Liamson Times: Opinion Fake News

== [Opinion] The Danger of Fake News ==
Kenneth Aragones | 2:19 PM | December 18, 2014",
The scene outside Paglaum General Hospital is bleak. There are lines of people outside, all with untreated injuries and ailments waiting for someone to help them. Johnrey is a 12-year-old boy with yellowed bandages haphazardly wrapped around his head. He sits with his father, whose crutches are made from pieces of wood and metal that had fallen in the earthquake. They wait.
Xyrie is a 14-year-old girl sitting at her younger sister's bedside. It had been 3 months since her little sister had been awake, 3 months since the last time Xyrie heard her laugh. Together, they wait.
According to articles from various small Filipino blogs, the Ruling was a one-time small-scale event and the after-effects of it are a hoax to control people with fear. If that's so, where are all these injuries coming from? Why are Johnrey and Xyrie still waiting? Who are we waiting for?
The truth is that there is a fake news epidemic that is affecting our country and its citizens. Dr. Tala San Juan of Philippine University said, "It's easy to dismiss these so-called news articles as outrageous, to think there's no way anybody would believe this. But it's happening all over the country now. People are beginning to believe that the effects of the Ruling are no longer a problem."
According to the study launched by the university, almost 30% of readers of these blogs seem to believe the articles they publish. While most are at the very least skeptical, this is quite an alarming number of believers.
Even some big name celebrities are not immune to the clutches of fake news. San Juan says, "It's far worse in their case because they have a platform. People look up to them and trust in their words, their perspectives. So when the everyday person sees their posts, they believe it."
Real people in the provinces continue to suffer. Hospitals have yet to be reconstructed. Evacuation centers are still overflowing, and kids like Johnrey and Xyrie are waiting.
This is the power of disinformation. This is the price of disinformation. As people insist that the effects of the Ruling are a hoax and the damage is far behind us, people die waiting for hope, waiting for help.
As a country, we must not let ourselves be fooled by fake news. We must look to where the real hurt is felt, and right now it is in the provinces, where real people need real help.
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