By Joshua Corcuera
Educating people is a good thing. It is something that must be encouraged, not the other way around.
In social media, disinformation is rampant and ubiquitous. I would leave it to the dear reader to think of what topics are frequently being poisoned by disinformation in Philippine social media. Fortunately, there are still many people who are aware of the truth—the truth that is backed up by hard evidence, ranging from actual court rulings to science-based proof to authentic video recordings and so on. Some of these people who are aware of the truth call the attention of fake news peddlers; I often see this in my social media feed from a personal point of view. These people educate those who share disinformation usually by explaining the facts together with evidence to strengthen their position. But sometimes, ego is a real thing.
Many people, especially those who spread disinformation, tend to be prideful to the extent that they would insult those correcting them. Some try to be calm by avoiding the topic or insisting those who correct them to be mindful of respect. It is true that respect is an essential value in our daily lives. But respect is not only being kind and tolerant to others, respect also encompasses the acknowledgment of truth no matter how much you disagree with it.
Instead, we must be grateful to those who correct us from our mistakes. After all, we are not perfect, impeccable beings and we must accept criticisms since this can help us improve ourselves. Aren’t we supposed to be like this because this is how we were educated by our family, friends, and teachers in school?
When you were a student, would you get angry at your teacher if they correct your mistakes in quizzes? Would you get angry at your family if they remind you what is right from what is wrong? Sometimes, pride must be set aside for the greater good. We must not only promote respect among human beings, we must also promote respect towards the truth. To create lies, spread disinformation, and manipulate the facts to one’s favor is in itself disrespectful as well, right?
Altogether, respect is essential, but so is the truth and its dissemination, as well as educating those who are misguided or misinformed. We must all open our minds instead of being hateful—which is common nowadays especially in social media.
Moving on, since we are talking about educating others and being grateful to them, it seems timely that we acknowledge the hardships encountered by our foremost educators—our teachers. For most teachers and students, online classes are still the norm though speculations suggest that this would no longer be the case next school year—hopefully. We must remember to be grateful to our teachers as well and help them alleviate their struggles—such as being overworked and/or underpaid—by being less of a burden. Likewise, we must be thankful to those who educate us beyond the four corners of the classroom, those who teach us valuable lessons in life in the streets, in our homes, in where we work.
