FAKE news started even before the election of President Rodrigo Duterte or American President Donald Trump. That, we knew.
What most people didn’t know was it went as far back to the time of Adam and Eve. Only Pope Francis could authoritatively point to the connection between the temptation of fake news and the biblical tale of Adam, Eve, the snake and forbidden fruit.
The Pope said in his annual World Communication Day message held on the feast day of Francis de Sales, the patron saint of journalists, last January 24, that the snake was the “first fake news” when it fooled Eve. “We need to unmask what could be called the ‘snake-tactics’ used by those who disguise themselves in order to strike,” the Pope said.
The term “fake news” was popularized as a phrase by Donald Trump after his election in 2016. The term was also used after Duterte’s election in the same year to describe social media posts and news stories that are actually invented and used as political propaganda. Those accused of resorting to fake news include journalists, media organizations, political leaders and their supporters, bloggers and other online users.
An Agence France Presse report said Pope Francis used the story of Adam and Eve, from the Old Testament’s Book of Genesis, to highlight that “there is no such thing as harmless disinformation; on the contrary, trusting in falsehood can have dire consequences.” In the story, the snake convinces Eve and then Adam into eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, an act which leads to God expelling them from the Garden of Eden.
What is fake, the Pope said, is one that mimics real news, to seem plausible, and provokes quarrels, foments division, or encourages resignation. Truth, on the other hand, promotes “informed and mature reflection leading to constructive dialog and fruitful results.” He called on journalists to be “protectors of news” who should promote a “journalism of peace.”
“I mean a journalism that is truthful and opposed to falsehoods, rhetorical slogans, and sensational headlines,” the Pope said.
One viral online activity last week was the creation of memes on Presidential Communications Operations Office Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson’s mistake of saying that the erupting Mayon Volcano is located in Naga City. She then corrected herself and said the volcano is in Albay province. Yet images of the Mayon Volcano in Singapore, the United States and many places were created and shared to pick up on Uson’s blunder.
To be fair to Uson, her Mayon statement was not fake news and she wasn’t being a snake in the context of the Pope’s statement. It was an honest mistake. It was a hiccup that could have passed, especially with her apology, but netizens feasted on it because Uson had been a source of fake news in the past.
If there’s a lesson here it is – try not to be a snake because what you do might bite you.