“Thirdly, the new President, for the first time, is asking the whole country for help to secure the future. He has extended the hand of reconciliation to the opposition, he has stated time and time again that he wants an inclusive and more open government and wants to put the past behind us. I am deeply disappointed that the MDC Alliance seems to have turned its back on these initiatives and instead have continued to make the assertion that this was a ‘stolen’ election and that Nelson Chamisa is the legitimate President and that they are threatening rolling mass action to enforce this position.
“Not only is this futile, but it also threatens further violence and instability when what we really need is national unity and an agreement to put our difference aside in a concerted effort to deal with the tough issues that confront us in the next 5 years. If the MDC Alliance would agree to this, then they would receive much more recognition for their role in bringing us back to democracy after 37 years of dictatorship and tyranny. They would be part of the solution instead of being a problem.
“The business community would welcome such a move which they would see as being statesmanlike and as helping bring about stability and growth. Our people would breathe a sigh of relief knowing that we can at last concentrate on the really important things rather than things that simply divide us and are a diversion from the real task that confronts us all.”
Chamisa’s supporters, however, continue to believe that he won the elections. A Newsday columnist quoted a very interesting write up from Chaz Bufe which seems to explain the attitude of Chamisa’s supporters. It reads:
“It’s hard to say which is worse, that politicians routinely employ false dichotomies or that their followers routinely fall for them.
“The logical fallacy in false dichotomies is very obvious, but a great many people don’t see the fallacy. Many even mouth false-dichotomy assertions as if they’re clever or make a point.
“Cynical politicians use false dichotomy for several reasons:
“To bypass their listeners’ reasoning faculty (all too easy a task);
“To influence their listeners into only considering two, almost invariably bad, alternatives, rather than looking for others;
“To cement the support of followers who accept the false dichotomy;
“To rouse their followers into a frenzy of hatred against those to whom they’re impugning false beliefs or goals;
“To intimidate those who hold other positions into silence, because of fear of social ostracism, job loss, or physical violence from the politicians’ deluded followers.”
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