Opinion Makers
Recently, you may have found your socmed feeds to be rife with the word wars between mainstream media such as Rappler and bloggers/individuals. Given that both couldn’t possibly be absolutely correct about anything, have you ever asked yourself, Why are they fighting? What’s the fucking point?
The answer? Opinion makers.
Given the prevalence of social media, you might think that anyone who has access to Facebook or Twitter would have no shortage of that. And yet, even with the seeming ubiquity of opinions, there seems to be an increasing need for opinions that truly make sense.
You see, in the marketplace of free ideas, opinions ought to be fairly commonplace or ordinary. After all, when it comes to opinion, everyone has one. There shouldn’t be anything special about it if it comes in such abundant supply. Scarcity drives up the value of a commodity. Where it is readily available, it should come cheap.
So why are they fighting to be the opinion makers of this nation?
The answer? Opinion makers.
Yes, still “opinion makers.”
As ubiquitous as opinions are, they are not equally made. A doctor’s medical opinion has had at least ten years of professional training behind it. A lawyer’s legal opinion has had at least 6 years of schooling plus a few in legal internship behind it. Now those are professionals. What about subjects that are as quotidian as politics? Shouldn’t everyone have a say in how the affairs of this nation are ran?
Of course. That is why even in the most inequitably managed democratic society, the richest as well as the poorest members ARE EVER EQUAL ONLY on election day. Unfortunately, beyond that day, inequity persists. It is the sad reality that we all struggle with but must come to terms with. When it comes to “your say” in public affairs, it is only as good as the THINKING you put behind “your say."
For so long, before the advent of the internet and social media, we have always relied on conventional news media to feed us information. And because they are essentially the only source of news and information, we had to. How the news writers write their stories (slants) and articles dictate how we absorb them and how we form our opinions about public issues. They used to be our “opinion makers”, or “thought shapers.” How we think has a direct correlation to how we behave. Thus, our thoughts indirectly affect our perception of popular issues.
If you consider the consciousness of the reading public as a marketplace that must be won, mainstream media outfits are losing this battle to bloggers. With Google literally at our fingertips and socmed installed on our mobile devices, mainstream media outfits are feeling that their erstwhile monopoly is being slowly whittled away in this laissez-faire of the minds.
As technology develops to be more inclusive, ideas flow, and we change our opinions about things and issues in this flux of information. Whilst it is not particularly politically correct to declare that bloggers seek to replace the mainstream media companies as opinion makers and thought shapers, the fact is, that may really boil down to the same with a minor difference. Their engagement on socmed is more immediate.
The curious and sad thing is, we need opinion makers. Consider the following opinions posted by people on popular issues:
On the subject of deportation of illegal Filipino immigrants in the USA, where Duterte has expressed no desire to influence the new US president’s policy, a netizen wrote, “Paano ka tutulong sa mga Pinoy na nasa Amerika eh ikaw mismo hindi makapasok ng Amerika?” [How do you help Filipinos in America when you cannot even be allowed to enter the country?]
On the subject of the recently concluded Miss Universe pageantry, a netizen blamed it on Duterte that our own candidate failed to bag the coveted crown.
On the older issue of Duterte’s presidency, a person literally called 16.6 million Filipinos idiots simply because they elected a president who curses. That, to her, is what constitutes idiocy.
The above and a nauseatingly long list of comments can be found on socmed, every day. Whilst we understand that some stupid comments are borne out of angst and frustration, it is imperative that we be guided by people with cooler minds, longer logic train, and those who can cast the issues in a better light for us to understand. That is why I find the attempts by the Office of the Vice President and her coterie of socmed warriors deplorably insidious. That is why I find the attempt by Rappler chief executive Maria Ressa to be a living contradiction of her lifelong free press advocacy.
In the free market of ideas, let the readers “form their own opinions” as to who do they find readable.
And credible.
This post was taken from Bryan Ng Co's Facebook page. To access it, click image above.
