By Atty. Anfred P. Panes
Just how dangerous is it for one to become an instrument of propagating fake news and false truths in the precipice of electoral engagements? To be an unquestioning follower of a distorted reality while turning a blind eye to the facts presented is alarming. To be a peddler of that false belief is utterly despicable.
In a “world” where Tiktok, YouTube, blog posts, and webpages that abet the proliferation of unverified information and have become strong currencies of popular opinion which form part of one’s belief system, it is high time that we check our sensible reception of the objective facts rather than ego and blind obedience.
It is but an impressive deed to translate loyalty into concrete keyboard advocacy but let it not stand on the groundwork of falsehood. Be a staunch ally of an ethical and competent leader by properly channeling it to the one who really possesses it – by facts and stats, not by mere troll storm.
Ignorance is never always bliss. In this time when our future is at stake when we instate a national leadership, it is still a letdown for us when truth remains elusive – for it is already there, yet refused to be acknowledged.
It is still bothersome to think that truth is still met with puzzling hostility and sometimes thrown out of the window in exchange for what people feel is convenient to appease their egoistic idolatry. An army that marches with blind obedience is fatal towards a more advanced and educated understanding of electoral dynamics when the quest for truth is still the main preoccupation of the electorate. When will we ever learn? When will we ever advance with a more educated electorate?
Trite as it may seem, but the personal is political. It embodies a man’s rationality to be inclined with an ideology based on personal experience. However, it must be reasonably anchored at least to a set of facts. Rationality has its limits. When we see a glaring wrong, we point it out. It is our moral obligation to put an end to that wrong. Judicial recognitions of human rights violation and fiscal anomalies and the findings of reputable educational institutions and independent press indicative of one’s incompetence and ostentatious display of wealth at the expense of people’s money are too significant to be reduced into mere black propaganda. They are established as a factual truth yet eluded by many by simply distrusting the source no matter how credible.
To support a thief, a corrupt, selfish, and incompetent leader spill one’s values beyond the walls of a decent moral compass. Behind all the screaming red flags of deception – from websites, press releases, and fake news mongering sites, and uninformed popular opinion, one’s blind adherence thereto speaks of one’s accountability for this generation and the next. When that mendacious propaganda represents one’s principle while obstinately refusing to acknowledge the truth, he or she is no less than an enabler of lies, deceit, and injustice.
Nevertheless, while we have the means and resources, it is never too late to educate, inform, and encourage everyone to be cognizant of the truth and stop diverging from or revising what has been established as the truth. We can still restore our faith that the unyielding will soon be enlightened and that the system of false belief will have become a bittersweet figment of the imagination of the past, which we should never revert to.
(The author is the founding partner of A. Panes Law and a Professorial Lecturer of the USA College of Law)
