombians can complain about many things, except that our candidates do not represent us.
However, there is a hint of evil in them too, darkness in everything they are and everything that surrounds them. I don’t think either of them care about people, not in the end; Rather, they are interested in having power only for the pleasure and security that comes with holding it. Thus, we have to choose between the side where human existence is despised because the most important thing is money (no matter how it is obtained) and its opposite: those who love life and the country so much that they are willing to burn it down rather than see it governed by someone other than themselves.
The tacky the character, the more likely they are to win because the voter does not want content, but spectacle and emotions.
From different shores, both incite violence and not recognize those who are different; rather they propose ending it. They are mutually about narcos and guerrillas, fascists and reds. In the eyes of the fans, this election is going to be between Kim Jong-un and the reincarnation of Hitler.
A few years ago I wrote that Iván Duque had lowered the bar for the presidency so much that he had allowed Petro’s rise, and that later characters like Polo Polo, María Fernanda Carrascal and Isabel Zuleta would come. Today I see that I fell short, very short, and that the environment is being prepared for a influencer he ends up as president only because he moves masses, as if running a country were not a demanding task, but rather the new viral challenge.
This is not the time for ideas, but for agitators, which is why I see it as feasible that in a few years we will see Wally, Lalis, Levy Rincón or Lina María Garrido with the presidential band. The tacky the character, the more likely they are to win because the voter does not want content, but spectacle and emotions; be moved and have fun, not think.
Thus, if you allow me to venture into the field of political analysis, I would say that the option with the best chance of reaching the Casa de Nariño soon is the Westcol-Macafolla duo.
Laugh now, but from time to time.
