The Combustion of Opinions

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La combustión de las opiniones

I am not one of those who try to cover the sun with a finger or live behind the back of reality. However, I am reluctant to join the team of those who make firewood from the fallen tree and reduce their actions to promote excessive criticism, in inappropriate spaces, feeding - consciously or involuntarily - a fire that does not originate here and insists on burning and suffocating.

 It is not about limiting freedom of expression, recognized as a constitutional right, but about evaluating the fairness, scope and relevance of opinions, complaints or reports in “free” spaces such as social networks, in moments of irritation at the wrongdoing, including inadequate attention to the demands made by those classified as “relevant channels”.

Nevertheless, pouring out dissatisfactions on platforms such as Facebook does not, in most cases, exceed the approval, sentimental support or rejection of some friends. It does not diminish pain, indignation or unease at certain incidents. Meanwhile, there will be no shortage of those who use their concerns to promote discrediting campaigns against Cuba.

In recent months, the media attacks allude to the use of opinions expressed on the Internet to present a presumed climate of instability and incite disobedience and public disorder, based on old formulas such as the generalization of negative criteria when adjudicating public opinion, without contextualizing facts or circumstances, ignoring the persistence and the intensification of the US blockade as fundamental causes of the crisis.

Thus, without knowing it, they include us in the "game", without prior request for participation, and we become part of a machinery of media manipulations, aimed at identifying the public interest with that of a minority (inside and outside of Cuba), resorted strategy of the enemies that forces us, in a constant way, to deny false news.

In this scenario, it is also appropriate to remember that Latin phrase that indicates “Vox populi, vox Dei” (“Voice of the people, voice of God”), in a wise call to not underestimate the use of these spaces to measure the temperature of society and make better use of the established channels for perennial and timely communication with citizens.

Given the accelerated growth and use of information and communication technologies, the Cuban State has recognized the relevance of optimizing the use of cyberspace for its efforts, as confirmed by mechanisms to develop electronic government, such as citizen portals. In this way, the will to promote dialogue between leaders and the people is expressed, and communication is consolidated as a fundamental pillar in government management.

These platforms offer possibilities for getting closer to our leaders. In them, the “voice” of the citizens must be listened to and analyzed with a critical and transforming spirit, with the aim of helping and the obligation to offer solutions.

The improvement of the systems of attention to the population, still misunderstood in all its dimensions by intermediate cadres and leaders, constitutes another way to channel popular concerns. In this case, greater responsibility and sensitivity of those involved is required, and achieving opportunity in responding to popular demands, in order to avoid disagreements with the deal, and the loss of credibility and trust.

"Nothing is accidental, but causal", as an old friend verdicts. The repeated government visits to the territories to feel the reality and exchange with the population. The customary appearances in the media of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party and President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and other representatives of the government; they confirm the will to maintain the exchange with the people, address their concerns and respond to them.

In such turbulent times for humanity, communication and, as part of it, the use of ICTs, continues to be a weapon, used indistinctly to do good or bad, inform or misinform, add or subtract interests or involved parties to a cause, act with justice or cruelty, simulate false freedoms and disguise public opinion.

This scenario requires shedding all naivety and increasing the culture about the use of social networks. It is necessary to act rationally (without being carried away by impulses) and review when, how and where problems arise, to be sure that they will be addressed and solved, without the fear that they can become fuel to fan a fire, whose flames burn and the smoke tries to suffocate.