I thought this was a column piece of substance considering its author is a former Secretary of Foreign Affairs. In “The social media imperative” published on the Philippine Star, Roberto Romulo writes of “trolls”…
“It was these ‘warriors’ on social media who delivered the presidency to Duterte, who won with over 16.6 million votes–convincingly and overwhelmingly over his strongest rival Manuel ‘Mar’ Roxas II who got over 9.9 million votes,” wrote Chay Hofileña for Rappler in October 2016.
Based on the amount of pro-Duterte disinformation I still see online, when I’m posing as a DDS (die-hard Duterte supporter), his social media campaign continues unabated. “This is part of the reason Duterte remains popular and why Sara and/or Bong Bong Marcos will win in 2022,” one of my friends posted on Facebook recently. “There’s an obscene amount of propaganda materials on YouTube and FB. If the opposition wants to make any dent in next year’s elections, they have to have a substantial presence in these platforms.”
Was I ever wrong. Romulo apparently isn’t aware that the Yellowidiots also have their own troll armies on social media. Not only that, they also have much of traditional media on their side.
Rappler, for example, is in a class by itself because it’s the number one propagandist for the opposition. It doesn’t even make an effort to conceal the same anymore. How else do you explain why they claim to be the most objective media outlet in the country today? Is it because Maria Ressa is the most awarded journalist? She’s not even a Filipino citizen to begin with. I find it hard to believe that a man of such intellectual capacity and stature such as Romulo, can come to a simpletons conclusion. In his previous article “Competent leadership versus gaslighting”, Romulo makes the following assertion…
The Duterte administration has used color to gaslight its stifling of criticism and dissent. “Yellow” or “dilawan” is a term used by the administration as a pejorative for elitist politics and the alleged failed governance of former president Noynoy Aquino and his Liberal Party, which the administration uses to discredit its detractors on the right. It uses “red” as in “red-tagging” to go after its critics on the left – individuals and groups who represent the poor and marginalized sectors of our society – who are critical of what they consider the administration’s anti-poor policies. All these leave people wondering whether Duterte is pro-poor or anti-poor.
“Gaslighting” is a term associated with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Who was it from the Opposition who said “it doesn’t have to be true, it only has to look like the truth”? Oh yeah, none other than Opposition financier Loida Lewis who the late Jojo Robles wrote about in his 2017 piece “When denials ring untrue”…
If [vice president Leni] Robredo and Lewis are once again conjoined in controversy, nobody should be surprised anymore. As I’ve written earlier, the Bicolana politician and the Bicolana junk-bond heiress go back a ways, when they joined forces in the 2013 elections to raise money in the US for Robredo’s first go at politics despite Philippine election laws that prohibit such overseas fund-raising, according to a suit filed against the current Vice President that continues to languish before the Commission on Elections.
Google the most common symptoms of NPD and tell me if the Yellow and Red idiots don’t fit the bill. The most conclusive evidence of gaslighting is Leni Robredo herself. It been one PR stunt after the other for the past five years. It’s not like any of her programs have been institutionalized. She isn’t even articulate but specializes in obfuscation which is another strategy of the narcissist. She also lies with impunity and exists in her own alternate parallel reality universe. Mr. Romulo should consult with a psychiatrist or even a medical specialist because it appears he has early onset dementia.
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