PH UPHILL CLIMB: LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND

 

"Duterte Supporters Likely To Fall For Fake News – Study" (The Manila Times)

Voices, Opinion, Investigation, and Siyensa for the Philippines (VOICE Philippines) conducted the study of 7,744 students from various colleges and universities. Based on the results of the first round of survey from May 17 to June 24, 2021, BOSES convenor, Dr. Imelda Deinla said:

"The survey demonstrates that respondents who support the administration of Duterte are more likely to believe in fake news and not believe in real news. On the other hand, survey respondents who are supporters of the opposition are more capable of determining whether a material is a fake or a piece of real news."

The results of the second round of the survey conducted among 24,624 students from August 23 to September 24 showed that "higher trust in Facebook as a source of information is correlated with lower accuracy in identifying real and fake news." Moreover, the survey reported that those with high trust in mainstream media as a source of information are more likely to be able to identify whether material is real or fake news.

The bannered conclusion from the results of the two-round surveys is an EFFECT that begs the question: what is the CAUSE? Only when we "take away the cause will the effect ceases," asserted Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. It may be tough to take away the cause, but for us to find and name the cause straight away is good enough for the moment.

Let me present three sources where we can root out pieces of information that may reveal something for us to find the cause.

A LIE REPEATED MANY TIMES BECOMES THE TRUTH

The first source is the book "Like War: The Weaponization of Social Media" by P.W.Singer and E.T. Brooking (Defense experts) with the following prologue:

"Online news, true or false, is sustained by the number of people who "like" it. Each successive "like" contributes to an algorithm that generates similar content, guaranteeing an infinite echo chamber... Yale University study found that people are more likely to believe a headline if they have seen a similar one before. 'It didn't even matter if the story was preceded by a warning that it might be fake." The authors write, 'What counted most was FAMILIARITY. The more often you hear a claim, the less likely you are to assess it critically.'"

PHILIPPINES: IDEAL TARGET FOR VOTERS' MANIPULATION

The second source is Christopher Wylie, Cambridge Analytica whistleblower who said:

"[T]he Philipines is one of those countries where you've got a lot of people online and a lot of people using social media. So when you've got that kind of set-up, it's an ideal target.

"[W]hen [Cambridge Analytica] was looking to experiment with techniques, experiment with ways of... whether it's manipulating voter opinion or disseminating propaganda, what have you... countries in the global south where you don't necessarily have a fair and balanced media setup, where corruption is rife (endemic), it creates an ideal petri dish type situation where you can experiment on tactics and techniques... if it doesn't work, it doesn't matter, you won't get caught. If it does work, then you can then figure out how to port that into other countries."

YEARS OF VOTERS' MANIPULATION

The third source is Brittany Kaiser, Cambridge Analytica whistleblower who said:

"When I joined Cambridge Analytica in 2014 we had already worked in the Philippines. There was a national campaign where my former company had gone in and undertaken national research to figure out what was the type of persona that would resonate best with voters...
"We had a request straight from Bongbong Marcos to do a family rebranding. This was brought in through internal staff at Cambridge Analytica and was debated. Some people didn't want to touch it and there were others like our CEO Alexander Nix that saw it as a massive financial opportunity and asked us to write the proposal anyway. So, as you call it historical revisionism."

PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS ON VOTERS

World Bank lauds Duterte for PH’s strong economy during the pandemic. Sara Duterte wants to lock up Trillanes in a mental hospital. Video of De Lima’s “admitting” she’s a drug lord coddler. Marcos was a guerilla leader during World War II. ABS-CBN operations “Illegal” for the past 25 years.

Fact-check: All of the above are false.

For Duterte supporters on social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube facts don't matter: Fake news above has been repeated many times giving them more credibility and allowing them to spread further. "Illusory truth effect" is the term for such phenomenon – a glitch in the mind that equates repetition with truth.

BOSES survey results also showed that a similar phenomenon could be observed among Trump's Republican supporters in the US.

Just as we have this "illusory truth effect" among Duterte supporters, so too, the US has its "Fox News effect" among Trump supporters. Forbes' reported a Fairleigh Dickenson University survey that Fox News viewers were less informed about current events than people who didn't follow the news at all. It conjures up the image of Fox News as a black hole that sucks facts out of viewers' heads.

Fake news are like conspiracy theories. I've picked out twin pertinent reasons Psychology Today put forward on why people have believed in fake news: The need to feel safe and the need to belong. I discussed the "Fear" factor in my past "Leni vs Marcos-Duterte: A Modern David And Goliath Fight." The greater the fear, the greater the need for safety, the greater the propensity to fall for "illusory truth effect," to fall for fake news while stuck in the bottom stages of Maslow's hierarchy of needs model. The need to belong, by those stuck at Maslow's third stage, as one reason to fall for fake news is amplified by the in-group bias (Us vs. Them, Dutertards vs. Yellowtards) worsen by the Facebook algorithm that promotes hateful engagements.

QUO VADIS?

We know full well "where we are" as a nation by the political cacophonies we come up against daily in both the mainstream and the social media. Where are we going? A Shining City On A Hill: it is a good choice as an answer for it is Biblical.

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16)

OUR JOURNEY: AN UPHILL CLIMB

Talking about a hill, as a movie buff, what has flashed across my mind was the old war movie "Hamburger Hill," a brutal brief odyssey of a single platoon taking a hill from the enemy. But it's a harsh metaphor. I prefer the vintage "crabs in a bucket" metaphor. You may have guessed my drift incorrectly. It's not "crab mentality." It's "crab mentality in reverse." UP Professor Felipe Jocano, an anthropologist, explained:

"Poor crabs... if you look at carefully the crabs in a bucket, they all want to go up: the crabs below seem to say to crabs above, 'if you climb up, then take us with you.' The problem, Professor Jocano said, there are much more crabs pulling down other crabs than the crabs climbing up."

In other words: Leave no one behind.

This must be the vision of our next President.