BY EDISON MARTE SICAD
“Sometimes it is great fun to complain and, in America, it can even be profitable. But unless one’s complaints are grounded in a sense of duty to one’s country or to a recognizable humane tradition, they are not worthy of serious attention.”
–Neil Postman
AND NOW, in the Philippines, we have bashers and trolls. We may assume that not only is there immunity in anonymity but there is profitability as well. An online troll can earn (more or less) P30,000-P70,000 monthly. Not bad. All you have to do is create fake accounts to promote clients, products, or services by posting misleading, exaggerated, or false claims and comments—which are being done by TV and radio advertisements ever since.
Edward Bernays, a pioneer and founder of public relations (just another term for propaganda) would be amused. This American theorist successfully marketed cigarettes to women. In the early 1900s, smoking was a “man’s” thing. It was even considered as a phallic symbol. But Edward Bernays was able to change that: from a phallic symbol into a symbol of freedom and liberty. Just like, well, the Statue of Liberty, the cigarette eventually symbolizes as the torch of women empowerment and liberation.
I may have digressed from the topic. I just mentioned it to prove that the valuation of a certain value can be manipulated, which can then become a new tradition. An accepted new norm, so to speak.
And in today’s society, our sources of information and means of public discussions are on social media platforms. But taking from McLuhan’s “The medium is the message,” it is not the content that controls the platform, the platform determines the content: the depth or shallowness of the discourse rests on our fingertips.
And this is where the trolls can become more persuasive than a research finding or an expert opinion. Just like the usual surveys, or the front pages of a newspaper, the bell curve can now be an algorithmic phenomenon.
The question now is, can online trolling be considered as a socially acceptable means of employment?
Not really. The Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Card Registration Act of 2022 (RA 11934) aims to prevent and penalize such actions, to wit;
Section 11 (d) For providing false or fictitious information or for using fictitious identities or fraudulent identification documents to register a SIM. –The penalty of imprisonment ranging from six (6) months to two (2) years, or a fine of not less than P100,000.00 but not more than P300,000.00, or both, shall be imposed upon anyone who provides false or fictitious information or who uses a fictitious identity or fraudulent identification documents to register a SIM;
There is no gray area here. For the common good, the protection of the public far outweighs whatever benefit an individual reaps from such acts.
But there is another form of online toxicity or behavior that I find amusing: complaining against government institutions or officials using circuitous arguments, hasty generalizations, or argumentum ad hominem.
Sometimes, when I see people—especially young students carrying placards—rallying on the streets, I am tempted to approach them and ask them what they really mean about the words in their banners. But I may appear insensitive and confrontational, so I let it be. Maybe they know something that I have taken for granted.
I admire people who are very assertive with their views and consistent with their beliefs. And giving them the benefit of the doubt, I think they are fighting for what is right.
But are rallies effective? Last weekend, there were rallies or gatherings commemorating the 37th People Power Anniversary. And with the “surprised” declaration of February 24 as holiday, there was a bit of hesitance as to the intention of President Bongbong Marcos who offered reconciliation for a better Philippines.
IN CONCLUSION, these are the kind of issues that I want students to discuss—even participate in. Citizenship is animated by social participation in the same manner that it is strengthened by good examples.
Online trolling may be just an offshoot of other issues: freedom of information or public manipulation. Our cognitive maps can be altered by digital gerrymandering. Hopefully, schools, or teachers for that matter, will be able to equip the students not only the facts to memorize but also the values to defend./PN
