By Alexis Papachelas for kathimerini
Think about how dangerous it would be to go through a crisis with Turkey in the age of social media. How easily public opinion would “ignite” if some were given the opportunity to light the fuse. It happened in the 19th century through newspaper headlines, and in the 20th century during the Imia crisis, through private television stations.
Today, all of this seems static and relatively harmless in the face of the current public debates on the Internet. In both Greece and Turkey, the keyboards of hatred and irrational aggravation can easily be fired up. A trivial incident can turn into something major within seconds, before accusations of “betrayal” start being thrown around. The next stage is, with mathematical certainty, the panicking of politicians, who can rarely resist the trends when the floodgates of social media are abruptly and violently opened.
The current landscape is also extremely anarchic and, even in conditions of national crisis, no phone call from a government official and no informal briefing will be able to put a stop to the madness.
The same, of course, applies to what will be allowed to be broadcast and what will not. We are not talking about cameras showing ship movements – which nowadays are depicted by satellites in real time – but about information or images that anyone can upload on a social media platform.
It will take unimaginable discipline in its communication and preparation on the part of the Greek state to deal with situations of obvious misinformation, provocations and irresponsible reporting. Neither politicians, nor the heads of the related services are ready to deal with such phenomena.
Greece, unlike Turkey, does not have a culture of national discipline and security that major crises require. We are more likely to argue about who is the bigger traitor than to carefully avoid getting trapped in situations that are not in the best interest of our country, due to the pressure of social media, which will lead us to a spiralling “contest” in national irresponsibility.
Two elements are usually disastrous in case of a crisis with Turkey: a lack of composure and uncontrolled national division. That is, the two elements that currently dominate public debate.
