Mainstream "news" orgs criticize a system of "trolls" they were complicit in creating



A top officer of Rappler was quoted saying this:

In the Philippines, paid trolls, fallacious reasoning, leaps in logic, poisoning the well---these are only some of the propaganda techniques that have helped shift public opinion on key issues…

What I find funny and disturbing about that remark is the person who said it has had decades to use her prominence, celebrity and acceptance from the mainstream organizational media to lift the consciousness and intellectual standards of the Filipino people, but she has been part of a system and campaign to dumb people down--whether as one of the former news heads of a powerful broadcast network which has been accurately identified as biased and the trigger for the "dumb-down the Filipino" campaign.

The irony of that remark is she is criticizing something she has been complicit in creating.  She is part of a system that has created a monster.  She is part of a system that has opened Pandora's Box.  And she continues to be part of a system that has put the highest standards of journalism and journalism ethics to shame.

Once upon a time--and that time is long gone--I knew her as smart, credible, idealistic and principled.  How times have changed, and how real-world and "pragmatic" considerations have obliterated that principled idealism.

While it is necessary to seek ways to sustain life, the struggle to uphold the highest principles and idealism should never--let me repeat, never--take a back seat to "pragmatic" and self-serving considerations.

And the greater public interest should never be sacrificed, even if fighting for it impinges on personal ambitions and desires.

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David Nye as posted on Facebook.


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