The truth sometimes hurts
“Bigas Ng Masa” is a remedial measure on the apparent lack of NFA (National Food Authority) rice in the market. Is it possible that there could be a supply manipulation? Or could it be a case involving the law of economics? Some quarters in government claim that because of the high demand of the staple during the recently concluded Christmas celebration, demand was high hence affecting the supply and the cost of NFA and commercial rice. In juxtaposition with supply manipulation is price administration. What is the government doing to control the price hike of the most important staple?
Manipulation comes in all forms. Well, tinkering with the photo is not a novelty since this has been done with the traditional way of developing film. I remember my passport picture way back in 1989 when I was amazed and could not believe it was I in the picture. With the new technology, we face digital manipulation.
According to Merriam-Webster, the word manipulation means to control or play upon by artful, unfair and insidious means especially to one’s own advantage. The Senate has just completed its hearing on fake news. Information could also be manipulated and when this happens, lies are passed on as truth. In effect, it becomes a case of disinformation or misinformation. Manipulation per se is bad enough; it is even worse when the intention is to deceive.
Cyberspace has long been abused by people who want to advance certain agenda using social media. Senate hearings were conducted in this regard but nothing much has been resolved. The initial consensus is to police its own ranks and to be more responsible on what information gets disseminated. When working for the government, there is a thin line between being an information officer and being a propagandist. The citizenry should be educated as to be able to discern information from propaganda.
With propaganda, one may be tempted to avoid a very damaging fact and sometimes in a defensive strategy, an individual may drift from what is true and concoct some lies. The bigger problem in this equation is that how many of our fellow citizens are able to readily determine a deception? Media practitioners and journalists are tasked to search for the truth. However, when the truth hurts someone or the government, somebody calls “foul” and causes some confusion in the process.
The question is: “Who benefits from the confusion as a result of two opposing views, both claiming truthfulness?”