This is in response to Maria Ressa’s comment on a post dated October 5, 2016.
John, sino ba’ng hindi gustong magkaisa? Understand we all live in the Philippines, and every policy affects each and every Filipino. I think we differ in critical thinking and the role of journalism: we believe that no matter who’s in power, our job is to keep that person accountable. That necessarily means challenging whoever’s in power. We help our leader by pointing out what could go wrong – things he may not see or might not have considered. That is the role of the fourth estate.
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Dear Maria Ressa,
Exactly on point, we need journalists to make our government accountable but it is the job of the people (non-mainstream media outlets, bloggers, the social media) to make the mainstream journalists accountable. That necessarily means challenging what is being reported, where your ethics stand and what drives your interest. We help our journalists by pointing out what could go wrong – things you may not see or might not have considered. To provide the people with the information and confidence where the mainstream media failed to do so. That is the rule of the FIFTH ESTATE.
Paid Trolls vs Passionate Individuals
You talked about weaponizing the internet and how the PAID trolls spread misinformation. Clearly you don’t understand how the dark corners of the web work. Let me show you where to start: 4Chan and DarkWeb. Much like our president, it is far from perfect, but man, you cannot deny the authenticity. Immerse yourself and learn that when people are passionate enough, they will go hell bent just to get their voices heard. That is the difference between the Fourth and Fifth estate.
They got “moot”, 4Chan Founder, elected as Time’s most Influential Person of 2008. Despite owning the site for several years, the guy is basically living in his parent’s basement. How on earth could he pay these trolls to vote for him? 4Chan users might have gamed the Time’s poll alright, but they’re no paid trolls. Just because people are behind a mask and getting their voices heard, they are not necessarily paid, they could just be “passionate trolls”. 😉
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
– Oscar Wilde (The Fifth Estate)
Bots, Algorithms and Virality
Word is spreading in social media that Rappler is struggling right now financially, with FB Page Insights data showing decline in engagements to way lower than what the indie pages are doing. You were quick to dismiss that and assure that Rappler is doing fine, and even better. A quick check on your website stats confirms you are right, but we have to examine which segment you are dominating.
Revenue streams in Search Engine Traffic:
I’m confident majority of your traffic segment is coming from Organic search, probably at least 65%, with lowest from Social Media I assume. Now, organic search (Google search) is purely algo driven, it is said to be composed of at least 200 ranking signals, but the mother of all signals is the PageRank Algorithm — which is the graduate study paper of the Google Founders. Pagerank algo can be broken down into 2 parts: Trust and Citation ; the Trust is the authority and Citation is purely quantity-based. A mixture of the two is what drives the pages in the top results, top 3 captures at least 70% of the clicks. Trust metric has more weight, thus mainstream media outlets have an inherent advantage over the indie ones in Google results due to this nature, anonymity has its price after all. Even that, Google results can be gamed just basing on the Citation metric alone, hence Google bombing — now that is literaly WEAPONIZING folks! The Trust aspect can still be gamed through BUYING/SPONSORED blogpost/links in high authority sites to pass through the link equity (tip: reach out to media who can be bought!). Several businesses thrive based on this model alone.
Losing the Social Media Battle:
Facebook algo on the other hand is much harder to game. Why? Because it relies on human interaction to work. Facebook is a social media platform while Google is a search engine. Social media relies on human interaction and search engine relies on citations. Search engines are more calculated, while social media is relational. Facebook algorithms are based on the quantification of human emotion (love, like, sad, happy, angry), any engagement (human interaction) pushes the post further. So yes, there are algorithms, but it needs a human touch to be manipulated unlike in search engines.
Pages/posts gain traction in social media by STRIKING HUMAN EMOTIONS which will drive the engagements and shares to further boost its virality factor. Unlike Google, greater audience reach in facebook is EMOTIONS at work — whether it maybe factual or not. It maybe an algorithm alright, but one that is based on emotions and very difficult to game. Think of how a false bomb threat quickly spreads or this tsunami panic, you don’t need algorithms to spread that! Or maybe we can start a “time to take back the streets” campaign. My GAWD!
Understand that most people already bought into an idea before engaging with it; one that is based on “conscience and faith”. So when we see something that validates that idea (either factual or not), we proceed and shove it on other people’s throat. Thus, when misinformation spreads, that is human nature at work, confirmation bias..Not algorithms, not bots, but passionate individuals who are too lazy to validate! Facebook newsfeed algorithm’s EdgeRank capitalizes on this cognitive bias, our feeds are those most relatable to us — so we read, consume and share that. It is an algorithm, but is based on human nature.
The Difference of Algorithms: FB vs Google
Google’s PageRank is mainly a citation-based algorithm that heavily factors in quantity/trust and thus easier to game through bots. Facebook’s EdgRank is a relationship-based algorithm and relies on human emotions and very hard to manipulate.
Enough with the technicalities and theories. My point here exactly is, if you are doing better in Organic search over Social media then, you are not in the FUCKING position to go BITCHIN around people GAMING ALGORITHMS. Please pardon my French..
Propaganda: Monetization of People’s Emotions, the Sexy Star and the Faceless Revolutionaries
Websites who spread misinformation to monetize the traffic is not a propaganda — it is on the same business as you are on, only they’ll spread anything (whether factual or not) to maximize the revenue stream. The Duterte-supporters are easy target to these monetization techniques. And then you go on ranting like this is one deliberate, well-oiled running Propaganda machine? One that is run by a sexy entertainer?
Oh yes, the propaganda.. take back the internet, take back the facebook campaign? Oh common, anyone who’ve read Noam Chomsky, the MIT professor and radical thinker, knows that propaganda has been here all along, even before Mocha Uson came into play. And it is not the internet propaganda or social media he kept on raving about. In his essay “Necessary Illusions: Though Control in Democratic Societies”, he wrote:
The major media-particularly, the elite media that set the agenda that others generally follow-are corporations “selling” privileged audiences to other businesses. It would hardly come as a surprise if the picture of the world they present were to reflect the perspectives and interests of the sellers, the buyers, and the product. Concentration of ownership of the media is high and increasing. Furthermore, those who occupy managerial positions in the media, or gain status within them as commentators, belong to the same privileged elites, and might be expected to share the perceptions, aspirations, and attitudes of their associates, reflecting their own class interests as well. Journalists entering the system are unlikely to make their way unless they conform to these ideological pressures, generally by internalizing the values; it is not easy to say one thing and believe another, and those who fail to conform will tend to be weeded out by familiar mechanisms
Let me call it the “Rappler Effect”!… 😀
That is why people lost faith in mainstream media in the first place, because people might have detected the bullshit that the mainstream media has been feeding us. Much like any decentralized system (chaotic yet transparent), the internet and the social media is the hardest to manipulate. Why? its power lies directly to the people. And you, a mainstream journalist, is asking to take it back? It was never yours in the first place to take — it is OURS, the PEOPLE, the unheard, the unfunded, the revolutionaries, the Fifth estate.
You need to go back to your drawing boards and have your strategy (intent) checked. Why on hell is it that a singer-dancer who provides “sex advice and sessions in their bedroom,.. with trademark gyrations and near-explicit sexual moves” – your words, not mine – is able to get the mass following and engagement while a team of well-funded elites and intellectuals led by a Princeton Educated CEO could not dare to achieve? Do you realize that the sexy dancer you explicitly discredit, is the same person you’ve incited as masterminding a sophisticated Propaganda Machine? Do you realize how outrageous you sound? But, was it really her? She played a critical role, but it was nothing deliberate or calculated.
In the digital age, information is decentralized, it is available to everyone, Prometheus has stolen the fire of Olympus. And despite how hard you try to discredit and look down to us, despite your intellectual snobbery, people now is not how dumb you think we all are. We smelled the same bullshit brought up by a radical thinker decades ago. People are not dumb, people can no longer be easily manipulated.
In your outcry, you should realize that being smart, reading books and writing good grammar does not give you the license to be heard. Just like in the dark sections of the internet, unfunded faceless people are willing to work together and die for a cause. Titles and education do NOT drive the respect in this arena, the AUTHENCITY of the Intent is what matters. When one is faceless, you have nothing but the idea he represents.
And maybe that is why it’s very hard for you to accept ThinkingPinoy’s rise. How can a faceless persona gain the respect of the people. You missed where to look, you should not be looking for the face behind the mask, you only need to look at the idea.
And yes, when you are surrounded by self-absorbed journalists who are paid to do a job and despite the small following, have the gall to get their Social Media profiles verified — you cannot make sense of the unfunded faceless individuals who fight for an idea. You cannot help but attach motives behind it — Propaganda.
Confirmation Bias: Bots have emotions
We are all slaves of the bias of our culture, environment, education and readings. As factual as you are due to your journalistic background, it does not exempt you from having any bias after all. The only difference is that you “selectively” fact-check things before sharing it. Take Nobel Prize Winner Daniel Kanehman’s word for it, the Endowment Effect, which states “people ascribe to more value to things merely because they own them.” An intellectual, however snob, does not have immunity to his inherent human flaws, unless you’re a bot.
In your FEAR CAMPAIGN of “Weaponizing the internet”, you mentioned almost everything in your #HackSociety interview that would validate your stand, but failed to quote a crucial statement from Data Scientist Stephanie Sy which said “But I think the piece they will never be able to mimic is that bots are not connected to real human beings, while real human beings are connected to real human beings. That’s what I think the most effective filter really is.” That’s my exact argument I mentioned previously, that is exactly my point. Why on hell did you not include that?
Lastly, let me give you a taste of your own medicine: Deep Feelings: A Massive Cross-Lingual Study on the Relation between Emotions and Virality, a study conducted about virality and emotions in social media. And guess where the dataset came from? RAPPLER!
Findings? Emotions obviously had an impact on sharing and discussions. Higher broadcast on inspiration, happiness and dominance.
Conclusion: After reading the study and Maria Ressa’s Fear Campaign, I therefore conclude that BOTS HAVE FEELINGS! SAY No to extra-judicial feelings. Bots have rights.
How can you not mention this in your uncompromising fact-based self-righteous Fear Campaign of Weaponizing Series? Anwer: Confirmation bias. With your intellect and fact-based attitude, you are still human after all @MariaRessa, let us welcome your humanity! Embrace it.
The Rashomon Effect: Samurai’s Self-Deception
It is also obvious that we differ in the role of critical thinking and journalism. Much like me, I take it that you believe that you speak for the truth and what is right. This concept can be found in some religious texts. The Koran mentions “those who are wrongful while thinking of themselves that they are righteous.” We both claim to be righteous but only one could be right.
Legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa brilliantly presented this conundrum in his film Rashomon — characters with different backgrounds (the wife, the samurai, the bandit, the woodcutter, commoner, priest) who offer self-serving and contradictory views of the same incident. We always have a tendency to save face, or pursue our own interest even up to the point of deceiving ourselves. Dan Ariely’s work, the renowned Behavioral Psychologist, has proven it countless times. If the honorable samurai was no exemption to that, what more for the journalists? Cognitive bias is a bitch and we are all its slaves.
The Intent: We are all victims
Mainstream media is a business and its job is to make the government accountable while profiting from it and making the investors happy. It might be a passion for you but it is still a job. For us, it is driven by passion, hopes and dreams. Our job is to make the government/journalist accountable simply to make this country better — nothing more, nothing less. That is the difference.
As CEO, you have a business to run firsthand. For us, we only have this country to lean on. That is exactly the reason of the unprecedented social media movement you cannot dare to accept, because we finally have this uncompromising President who is spilling his later years of retirement and peace for the betterment of this country, for the ordinary Filipinos, the unwilling candidate who warned to not get himself elected, a strongman who came weeping and afraid to his mother’s tomb asking for help when the people chose him so. And yes, we will fight for this man, we will defend him like our own blood. Because while you elites are ripe with options, this man’s hopes and dreams is the only chance we have. His dreams are our own. His business is our dreams. And yes, we will protect him, we will protect our dreams.
Despite the theatrics of having yourself called names in this event, you forget that it was you who first labeled us as paid trolls, bots, gamers of algorithm and propaganda machines. So by virtue of Kurosawa’s Rashomon, we are all victims here after all, and we have our own self-serving story to tell. Who’s interest are we truly protecting ourselves from? Who’s deceiving who?
Yours truly,
Anonymous Paid Troll
p.s.
——–
Fourth Estate | Fifth Estate
Mainstream Media | Non-mainstream (Blogs, social media)
Funded | Non-funded
For Revenue | For a cause
Rappler, INQ | Wikileaks, TP, Sas, Mocha, GRP
Intellectual Snob | People
Note to Maria Ressa, I still respect you for what you have done. But you cannot run a religion and a business at the same time for God’s sake. Learn from ThinkingPinoy, Sass Sasot, GRP and others — these people basically invested their free time for a cause, and that is why people trust them more.
Lastly, your team’s intellectual snobbery backfired when they started demeaning people in comments section and discrediting Mocha Uson. Social media is a decentralized antifragile system, the more you hit it, the stronger it gets. As a journalist, your job is not to fight or justify yourself, your job is to keep reporting the facts. Let the people complain and rant about how bad you are doing despite your best efforts. That is the nature of democracy, which gives you the same right to criticize the government as you see fit. Remember, we are all victims here!
———
Uncopyrighted Under the rules of Zenhabits.net
We are our own revelation.
Most people, especially, in particular, Failipinos in the Failippines, are in doubt about certain matters ascribed to their past. They may have seen them, may have said them, done them, or they may only have dreamed or imagined they did so. It is an acknowledged fact that we perceive errors in the work of others more readily than in our own.
If there’s something you really want to believe, that’s what you should question the most.
This is not just a nailed it right piece. This is atomic bomb directly hitting dead @Maria Ressa’s @rappler and her minions. I wonder if Maria Ressa can still find words to twist this again. Uh oh, these minions are experts in twisting facts so no further questions. LOVE YOU MARCUS!!
Very well said! Excellent! Thank you!
BOOM!! Sabog! This! THIS! THIS!
When mainstream media started publishing news attacking the SUPPORTERS of certain politicians and ACTING like the morality police of this nation, that’s when they just lost it.
They have claimed, time and time again, that they are the FOURTH ESTATE. That they are the watchdog, that they are doing what they are doing for the country and for the people but SADLY, their VISION And mission are not evident in their write ups and EDITORIALIZED news. When they started discrediting MOCHA USON and just kept on defending themselves from every mud thrown at them…they’ve lost it really. They don’t even accept criticisms. When the people no longer run to you when there is corruption or they don’t trust you…you have to ask yourself what could be wrong, you should look at yourself instead of pointing fingers and blaming your used to be believers for no longer believing you.
A lot of people have finally awaken and they now see the BS that the mainstream media is feeding them and that is because of SOCIAL MEDIA. Unfortunately, Maria Ressa, doesn’t seem to understand how social media works and is now throwing tantrums because things are getting out of control.
At last someone mentioned 4chan and what trolls really are. I’m appalled how Maria Ressa and her team thinks they own the internet when they themselves doesn’t know much about the history of forums and social media and how people can unite through the use of internet even before blogs and Facebook came to light.
As a search engine optimizer and digital marketer for 8 years, I cringed a little about Google PageRank. It doesn’t exist anymore, it’s obsolete. While Google maybe driven by pure algorithm, this algo is infused with artificial intelligence by considering ranking factors according to content relevance and its usefulness to website visitors.
But you’re right about trust and citation.
PageRank as toolbar was decommissioned in the previous years, yet still remains as one core algorithms despite the recent integration of their AI system RankBrain. 😉
Rappler “weaponized” the internet first to promote the Yellow camp’s agendas & to persecute its political enemies. Now, they’re crying foul when common citizens are rising up to beat them in their own game. People are fed up by their spin & smear antics.
The president’s critics have already made up their minds & are quick to conclude that those police counter-responses to violent resistance by druggies are “extra-judicial”——Critics create controversy to resist the president’s efforts, yet would complain over delays in the president’s time table.
she is acting like a spoild brat that if she doesnt get what she wants she will throw tantrums
This is an excellent piece. Good job Marcus.
The most unfiltered personal truth. Marcus must be very passionate when his writing the piece for I could even feel his emotions while reading his every word.
Bottom line is, “one’s interest or desire” makes us all differ. It defines what we do, didn’t do, can do, cannot do, would do and wouldn’t do. Simply because our senses are driven by this singular force. Our senses will just focus on those things which are relevant for us and so in effect become blind-sided to others truth. Cognitive-bias is normal because it is just an effect of a human tendencies, therefore, I can forgive @MariaRessa 😉
Just want to encourage her to redefine her interest, and if it is impossible for her to stand for people’s interest vs. career-driven interest then I suggest at least strike a sense of balance between all forces and play good. 🙂
Leibrook, I was a silent supporter. Politics for me was a private matter among friends and families. I must admit, I was teary-eyed, felt like a therapy long overdue.
And yes, I cannot agree with you more about Maria Ressa, exactly my point. In my attempt to write a reply to your comment, it ended up as a new piece. So thank you. Stay tuned!
Marcus, your welcome.
I always wonder why people keep saying, “Truth will set us/you free”.
Truthfulness of something or anything is a personal choice, it always does. It always depend on what you want to believe in. That is why religion nowadays is mushroom-like. There is no end-game when the argument is about the truth of whatever. It is the best card used in politics because you can always break-even. You see?
However, when we will discuss about what is the best interest to aspire or stand for, we can always evaluate and weigh each claims.
That is the card of Mr. Duterte, just base on my understanding. He was trying to convince the Filipinos to check your beliefs, weather it is the truth or not doesn’t help the situation we have right now. His interest is to uplift the people from their mired situation and setting a standard for living as goal is a must. He wants to tell us that right or wrong, good or bad is irrelevant if you are still on the same side of the world. It’s time to advance your interest. It’s time to stretch your limitation, it’s time to face your enemy and tell them, I’m done playing chess with you. If you think you are better, fine you win. Where’s my remuneration? I have family to feed and educate, Sir?
Bottom-line: Truthfulness is subjective. We should have a cause to pursue that is more predictable and fathomable than always wondering how truthful an idea can be.
This article is social media 101 for Maria Ressa. They were good at first but kinain sila ng sarili nilang sistema. They report for their interests not the interest of the truth. Ms. Ressa, you cannot take back the internet because it is owned by everyone. Digest this article and adjust everything. It might help Rappler…might.
Marcus. 🙂
Idol na kita. 🙂
Just saying.
This is an excellent piece of work.
It literally woke me up from my grogginess. I do hope Maria Ressa gets to read this and get that long needed wake-up call.
Thanks Kimyat. The writing process was a wake-up call even for myself.
Related to this topic, I just provided a comment to Gideon who just published a similar commentary (http://www.theguidon.com/1112/main/2016/10/tanga-rin-kami/) regarding “irresponsible posting” of Rambo Talabong’s FB profile in Mocha Uson’s FB page, linking the former to Rappler. What is very revealing is the reaction from Gideon: “. . . we find this action alarming and dangerous. Uson should have thought about the implications of her act. She has unnecessarily exposed Talabong to cyberbullying by posting his personal details, therefore opening the possibility of endangering him and his rights.”
I still cannot understand that these so called student journalists are still sensitive to cyberbullying when in fact, any form of negative reaction, whether we label it as cyberbullying or not, is expected from the social media users.
Para yatang unfair or selective yung world view nila (Matanglawin and Gideon) when it comes to the purpose and use of social media: If they relate the word “katangahan” to Mocha Uson’s name, it is satire. But when Mocha Uson linked Mr. Talabong of Matanglawin with Rappler, Gideon raises the issue that Mocha Uson “unnecessarily exposed Talabong to cyberbullying by posting his personal details, therefore opening the possibility of endangering him and his rights”.
Unless you are in costume party, always speak without a mask.If you are not willing to die for the truth be silent.Remove your mask and tell the truth as if it is your last day on earth. People deserve to know who the person is behind the mask who claims to speak the truth so they will know whether you have no one to serve or protect but the truth.
My friend,
I can slam you with an intellectual rebuttal but that would make me no different from the very people I’m criticizing. If you are smart, you can go on and challenge me for a debate.
In that case, I respect your opinion and does not wish to convert you. I just hope that you will respect mine.
Much love,
Marcus
Salute to you Marcus!
If a goat (in whatever scientific explanation)will able to speak and wanted to tell the whole truth about how it witness a crime just in front of its face, made a few frontal shots of the perpetrator as evidence, Antonio is saying that you need to ask its full set of identification before giving any merit to the presented facts. Love you, Antonio!
But why does the truthfulness/integrity of the message depend on the identity of the messenger? Are you saying that only certain people are qualified to tell the truth?
The sad thing that I’ve seen is that someone’s truth, not to mention “the truth,” is altered by the perceiver. If one gets someone’s truth as a message, along with the facts, argument and ideals, which supposedly makes up the truth, the receiver might not necessarily agree with that. The receiver’s ideals can clash with the messenger’s. Let’s say we got a lot of factual things, which are evidence derived from the conditions of the cited event. We also have arguments, which are derived from the evidence through inferring. Then we have an ideal, which is derived from an interpolation of an argument, and also the person’s narrative.
Given these, the message might be there and the heart may be in the right place, but the receiver only wants to hear a message to re-evaluate their stance from a particular person, and even then, that particular person must be careful. There is an ideal of listening to the truth, even when it comes from a child. However, the receiver’s experience, social rank, knowledge, values and keeping a stance that will favor their community can blind them from even receiving it.
Although we want a centralized concept of truth, I found none after years of experience. I can confidently say that I have full access to only my own truth. If you want a near-absolute objective sense of truth, the closest you can get is that of a legal system, whether it be of an organization, a country or a religion, which only considers the truth of its own ideals and its own legal spirit and the letter of the law. The law is its own and the only context it provides, and that’s the only way to give something closest to an official, homogenized and centralized concept of “the truth.”
All hail Plaridel, Laong Laan, Dimasalang and Lewis Carroll!
Can’t someone tell the truth and not want to be killed for it? How are you supposed to fight for truth when you’re wiped out? This is the black or white mentality somebody commented about here in GRP before. All kinds of information are thrown out there in the field. Whether the messenger is masked or not, it’s all up to perception. There’s a universal sorting mechanism at work. Ad infinitum.
why do people like you continue to exist
Let him defend his view about what is the “truth”. He must exist so you can feel the essence of democracy. Don’t reject his idea as if it is absolute irrelevant. You have the right to challenge or agree but you are not in the position to say what is relevant or whatnot.
What a crock of shit. Who fills your heads with this nonsense? Is it the Church? Politicians? It gets repeated so many times.
How many people are willing to die because Filipinos can’t face the truth? Why should they be? The Filipino is not worth dying for.
People here keep their masks because they know it’s the Filipino Way to deal with accusations by killing the accuser, without conscience or remorse.
Oh, I can relate to that.
A year ago I had a conversation with a Yellowtard. As we goo deeper on the discussion with his ridiculous posts and ad hominem, he dares me to go out and meet me in a place and challenge him to a debate. And I was like “WTF?”
That’s why I decided to block these people as if they are now starting to annoy me. Crap, I am thinking that at the time I give in to his demands then I end up robbed, beaten or worse, in a body bag. Which brings me to the conclusion: Yellowtards are killers… 😛
let’s all unite, let’s all campaign unlike Rappler.
I would have personally wanted to see Ms. Ressa’s face as she reads this article. That would’ve made my day. Nice one Marcus…no, it’s a great article, Marcus!
i just subscribed because i am impressed with the article. it tells it all regarding mainstream media and social media. 2 thumbs up!
Mainstream media should not underestimate the power of the people in social media. This is Democracy at work by the authentic and passionate individuals who they refer as ‘trolls’ who are so fed up with their version of the truth. Your intellect could not fathom our cause because you just don’t have the heart for it.
All praises to you Marcus. Hope to read more of your entries, you are an inspiration to all.
Filipino Cyber Warriors, masked or unmasked , are already in the “mainstream media” to do battle with corrupt mainstream media Journalists, who prostitute their position, to promote the political agendas of corrupt politicians…this cannot be reversed anymore!
Mainstream media turf is already invaded by Filipino Cyber Warriors !
Before we forget, Rappler itself held a forum where the guests said Media Irresponsibility is the biggest problem of Philippine media. I guess they didn’t learn from it.
News from mainstream media is not because of the “Roshomon Effect”. It is more of the “Bribery Effect”…these “Journalists were bribed by corrupt politicians, to promote their political agendas.
Filipino Journalism is now mired in dirty politics. They twist news; they “cherry pick” news; they sanitize news , for the political agendas of their political patron.
Ms. Maria Reesa is longing for those days or years, when they have the power to influence the Filipino minds.
Unfortunately, the Citizen Journalists, came as bloggers, tweeters, Website writers, etc…
Citizen Journalists are more informed, and write better than these so called mainstream media journalists !
Ms. Maria Reesa is a CRY BABY”, and is throwing a Temper Tantrum…because masked/unknown Citizen Journalists, came to steal her good position in the mainstream media.
Internet Blog Readers must FOCUS on the message of the Blog…not on the messenger!
Marcus, before I forget, great piece of work you’ve got here.
Awesome awesome piece! 🙂
Excellent piece! You nailed it Sir!
~passionately read it aloud
I absolutely adore you Marcus. This is truly an amazing piece.
Some carefully worded nastiness retweeted by the “neutral” rappler
https://twitter.com/rapplerdotcom/status/788756614886989828
As you’ve said, resounding feedback. Tit for tat. She deserves these criticisms.
If she won’t listen, then she deserves the hate, the slut-shaming until its loud enough for her to hear it. That is where we need the masses, the voice.
The people cannot lose. She needs to give in.
The thing is, could we even expect media such as Rappler to be fair in reporting? I think we instinctively know what they are there for. They assume a certain position of legitimacy to cry foul when hit back. Even to the point of eyeing some legislation. Geez.
Much like the priest in Kurosawa’s Rashomon who realized the woodcutter’s deception of stealing the expensive dagger, he opted to give the latter a chance.
No matter how difficult for me personally, I would prefer to give her a chance. I am forgiving but I am not stupid. The legislation is making her look bad. And I hope she reconsiders it. Because if she does not, this is not self-deception anymore, its a deliberate agenda.
The people are not stupid. People are angry. This will be her downfall.
Maria Ressa’s “Weaponizing the Internet” means, mobilizing paid trolls to counter attack their respective competitor in the cyber world by reporting their Web page or Facebook accounts as an abusive content, Sas and Thinking Pinoy always encounter it, while Mocha called as “pokpok” and even made a troll page – “Mochang Tanga”.
grp gives rappler too much credit