IT’S good to know the distinction between the two. Misinformation is any false or incorrect information. It may just be an honest mistake or at worst a simple lie. There’s already an intention to deceive, an attempt to make someone believe something that is not true, but in a very limited way.
Its more popular equivalents are false or misleading information, bum steer, gossip and false rumor. It has a restrictive context, and unless it finds a good opportunity, it is often transmitted under cover and not in the open.
Disinformation is another animal. It takes misinformation to another level, often to the extreme. Disinformation, of course, is based on a misinformation or a lie that is pursued and elaborated with the intention to deceive not only an individual or a few people, but masses of people.
Disinformation is meant to confuse rivals or perceived enemies, or to influence public opinion. Played big and in the open, it can distort the truth further than what misinformation does. It is driven with an agenda to inflict deep and widespread deception on the people. Its other name is black propaganda.
Unlike the usual propaganda and the big lie techniques designed to draw emotional support, disinformation is meant to manipulate the people at the intellectual level by discrediting a piece of information or by supporting wrong conclusions. Its appeal is more irresistible, its lie almost invincible.
It uses a massive machinery, well-funded and well-oiled, and with an army of moles, sleepers and crawlers in different strategic places doing the spade work daily, all orchestrated by a mastermind who is often hidden.
Just consider the ugly revelations the current Wikileaks that are dragging big names to shame! There one gets an idea of the range and scope of the intelligence and spying systems secretly put to work to do other aspects of disinformation—political, military, commercial, etc.
In this recent controversy about Pope Benedict’s comments on condom use, these concepts come to mind. What is involved is not only misinformation, but a shameless, blatant disinformation carried out by big international institutions with the help of large parts of the media world like the AP.
How else can you conclude when at the start of the rage, the Vatican already made explanations about what the Holy Father meant? Yet, despite these clarifications, agencies like the UN, officials like PNoy and his DOH men, and a good number of mediamen continued crowing their wrong conclusions.
This is not anymore about finding the truth and trying to be objective. This is already marketing an ideology and falling into the subjective trap. Not news reporting, but editorializing. It’s not even fair advertisement. It is pure and simple black propaganda.
Wrong views were echoed and re-echoed “ad nauseam,” reminiscent of the evil ways of Nazi Germany’s Goebbels during World War II, except that in this case we are not in an open, declared state of war.
There is a clear attack on the Catholic Church, on her faith and doctrine, and the corresponding culture these build. There’s a systematic effort to discredit all these especially by sensationalizing the usual human anomalies that can actually occur anywhere else also.
They make a big fuss about clerical sexual misconduct, as if this kind of misconduct does not happen everywhere else, and even condoned. They seem to understand their own kind, but not when these things happen in some parts of the Church.
Worse, I don’t think we can expect any gesture of apology from them. Even when they are caught “in delicto flagrante” lying and doing this disinformation campaign, they don’t seem to acknowledge their mistake.
To put it bluntly, what we have here is a devil’s game. The devil is the father of lies. He can’t help but lie. It’s in his DNA. And the lying has developed into sophisticated levels.
Obviously to counteract this disinformation, the truth has to be brought to the open, no matter how complicated such process involves. Truth in its fullness should be understood as truth that goes together with charity. And charity always involves sacrifice, the cross, understanding, forgiveness, etc.
We need to go through all these requirements to resolve not only the issue of the papal comments on condom, but also all other widely coordinated efforts at disinformation aimed at undermining the Church.
I hope the popular piety surrounding Advent’s “simbang gabi” and Christmas itself will offer the golden opportunity to bring the Christian truth with charity to confront any effort at discrediting the Church and our Christian culture.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Brave witnesses to faith needed
JUST had another round of confirmation in school. This is becoming a yearly affair. Every time a new batch of students comes to our technical school, I soon discover that a great majority of them have not yet received the sacrament.
Catechesis and the other aspects of the preparation are soon given. The day is set, and when it finally comes, there’s always that palpable air of joy and thanksgiving. And the yearning that what was received, like a seed, would fall on good ground, start to germinate, grow and bear fruit.
I guess there are a host of reasons why this phenomenon seems not only true in our school but also in many others. Many Catholics, individuals and families, are still unclear about the importance of the sacrament of confirmation. Ignorance and confusion prevail.
These, plus a string of other social and cultural factors like poverty and the distorted notion of humility that leads people to think confirmation is not anymore that necessary, can explain this sad reality to a certain extent.
There’s a crying need to make this sacrament more known, appreciated and received by the people. And, of course, a greater need for it to be lived as it should. This is the challenge we, both priests and laity, are facing today.
Our Catechism tells us that confirmation “brings an increase and deepening of the baptismal grace, it roots us more deeply in the divine filiation…, it unites us more firmly to Christ, it increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us, it renders our bond with the Church more perfect, it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action…” (1303)
In short, confirmation makes us more like Christ, the very model and pattern of humanity. We need to be “alter Christus, ipse Christus” (another Christ, Christ himself), with the desire of acquiring nothing less than the very mind, will and heart of Christ himself.
This is no exaggeration, a gratuitous, baseless claim. This is God’s will, and for this purpose he has given us everything so we can attain it. But obviously, we need to do our part.
By the very nature of things, God cannot impose his goodness on us. Like him, we are free and are governed by love. If we have to be another Christ, it’s because we want to, and not just because he wants us to.
Confirmation should make us brave and abiding witnesses to our faith. We have to understand that our faith in Christ should always be with us, in our thoughts, judgments and reasoning, in our words and actions, in the different fields of human endeavor, etc.
We have to correct the error of thinking there are instances in our life where only reason and our other human faculties should be used. Faith would have no place in them. This is wrong.
This attitude is usually present in the fields of business, politics, entertainment, etc. It becomes the underlying mind frame when discussing socio-cultural issues until it becomes the governing principle in our whole moral life.
In fact, there are now well-defined and systematic ideologies that not only confine the faith as a purely private matter, but also deny it altogether. And we are not referring anymore to the socialist and communist ideologies. Rabid forms of liberalism are now preaching this kind of doctrine.
The recent controversy, for example, about the Pope’s recent comments on the condoms has shown that these ideologies are not anymore affecting many Western decadent countries, but also our own land as well.
It’s amazing that in spite of the abundant clarifications, many officials, agencies, institutions, and a good part of the media still persist in pursuing and elaborating the lie that the Church has changed her stand on the condoms. There practically was a binge in spreading the misinformation.
It’s in this kind of world now that we urgently need witnesses to our Christian faith who are not only competent and brave but also charitable. We have to be witnesses who in the end judge, speak and do things at the very instance of the Holy Spirit.
This is what the sacrament of confirmation enables us to do, a divine power that we need to be conscious of, develop and use all the time. It makes us nothing less than true witnesses of Christ, and not just good in explaining doctrine that obviously are also necessary.
Let’s pray that the implications of the sacrament of confirmation are not lost on us.
Catechesis and the other aspects of the preparation are soon given. The day is set, and when it finally comes, there’s always that palpable air of joy and thanksgiving. And the yearning that what was received, like a seed, would fall on good ground, start to germinate, grow and bear fruit.
I guess there are a host of reasons why this phenomenon seems not only true in our school but also in many others. Many Catholics, individuals and families, are still unclear about the importance of the sacrament of confirmation. Ignorance and confusion prevail.
These, plus a string of other social and cultural factors like poverty and the distorted notion of humility that leads people to think confirmation is not anymore that necessary, can explain this sad reality to a certain extent.
There’s a crying need to make this sacrament more known, appreciated and received by the people. And, of course, a greater need for it to be lived as it should. This is the challenge we, both priests and laity, are facing today.
Our Catechism tells us that confirmation “brings an increase and deepening of the baptismal grace, it roots us more deeply in the divine filiation…, it unites us more firmly to Christ, it increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us, it renders our bond with the Church more perfect, it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action…” (1303)
In short, confirmation makes us more like Christ, the very model and pattern of humanity. We need to be “alter Christus, ipse Christus” (another Christ, Christ himself), with the desire of acquiring nothing less than the very mind, will and heart of Christ himself.
This is no exaggeration, a gratuitous, baseless claim. This is God’s will, and for this purpose he has given us everything so we can attain it. But obviously, we need to do our part.
By the very nature of things, God cannot impose his goodness on us. Like him, we are free and are governed by love. If we have to be another Christ, it’s because we want to, and not just because he wants us to.
Confirmation should make us brave and abiding witnesses to our faith. We have to understand that our faith in Christ should always be with us, in our thoughts, judgments and reasoning, in our words and actions, in the different fields of human endeavor, etc.
We have to correct the error of thinking there are instances in our life where only reason and our other human faculties should be used. Faith would have no place in them. This is wrong.
This attitude is usually present in the fields of business, politics, entertainment, etc. It becomes the underlying mind frame when discussing socio-cultural issues until it becomes the governing principle in our whole moral life.
In fact, there are now well-defined and systematic ideologies that not only confine the faith as a purely private matter, but also deny it altogether. And we are not referring anymore to the socialist and communist ideologies. Rabid forms of liberalism are now preaching this kind of doctrine.
The recent controversy, for example, about the Pope’s recent comments on the condoms has shown that these ideologies are not anymore affecting many Western decadent countries, but also our own land as well.
It’s amazing that in spite of the abundant clarifications, many officials, agencies, institutions, and a good part of the media still persist in pursuing and elaborating the lie that the Church has changed her stand on the condoms. There practically was a binge in spreading the misinformation.
It’s in this kind of world now that we urgently need witnesses to our Christian faith who are not only competent and brave but also charitable. We have to be witnesses who in the end judge, speak and do things at the very instance of the Holy Spirit.
This is what the sacrament of confirmation enables us to do, a divine power that we need to be conscious of, develop and use all the time. It makes us nothing less than true witnesses of Christ, and not just good in explaining doctrine that obviously are also necessary.
Let’s pray that the implications of the sacrament of confirmation are not lost on us.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Dense and/or malicious?
WHAT a spin it was!
For a while I was frozen in disbelief as I read newspaper headlines and commentaries of what the Pope said recently about condoms. Who would not be dismayed when you read titles like, “Church has changed her position on condoms”?
There were more disconcerting takes. UN officials welcomed the Church’s change of heart. Palace told bishops should now soften their stand on the RH bill given the Pope’s statement on condoms.
Lagman, the main RH bill proponent, and the Damasonians were practically dancing in the streets. Some clerics now lawyering for the bill must be excited.
I could not believe that some officials who are supposed to have some IQ and the media would bother to publish this clear case of misinformation, since the clarification on the part of the Vatican was readily available.
It was again another field day for sensationalism. Virtually a bar room type of atmosphere, complete with the carousing and the drunkenness, with practically the whole international community as the stage.
The Pope’s words were twisted. Commentators just selected a part and blew it up according to their own agenda. They were actually expressing their own mind, not the Pope’s.
Where have we fallen into? I can’t help but think that those responsible for transmitting this piece of misinformation must be dense and/or plainly malicious. Sorry, I don’t have many other possibilities.
To make things worse, I wonder if we can expect any note of apology from any of the protagonists. What is most likely is to play the blaming game. And most likely the blame would mainly fall on the Pope for making such statement.
But the Pope did right in clarifying that matter about the condoms. What he was actually saying was that condoms as contraceptives are always wrong, are always sinful.
Yet in spite of that sinfulness, one can still distinguish shades of mitigating circumstances. The “justification” of the use of the condom arises from this—that it can prevent graver harm, that it can be a sign of a beginning conversion, etc.
Just the same, its use as a contraceptive in spite of those mitigating circumstances is already wrong. Obviously, when the condom is used as a balloon for decoration or toy, its use is not anymore sinful. It’s now moral.
So the Pope is trying to be nuanced in his approach to a moral situation. Who says the Pope and the Church in general are just dogmatic, so black and white as not to admit shades? I would say, the Pope was trying to take us a step further than our current state of understanding about condom use.
The reasoning behind the Pope’s argument echoes the one used by our Lord himself when he talked about the unjust steward, found in Luke 16. Our Lord praised the dishonest steward for his cleverness in arranging things when he, the steward, would eventually be kicked out of his employment.
So, our Lord, even in the midst of an over-all sin, managed to see bright spots in that cleverness. The parable concluded by saying, “The master commended the dishonest steward for his prudence. For the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.” (Lk 16,8)
As our Lord said, we need to be innocent as doves but also shrewd as serpents. We have to be very prudent and discerning, without allowing that prudence to spoil the goodness of our heart. It’s not easy, but it can be done, with God’s grace and our efforts.
This quality is necessary these days, when we know that some people and even some leaders in politics, business, etc., can be playing the devil’s games. Recently, for example, we were pleasantly surprised to hear former US President Clinton sort of giving a positive comment on our big population.
Without saying that he is playing the devil’s game, we are of course happy to hear what he said, though we should not forget what he is known for. He is good in playing games, and so we just have to decipher what game he is playing this time.
If in the end, it’s found that he is being honest, then well and good. If not, then we have to act accordingly. We should try to avoid being taken for a ride, being sweet talked to. We are living in dangerous times. We need to be familiar, for example, with the reality behind the expression, “wag the dog.”
But prudence should allow us to see the silver lining in the world’s dark clouds.
For a while I was frozen in disbelief as I read newspaper headlines and commentaries of what the Pope said recently about condoms. Who would not be dismayed when you read titles like, “Church has changed her position on condoms”?
There were more disconcerting takes. UN officials welcomed the Church’s change of heart. Palace told bishops should now soften their stand on the RH bill given the Pope’s statement on condoms.
Lagman, the main RH bill proponent, and the Damasonians were practically dancing in the streets. Some clerics now lawyering for the bill must be excited.
I could not believe that some officials who are supposed to have some IQ and the media would bother to publish this clear case of misinformation, since the clarification on the part of the Vatican was readily available.
It was again another field day for sensationalism. Virtually a bar room type of atmosphere, complete with the carousing and the drunkenness, with practically the whole international community as the stage.
The Pope’s words were twisted. Commentators just selected a part and blew it up according to their own agenda. They were actually expressing their own mind, not the Pope’s.
Where have we fallen into? I can’t help but think that those responsible for transmitting this piece of misinformation must be dense and/or plainly malicious. Sorry, I don’t have many other possibilities.
To make things worse, I wonder if we can expect any note of apology from any of the protagonists. What is most likely is to play the blaming game. And most likely the blame would mainly fall on the Pope for making such statement.
But the Pope did right in clarifying that matter about the condoms. What he was actually saying was that condoms as contraceptives are always wrong, are always sinful.
Yet in spite of that sinfulness, one can still distinguish shades of mitigating circumstances. The “justification” of the use of the condom arises from this—that it can prevent graver harm, that it can be a sign of a beginning conversion, etc.
Just the same, its use as a contraceptive in spite of those mitigating circumstances is already wrong. Obviously, when the condom is used as a balloon for decoration or toy, its use is not anymore sinful. It’s now moral.
So the Pope is trying to be nuanced in his approach to a moral situation. Who says the Pope and the Church in general are just dogmatic, so black and white as not to admit shades? I would say, the Pope was trying to take us a step further than our current state of understanding about condom use.
The reasoning behind the Pope’s argument echoes the one used by our Lord himself when he talked about the unjust steward, found in Luke 16. Our Lord praised the dishonest steward for his cleverness in arranging things when he, the steward, would eventually be kicked out of his employment.
So, our Lord, even in the midst of an over-all sin, managed to see bright spots in that cleverness. The parable concluded by saying, “The master commended the dishonest steward for his prudence. For the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.” (Lk 16,8)
As our Lord said, we need to be innocent as doves but also shrewd as serpents. We have to be very prudent and discerning, without allowing that prudence to spoil the goodness of our heart. It’s not easy, but it can be done, with God’s grace and our efforts.
This quality is necessary these days, when we know that some people and even some leaders in politics, business, etc., can be playing the devil’s games. Recently, for example, we were pleasantly surprised to hear former US President Clinton sort of giving a positive comment on our big population.
Without saying that he is playing the devil’s game, we are of course happy to hear what he said, though we should not forget what he is known for. He is good in playing games, and so we just have to decipher what game he is playing this time.
If in the end, it’s found that he is being honest, then well and good. If not, then we have to act accordingly. We should try to avoid being taken for a ride, being sweet talked to. We are living in dangerous times. We need to be familiar, for example, with the reality behind the expression, “wag the dog.”
But prudence should allow us to see the silver lining in the world’s dark clouds.
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