Voting Private After Public Protest
Canada, this 2019 federal election will prove once again that when we enter the voting booth, we ditch the megaphone we used in social media, marching in the streets for this and that cause, denouncing this and that politician, wearing I Declare T-shirts and other forms of public voting.
The anonymity of online commentary also helps because we don’t post real photos, but have this unbelievable luck of destroying people based on accusations from individuals who have scores to settle.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) now wants real names and surnames in comments, no more eggheads. Fair enough, because you should stand up and be counted, if you feel strongly about your position and not hide behind your dog’s photo.
Politicians are on the receiving end most of the time and it is virulent during an election. What they should understand is that what I declare publicly to please family, friends and co-workers will not translate into a vote against them.
I will be alone in the voting booth and I will vote how I feel about this candidate. Forget about the party’s policies or track record. We vote on perceptions, feelings about candidates and what we think they will bring to the table if they become the government.
The United States, Canada’s neighbour is a case in point. They said Donald Trump will never be king. They vowed to move to Canada if he became U.S. President. He did in 2017.
Trump won the Republican Party’s confidence that made him the presidential candidate because of that gray area between public voting, shouting on rooftops with cameras recording everything and voting in the dark, alone in that booth.
The morale of the story is, what people say in public is not what they vote for. Canada be warned.
By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.
The anonymity of online commentary also helps because we don’t post real photos, but have this unbelievable luck of destroying people based on accusations from individuals who have scores to settle.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) now wants real names and surnames in comments, no more eggheads. Fair enough, because you should stand up and be counted, if you feel strongly about your position and not hide behind your dog’s photo.
Politicians are on the receiving end most of the time and it is virulent during an election. What they should understand is that what I declare publicly to please family, friends and co-workers will not translate into a vote against them.
I will be alone in the voting booth and I will vote how I feel about this candidate. Forget about the party’s policies or track record. We vote on perceptions, feelings about candidates and what we think they will bring to the table if they become the government.
The United States, Canada’s neighbour is a case in point. They said Donald Trump will never be king. They vowed to move to Canada if he became U.S. President. He did in 2017.
Trump won the Republican Party’s confidence that made him the presidential candidate because of that gray area between public voting, shouting on rooftops with cameras recording everything and voting in the dark, alone in that booth.
The morale of the story is, what people say in public is not what they vote for. Canada be warned.
By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.
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