The political physics of the blackout

Polarization may be affecting the very relationship between space and time in Spain. It turns out that the restoration of electricity supply after the great peninsular blackout took longer for left-wing voters than for right-wing voters, according to the Ipsos survey for this newspaper. For the majority of Sumar or PSOE voters, electricity was restored quickly. In contrast, only a minority of PP or Vox voters experienced this. For most of them, the power took a long time to return on that fateful Monday in April.

This would imply a substantial change in the experience, with residents of the same building effectively perceiving the return of electricity differently, despite suffering the same number of hours of blackout. Some would probably be reconciled by the image of a country capable of restarting in a matter of hours, while others would be reconciled by the only way it can be reactivated if the country's government were to change.

This fact is not a simple polling anecdote. We know that in times of crisis, citizens come to the government to demand explanations, whether or not it is the direct cause of the setback. Their response is awaited and they will be audited for it, as is appropriate for democratic health. However, in climates of high polarization where everything can always be blamed on the political leaders of the opposing side, even the most basic component of reality can become partisan fodder.

Only in this way can inverted thinking penetrate and be legitimized: the kind capable of turning facts inside out to defend a political cause. The relativity of time is probably not the most structural aspect of this thinking, but it is part of it. Perhaps a certain partisan bias is inevitable, but if it becomes totalitarian, it prevents something essential in democracy, such as recognizing the existence of a lowest common denominator for coexistence. An emotional schism that objectifies those who are different, even if only superficially or symbolically, leads to incredible beliefs such as that the dictator is the friend; knowledge, the enemy; the victim, the executioner; and the honest, the corrupt.

I understand that the most basic aspect of relativity is that locating something in time and space depends on the motion of the observer. Political physics also supports this if one party can win by losing and another can lose by winning, or if the distance to the next election becomes an eternity for the one who expects to win and too short for the one who expects to lose.

But accepting that my perception might allow me to question the very fact of the outcome is perhaps overly relativizing. This is often promoted by those who employ the strategy of distraction, to divert attention from what's truly important. As in the case at hand: the ones who took so long to restore electricity were the Spaniards with the greatest economic hardship, and they are precisely the most critical of the government's management. It affects those who need it most. Those who live in comfort enjoy alternatives. And time passes.