The political debate in Greece has always been tense. As well as exaggerations and slogans and cheap rhetoric. But during the period of Alexis Tsipras‘s administration, the situation has moved to another… track.
Where systematic distortion, the targeted dissemination of false news and organised toxicity became a tool of political strategy.
The famous“say, say, something will remain”was not just a line that was recycled. It became a methodology, a mechanism. Most importantly, it became a normality.
The industry of toxicity
We are not talking about isolated incidents. We are talking about an entire ecosystem. Anonymous profiles on social media, militant sites with a clear political focus, even public figures acting as propagators of an unfiltered narrative.
The logic was simple and cynical:Throw as much mud as you can in as little time as possible. Something will stick. Someone will believe it. And if they’re disproved? Never mind. The next “news” is already ready.
Thus built a toxic environment where the concept of truth became relative. Where refutation did not have the same intensity as the original accusation. And where the damage became permanent, even if reality eventually made things right.
The use of troll is not a Greek patent. But in Greece over the past decade it has taken on almost institutional characteristics. Anonymous accounts that attacked in a coordinated fashion, that replicated specific hashtags, that targeted journalists, political opponents or anyone who didn’t toe the “line.”
And the most disturbing thing? The tolerance. In many cases, the tacit acceptance. In others, the implicit encouragement.
It is no coincidence that during this period many journalists were targeted by organised attacks. With personal attacks, with name-calling, with distortion of their positions. Not to have a dialogue. To impose silence.
The damage left behind
Governments change. The faces go away. But the practices leave an imprint. And that’s the big problem.
The toxicity of that period has not disappeared. It mutated. It passed to a segment of society that has learned to consume information without a filter. That has learned to trust whatever confirms its biases. Who learned to treat politics as a field of conflict without rules.
And this is where the current juncture takes on special significance. The need for seriousness, institutional functioning and restoring trust in public discourse is not something theoretical, but something entirely practical and everyday.
The government is attempting to restore a basic order to the way public discourse works.To set limits. Restore the notion of accountability in speech. And that’s no small thing, considering where the starting point was.
Political debate will always exist. The question is whether it will be in terms of reality or in terms of propaganda. Whether it will be based on facts or slogans. Whether it will be aimed at persuasion or manipulation.
Why, at the end of the day, democracy does not collapse from one big conflict. It is corrupted by thousands of little lies repeated until they seem true. And therein lies the real stakes.
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