Presstitute Manifesto

Sylvia Estrada Claudio

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Presstitute Manifesto
I don't use the ugliness of the internet to excuse myself from being held accountable for my statements

 

I write a column for Rappler.

I have the right to speak too. But when I speak I check my facts and also back up my opinions with hard work that makes it a “well-thought opinion” or, in certain areas that I have studied and worked on for decades, “an expert opinion.”

I also have the humility to know that very rarely when I speak can I invoke the right of “protection of dissent.” That’s usually when I am in the minority or when I am speaking against (not for) the government.

I don’t troll and I can recognize the trolls who suppress ideas. I can make the distinction between mean putdowns and genuine disagreements. So I will not accept the argument that I should be brave enough to take online harassment just because I am vocal.

And believe me, those of us who criticize this administration get death threats far worse than when we criticized the previous one. So don’t go making this argument against me. I have been ready. From the moment in grade school I began writing for my school paper. And if trolls and their defenders care to know, that type of meanness makes me EVEN MORE vocal. Do as you wish, but I will not yield one square inch of democratic space to you.

On the other hand,  I don’t use the ugliness of the internet to excuse myself from being held accountable for my statements. 

This is why I disdain anonymous news/opinion sites. This is why I have a deep disdain for people who never apologize. That is not accountability. 

I  request for non-trolling and decency. 

I have an expectation that people put in the same hours in the library as I do for putting forward an opinion. I use my credentials properly (for example I don’t use my being a professor to claim expertise on so many disparate issues from storms to foreign policy). 

I have a  basic ethical premise of claiming expertise only at what I am truly scholarly at. I have the humility to listen and defer to the experts in other fields when they speak. I also have the humility to know that going viral and having followers is partly you and partly well-paid social media machines.  

So I take this all with a grain of salt, and I suggest we all realize that popularity on social media these days may not be an expression of real connection with people.

This is what I call “disente” (decent) and I have seen this come from the rich but also from colleagues in the poor communities.

So if this kind of disente is to be used as an argument against me, so be it.

Disente ako. Presstitute ako. – Rappler.com

 

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