(Part 2 of 2)
Good thing, academics and scholars were quick to defend the public historian after he became a target of online attacks. The Network in Defense of Historical Truth and Academic Freedom and Tanggol Kasaysayan stand with Ocampo.
Tanggol Kasaysayan believes the social media debate “would have been a much-welcomed occasion” for historians and the public to reflect on the processes of history. However, it “quickly degenerated into a smear campaign” against Ocampo.
Meanwhile, Network in Defense of Historical Truth and Academic Freedom posed these questions: “Is this how we treat and repay our teachers? Our historians? Subject them to vile and discriminatory, unprincipled and unjust attacks?”
“Historians like Ambeth Ocampo deserve the respect, and if a writer and scholar of his stature is vilified like this, then what can others expect, when they stand up for truth and history?” it said.
Moreover, researcher Fatima Gaw of the University of the Philippines Dilliman warned that the academe is “under attack” by what she considers a systematic denial and distortion of facts and evidence. “Along with the media, we are consistently displaced by influencers and content creators who are pseudo-intellectuals, who are more in touch with the public’s language and experiences,” she said in a webinar of the network.
Ocampo was right when he pointed out that the issue is bigger than him because the online attacks are not only casting doubt on him but rather it is the profession, the discipline that is being destroyed. And yes, there is a need to push back because these online assaults are “eroding people’s trust in history, in truth, in professionalism and in expertise”.
You see, half-truths thrown to the public are harder to deal with because there is a little truth to it. If only all audiences are discerning and reflective that they will all recognize the need to untangle these pieces of information in order to separate fact from fiction.
AMPLIFYING THE CALL
Rappler CEO and Nobel laureate Maria Ressa amplified Ocampo’s call when she spoke before the medical community during the Battle for Facts forum on fake news and disinformation. In a Rappler story, Ressa impressed upon the audience of the forum that someone knowledgeable or an expert in a field must stand up and speak out in order to correct a lie before it has a chance to infect many others.
“Meaning has been compromised by those who can reach the most minds the fastest, through provocative and loud content regardless of whether one is an expert on the subject or not,” Ressa said.
And yes, no incentive can be gained from standing up to disinformation because those who speak up get bludgeoned online until they decide to leave social media and be silent.
She also pointed out that when experts leave, it leads to a “ripple that is much larger,” because instead of helping stop the spread of false information in their own personal networks, they are actually helping fake information to spread faster. This brings me to these questions: Who is brave enough to heed the call? Who is ready to be clobbered online for calling out and correcting disinformation?
Yes, there is a need to push back. But the push back should not be only initiated by academics and experts but by the entire community that still believes in honoring and preserving the integrity and credibility of historians, academics and experts who painstakingly work in order for history to be documented and taught for the future generations to learn from, but also to ensure that its meaning is never compromised.
Now, who is with us in this crusade to not only defend history, academics and scholars but to also reclaim social media as a space for truth? It is high time for some sensible noise.*
