Politicization of Hoaxes

HERYUNANTO

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Assuming each presidential candidate pair has loyal supporters, the 2019 presidential election will be determined by the contenders’ success in grabbing sympathy from “undecided” voters.

Neither of the two camps has an adequate number of loyal voters to win the presidential election with ease, as a significant proportion of the voters have not yet made up their mind.

According to a Kompas survey from September-October, the proportion of voters that are not yet certain about their political preference has reached 30 percent. Together with the number of voters who have not decided their political preference at all, amounting to 14.7 percent of the electorate, the total proportion of “undecided” voters is about 44.7 percent. This is a very significant figure.

Homo digitalis

Who are the “undecided” voters? The young generation, middle class, urbanites, or the educated? This is more or less the gist of the issue deduced from various studies.

In terms of media behavior, they can be summarized in one category: Homo digitalis. A segment of the community whose way of life, mode of interaction, behavioral tendencies and decisions are all determined by information technology.

The biggest part of this segment is the millennial generation, which is very active on social media, search engines and products of artificial intelligence. Many are first-time voters.

What about their characters? A survey of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in 2017 showed that only 2.3 percent of the millennial generation were interested in politics. They accessed the internet not for political information but for recreation, innovation and the creative economy.

Meanwhile, the homo digitalis, who is grown up and has a high education, shows characteristics of a critical voter. People of this group have many considerations in assessing prospective leaders. They use various sources of information and abstain if there is no choice in line with their aspirations.

Aside from these two groups, there is the urban middle class, which is characterized by consuming lots of information. Accessing the latest information continuously through the new media is part of their lifestyle.

In this context, it is quite surprising that presidential election campaigns based on vision, mission and programs have not been duly prioritized. Kompas polling data from Oct. 10-11 show that the public lacks comprehensive information on the vision, mission and programs of the candidates.

There is a high probability that the “undecided” voters will take into consideration the vision, mission and programs of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Of course, as long as the vision and mission are logical, not mere slogans, and touch on their problems as the millennial generation.

No less important is the presentation of the vision, mission and programs, which should be attractive and sympathetic. Creativity in designing campaign message packages is crucial. An attractive package that is entertaining and special will attract the attention of the homo digitalis.

Then, how about the smear campaigns, hoaxes and hate speech? This tactic appears to be less effective in attracting sympathy and votes from the homo digitalis; it can even make them apolitical.

Kompas

Invitees pose for a picture with election organizing campaign signs during the 10th anniversary of the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) at its offices in Jakarta on Monday (9/4/2018). Apart from celebrating its 10th anniversary, Bawaslu also used the occasion to sign a memorandum of understanding on election organization with the Indonesian Ombudsman, the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the Center for Disabled People’s Access to General Elections (PPUA Penca).

Critical voters

Once again, what should be noted is the fact that what we are facing is voters – with a significant number – who basically have a low commitment to or are critical of politics. They already identify politics with deterioration.

Then, what is the function of the politicization of hoaxes and hate speech in this context? A communication study calls it an “echo chamber effect”. Its new media study term is “filter bubble effect”. We can call it the isolation bubble effect.

Introduced by digital expert Eli Pariser in 2011, the isolation bubble effect explains how the algorithms of companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon and Twitter work based on the logic of reduction and personalization. The algorithms identify tendencies of behavior of internet users.

Later, the algorithms direct the internet users to people, groups or information sources that are in line with their own tendencies. Fashion lovers will be isolated to interact with fellow fashion lovers. Automotive lovers will be isolated with their peers.

This is also the case on the political level. The United States presidential election shows that social  media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, have isolated the supporters of Donald Trump to chat among themselves, while the supporters of Hillary Clinton were mingling online with likeminded people.

Eli Pariser used the isolation bubble concept to explain the function and effect of Facebook’s personalized news stream or Google’s personalized search. The isolation bubble has a negative effect on the public space principle, because it reduces the space for an exchange of views and the contest of ideas among societal groups, argumentative, and inspiring. In the isolation bubble, what appears is the glorification of oneself and at the same time the a priori stance against other parties.

This isolation bubble level is where hoaxes and hate speech flourish. Therefore, the politicization of hoaxes and hate speech which are tainting the campaigns of the presidential election in Indonesia at present only strengthens political beliefs among the loyalist voters on their respective presidential-vice presidential candidate camps.

Steer clear of identity issues

The politicization of hoaxes and hate speech is less effective in attracting the attention of undecided voters, unless it touches on religious identity, ethnicity or race. This is what has to be anticipated. The US nation, which is rational and literate, can be made irrational with the dichotomy of immigrant against anti-immigrant, black and white, Muslim and non-Muslim.

Trump\'s victory clearly shows this. The isolation bubble politics so quickly absorbed hesitant voters who lost a sense of rationality when identity sentiment was ridiculed.

Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud said that humans are not controlled by ratio, but the unconsciousness instance: ego, subjectivity, instinct, emotion. This theory really describes the attitude of the homo digitalis with regard to issues of identity.

We can easily fall back to the instant, spontaneous as well as intolerant and sectarian attitude when dealing with issues of religion, ethnicity and race. Tolerance is buried and maturity is blunted; a childish attitude is sharpened.

Unfortunately, several parties deliberately use this for momentary political objectives without thinking about its impact on a nation that is so diverse and contains the potential of horizontal conflict. All parties must anticipate this!

Agus Sudibyo, Head of New Media Research Center, ATVI Jakarta