I am glad that another person has finally seen through what ails the opposition. Alex Magno writing in the Philippine Star:
Through the last campaign, I imposed on myself the task of lurking in the Pink chat groups to understand what is going on. This self-imposed task has been, believe me, a great test of patience. The chatter was mostly hateful, condescending, petty and ignorant.
This much can be said after all the patient listening: their echo chamber brought them into a separate reality. They honestly believe those who do not share their political preferences were misinformed, uninformed or corrupted. They honestly believe there is a conspiracy of evil out there. They see nothing wrong in invoking God’s name in their self-appointed mission to uplift the “values” of the masses.
It will do the nation well if they invest some time assessing their own (democratic) values. The people have spoken. Their voice deserves respect.
On Friday the 13th, Robredo supporters held a rally at (where else?) the Ateneo campus where the Jesuits were so thoroughly invested in her lost cause. The theme chosen for that rally is “Tayo ang Liwanag” (We are the Light). This totally captures the narcissism of this political camp.
This narcissism explains why, even when it has become impossible to deny the numbers, they will continue in their attempt to invalidate the voice of the people. They will continue behaving like mullahs in our midst: the only ones entitled to define what is moral and what is true.
They have become the corrosive anti-democratic streak in our politics.
I came to the same conclusion last year, having gone through three narcissists, one after the other, in the past three years since 2019. Those who support, aid and abet narcissists are referred to as flying monkeys. It is basically a co-dependent relationship. Just think of how the Kakampinks were thoroughly depressed over the results and were looking for their “leader” right after.
Robredo’s first public appearance was a Facebook Live where she showcased the gifts she received from supporters throughout the campaign. The screen caps were not flatterring. It actually showed her behaving like an unhinged person. This is what is commonly referred to as a narcissistic breakdown. Have you noticed the difference in her demeanor when Jesse died as opposed to now that she goes down in electoral history as suffering the worst defeat of any Presidential contender?
Narcissists exist in their own ecosystems and have their own version of reality. This explains their ardent belief in Google Trends even if there is scientific basis for it being used as a polling tool. It is big data analytics for consumer behavior. It is not for use in political campaigns. But still, the Kakampinks were steadfast in their belief that they were going to win and when they lost, the it was reality slapping against their face which made it very hard to accept their fate.
This is same as what I saw in a Twitter Space I listened in the other day with prominent media personalities such as Ging Reyes, Inday Varona, Roby Alampay, Regine Cabato, Jacque Manabat and others in attendance. The topic was “did media fail post-EDSA insofar as the Marcos’ are concerned?”
You would think that the participants would have been objective in their critique of themselves but this was not the case. The only thing they admitted to was “normalizing” and “humanizing” the Marcos’ soon after their return to the country. But they are still convinced that “networked disinformation” was the culprit as to why the BBM won as President. They did not even bother to look at themselves in the mirror, so to speak, so they could come to terms with the mistakes they made being biased against the Marcos’.
They still did not answer the basic question which is why they have not written anything about what can be considered as material information insofar as the character of Leni Robredo is concerned; her alleged affair with Bolet Banal and how can she afford to send her daughters to the best universities here and abroad on her salary as Vice-President. The level of scrutiny is not the same for Robredo as compared to the Marcos’.
The prinicipal behind We Are Collective, which came out with the Naga Leaks and Leni Leaks expose’s in 2017, were thoroughly documented with the dummies utilized by the Robredo’s being named. They all deacdtivated their social media accounts shortly after.
The attitude of the journalists in that Space were the same as what Magno characterized in his experience with the pro-Robredo chat groups. They chided SMNI as an upstart with no credibility. They also discussed the impact of TikTok micro-inflluencers and asked Jacque Manabat what insights she could share as to her experience on the platform.
Manabat responded that as a journalist, she felt it was her duty to explore the platform which appealed to the youth and thought of utilizing the same to deliver the news. The opposition missed out on TikTok as a campaign platform compared to the Marcos camp which exploited it to the hilt.
The Space ended with no significant realization on the part of the news chiefs who were present. These are the media professionals who run the newsrooms of Rappler, the Pangilinan media group and what’s left of ABS-CBN. They promised there would be another Space to be held soon to continue with discussion.
The election post-mortem of Edwin Lacierda again refused to recognize reality. It was a devastating loss without any proof of fraud as validated by Myla Villanueva, the Chair of the PPCRV. Lacierda was given ample airtime by Pia Hontiveros. Veteran advertising executive Greg Garcia took all of eight minutes to demolish Lacierda’s argument for Robredo.
Garcia set the tone with his strategy formulation criteria. Change election or continuity election? Messaging? Appeal to voters? Test and confirm the strategy is effective or not. Look at the results. His most distinct observation was in the case of the Robredo campaign, too many cooks spoiled the broth. This was evident given the change in the tag line and the inconsistency of campaign ads. There was also the matter of the platform which began as Kalayaan sa Covid.
By far the most striking observation of Garcia was why choose to cast aspersions on the incumbent President? He who will step down from office with the highest approval and trust ratings of any President since the practice was institutionalized? All of the Presidential candidates made this mistake and paid for it dearly as the vote count came in.
Last but not the least, there is the matter of not winning over converts to their side. Five years after her “win” in 2016, Robredo’s vote count remained the same. Garcia mentioned about the Robredo campaign focusing on their support base rather than conversion of those who were inclined to vote primarily for Marcos-Duterte.
Narcissists seldom listen to the realities presented to them. They are stuck with the narratives inside their head. There is no such thing as change. This is what did the Robredo campaign in.
Robredo finally made an appearance on Facebook Live. It was surreal. She was in her office going through all the gifts she received from supporters during the campaign. Viewers got the impressiont that she was unhinged. It was there she announced that there was going to be a Thanksgiving Rally on Friday the 13th. That seemed ominous.
The Thanksgiving Rally was held at the Ateneo in lieu of the Quezon Memorial Circle as the LGU decided not to grant access given the short lead time. It would cause traffic along a major road artery. Commuters would be inconvenienced. It was at this event that Robredo announced the establishment of the Angat-Buhay NGO to continue what has been started with the electoral campaign.
As Katrina Stuart Santiago tweeted, this is essentially more of the same for the next six years. Their record speaks for itself; consistent defeats three years in a row, 2016, 2019 and 2022. They are not even aware of the most stupid consequence of their aversion to reality – there is virtuallly nothing left of the opposition in government in a second Marcos administration.
While narcissists are cunning and manipulative, there is always a pattern to their behavior and are generally lazy and stupid. There is not much to expect from Leni Robredo and her cohorts even on July 1 when Angat-Buhay is supposed to begin with its activities. What they will be be doing is the same thing again and expecting a different outcome in 2025. This is the very definition of stupid.
Comentários