WHEN journalists talk about the dangers of “fake news” and politicians talk about “meddling and corruption” it’s usually because they are trying to strengthen or shore up their legitimacy, and when societies experience legitimacy problems, it’s usually because they are divided on important issues. Social consensus is also lost and the popular narrative turns into a zero-sum game of who is right and who is evil.
Because there is no consensus, one or both sides will claim legitimacy while deriding their opponents as liars and fakes, which explains the not-too-recent obsession over fake news. It doesn’t matter if one side is right or if both have some truth to offer. What matters is that in situations like these, societies are divided, and this division can take on many forms, but always characterized by desperate and increasing escalations.
In Europe, the people and their government are divided on the issue of mass immigration, multiculturalism and the European Union (EU). In the United States, the country is divided between those who support Trumpism / America First and those who oppose it. Here in the Philippines, our country – or at least, those who are politically active – is divided between those who support President Duterte’s policies and those who oppose them.
Moreover, it’s not just governments and public institutions that are having problems with legitimacy. Even social media platforms, like Google and Facebook, are banning groups they deem are threats to their side of the fence.
Whenever a regime suffers from a crisis of legitimacy and can no longer defend itself or its policies in the public space, it turns to brute force of one form or another. The literati and journalists respond to legitimacy problems by doing what we see with the recent rise of so-called “fake news” – disqualifying the validity of their opposition. When companies are threatened by a loss of legitimacy (i.e., trust of their consumers), they use blacklists and economic warfare to maintain control. And when institutions and private groups are threatened, they use “lawfare” to attack or contain their opponents.
And of course, whenever groups start using these weapons, they force their opponents to respond in a similar manner, which is why we are where are today. All over the world, there is the feeling that some sort of major confrontation is overdue. This feeling of conflict is a symptom of what happens when a society can no longer agree on what is right and what is wrong./PN
