THERE'S a new scourge in the media
today. It's called the
fake news. It had its most devastating display during the last US
presidential election where one candidate was touted practically by
all the major news sources to be the winner, hands down.
The outcome was, of course, different. The upset was
shocking. And the world woke up to the realization that it has been
fed, maliciously or not, systematically or not, with fake news.
That this phenomenon happened certainly deserves a more
in-depth study. How could such powerful news agencies, pollsters,
etc., fail to read the mind of the people in general? What an epic,
big-time fail it was!
There can be many, endless reasons behind it. But offhand,
what I can say is that there certainly was a very devious virus of
bias and prejudice involved among the media people that now include
millions of netizens with their blogs and social media accounts.
It was a virus that found its host in the passion-filled
arena of the political warfare, where the light that was shed blinded
more than made people see things properly. It generated what may be
termed as agenda-dictated journalism, where self-serving slanting of
data and the objective assessment and the fair treatment of the issues
were set aside.
Words were inflated or deflated to serve the biases and
prejudices of those in media. More than words, ideologies corrupted
the minds of people to the extent that the people could not judge
things properly anymore and resorted instead to a simplistic
black-and-white tack on the issues.
These ideologies tried to be the core basis for the
people's faith and reasoning. But we know that for all their valid
points, no ideology has exclusive right to be the sole holder and
owner of what is true, right and fair in our human affairs. It's
amazing that many people now turn to ideologies as the bedrock of
their beliefs.
God, his word, his will and ways—in short, the Good
News—are all but dismissed completely. They are considered irrelevant,
a drag and an unnecessary baggage in resolving issues political or
otherwise.
Many people have not come any closer to the realization
that in fact God has to be in the middle of all our earthly affairs,
be it business or politics, etc. No ideology, no personal convictions
can replace him.
In short, we have to listen to the Good News God has given
us through Christ and now in the Holy Spirit that animates the Church
and its many instrumentalities. We have to understand that this Good
News is the foundation of whatever opinion, view, philosophy, ideology
that we may use to pursue our temporal affairs.
In other words, God’s word is the first and last word. Any
word we coin and use in the fields of our sciences, arts,
technologies, politics, business, culture, etc., should begin and end
with God’s word. Otherwise it will have no proper foundation and
orientation.
St. Paul has amply warned us about arrogating our words to
be simply our own. “Let no man deceive himself,” he said. “If any man
among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that
he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with
God…Let no man therefore glory in men.” (1 Cor 3,19-21)
That's simply because God's word or the Good News, as
described in the Letter to the Hebrews, is “living, and powerful, and
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (4,12)
Its primary purpose is to bring us back to God through our
temporal affaris. And so more than just giving us some helpful earthly
knowledge, it gives us the ultimate spiritual knowledge we need to
return to God, even through the very contentious field of politics.
Christ himself said: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but
my words will not pass away.” (Mk 13,31) We need to echo that response
of St. Peter who, when asked if the apostles would also go away from
Christ when he talked about himself as the bread of life, said: “Lord,
to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.” (Jn 6,68)
We certainly have to sit down and see how we can be more
aware of grounding and orienting our words with God’s word, the Good
News. Otherwise, we will be wallowing in fake news.
fake news. It had its most devastating display during the last US
presidential election where one candidate was touted practically by
all the major news sources to be the winner, hands down.
The outcome was, of course, different. The upset was
shocking. And the world woke up to the realization that it has been
fed, maliciously or not, systematically or not, with fake news.
That this phenomenon happened certainly deserves a more
in-depth study. How could such powerful news agencies, pollsters,
etc., fail to read the mind of the people in general? What an epic,
big-time fail it was!
There can be many, endless reasons behind it. But offhand,
what I can say is that there certainly was a very devious virus of
bias and prejudice involved among the media people that now include
millions of netizens with their blogs and social media accounts.
It was a virus that found its host in the passion-filled
arena of the political warfare, where the light that was shed blinded
more than made people see things properly. It generated what may be
termed as agenda-dictated journalism, where self-serving slanting of
data and the objective assessment and the fair treatment of the issues
were set aside.
Words were inflated or deflated to serve the biases and
prejudices of those in media. More than words, ideologies corrupted
the minds of people to the extent that the people could not judge
things properly anymore and resorted instead to a simplistic
black-and-white tack on the issues.
These ideologies tried to be the core basis for the
people's faith and reasoning. But we know that for all their valid
points, no ideology has exclusive right to be the sole holder and
owner of what is true, right and fair in our human affairs. It's
amazing that many people now turn to ideologies as the bedrock of
their beliefs.
God, his word, his will and ways—in short, the Good
News—are all but dismissed completely. They are considered irrelevant,
a drag and an unnecessary baggage in resolving issues political or
otherwise.
Many people have not come any closer to the realization
that in fact God has to be in the middle of all our earthly affairs,
be it business or politics, etc. No ideology, no personal convictions
can replace him.
In short, we have to listen to the Good News God has given
us through Christ and now in the Holy Spirit that animates the Church
and its many instrumentalities. We have to understand that this Good
News is the foundation of whatever opinion, view, philosophy, ideology
that we may use to pursue our temporal affairs.
In other words, God’s word is the first and last word. Any
word we coin and use in the fields of our sciences, arts,
technologies, politics, business, culture, etc., should begin and end
with God’s word. Otherwise it will have no proper foundation and
orientation.
St. Paul has amply warned us about arrogating our words to
be simply our own. “Let no man deceive himself,” he said. “If any man
among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that
he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with
God…Let no man therefore glory in men.” (1 Cor 3,19-21)
That's simply because God's word or the Good News, as
described in the Letter to the Hebrews, is “living, and powerful, and
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (4,12)
Its primary purpose is to bring us back to God through our
temporal affaris. And so more than just giving us some helpful earthly
knowledge, it gives us the ultimate spiritual knowledge we need to
return to God, even through the very contentious field of politics.
Christ himself said: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but
my words will not pass away.” (Mk 13,31) We need to echo that response
of St. Peter who, when asked if the apostles would also go away from
Christ when he talked about himself as the bread of life, said: “Lord,
to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.” (Jn 6,68)
We certainly have to sit down and see how we can be more
aware of grounding and orienting our words with God’s word, the Good
News. Otherwise, we will be wallowing in fake news.
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