Warriors against fake news
I laud the Inquirer for choosing Pinoy Ako Blog and other voices against fake news as Filipinos of the Year.
Since more than a year ago, an army of trolls, together with Malacañang’s “Department of Interpretation and Explanation” or DIE and some government officials who have regularly joined in their chorus of lies, have been waging a war of deception against our people with their alternative truths, fake news and ad hominem arguments being thrown at anyone who opposes the objectionable policies of the current administration.
Sadly, they have victimized some well-meaning and presumably intelligent Filipinos who regularly devour their fake news, even sharing them in wild abandon without verifying at all their contents simply because these coincide with their biases and prejudices. Many among them however have already seen the light, thanks to these courageous voices who have been vigilant in exposing the liars and deceivers for what they truly are.
A battle is being waged in the hearts and minds of our people, a battle seeking to enslave their minds with deceit and their hearts with fear. We cannot remain silent, lest by our silence we end up in complicity with them. Under these circumstances, Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of active nonviolence, which incidentally was the guiding spirit of the Edsa Revolution, becomes most relevant. Gandhi has called his mode of resistance “satyagraha,” derived from two Sanskrit words: “satya” which means “truth” and “agraha” which means “firm grasping.” Satyagraha thus means holding firmly to the truth or adherence to the truth.
Holding firmly to the truth means our refusal to cooperate with injustice and to do anything which is violative of our conscience. Let us then hold firmly to the truth and oppose the lies with the truth. It was an awakened people who were able to free themselves from the Marcos dictatorship. It is likewise an awakened people, freed from the seduction of lies, which will free themselves from this fascist state now sadly lording over this sad land of ours.
SEVERO BRILLANTES, [email protected]
