Quite recently, public opinion on the meaning of history has taken a negative turn so to speak. With the controversial statement of the actress from Maid in Malacañang, it seems evidently clear that most of the Filipino people define history based on their political biases — not based on what it really is: an academic discipline.
A good number of individuals have pitched in, and proffered their own tendentious views of what history really is. Some say history really is like tsismis — defending the actress’ statement, and discrediting the profession of academic historians in the process. Admittedly, from a historian’s perspective, it seems insulting as the statement undermines the historian’s craft.
However, after much consternation, I suppose historians need not be insulted by this statement as it obviously comes from ignorant individuals who have no knowledge whatsoever on what the meaning and relevance of history.
In reality, a few people who concur with the statement of the actress are post-modernist historians, and I welcome their arguments as they talk about historiography or how historians write history; but unfortunately, most who join in the social media kerfuffle are “educated” individuals — some even with graduate degrees and PhDs (not related to History) — who try so hard to be relevant by pretending to know about another academic discipline, i.e., History, just because it is a controversial issue at the moment.
They love the drama, they love the attention, and they love to gossip about other people especially those who are antithetical to their political views.
In a hilarious twist, the Marcos supporters have become unknowing post-modernists themselves by defending the aforesaid actress as they try to sugarcoat the Marcos years as the “golden era” of Philippine history; while staunch critics of the Marcoses vilified the actress with unnecessary ad hominem attacks.
At the end of the day, however, we need not necessarily malign or support the person as she is just out there promoting her film, albeit in a terribly wrong way.
At the end of the day, we have to defend history as an academic discipline. We have to defend it against people who try to use it as means for political redemption, and we definitely have to defend it from false experts who think they know about History but do not even know about historiography and the methodologies in writing history.
One way of defending it is to learn about it not from social media, which is a cesspool of misinformation and disinformation, but from either talking to experts in history, i.e., historians, or even better enroll in either an undergraduate or graduate courses in history.
Misinformation and disinformation are prevalent, and the Marcoses are now trying to use history as a way of exculpating themselves from the crimes which they have committed in the past.
It is their way of making people forget how they plundered our government before, and how they enabled and instigated human rights abuses during the Martial Law period.
Unfortunately, most of the Filipino people have fallen victim to this revised narrative. They forget about objectivity and facts when their political beliefs are questioned. They become like paid online political trolls when you do this to them; they bite back and they bite hard.
To them, it is not a matter of seeking for the truth anymore, but more of pride and ego. If you step on their ego and political beliefs, they act like rabid dogs ready to bite whoever does this to them.
Fortunately, those whom they bite do not get infected by their rabies; although some people get hurt, but the rest are impervious to it since most of them are determined to seek and uphold the truth.
Most of them also know that these rabid supporters are comparable to online political trolls who, according to Cabanes and Cornelio in their essay, The Rise of Trolls in the Philippines, are some individuals who use “…the practices of online trolling as part of negative political campaigns,” and as they quoted Urban Dictionary, these trolls use “the art of deliberately, cleverly, and secretly pissing people off, usually via the Internet.”
Suffice it to say, allow me to belabor the point that the academic discipline of History is under threat and as an historian, I believe we should not allow those who undermine and discredit this field of study to continue what they are doing without doing something ourselves.
We must counteract and we must obviate the misinterpretations and misunderstandings of history by teaching the new generation what History really is and by letting them understand Philippine history from the lens of an historian — not a vlogger, a celebrity, a social media influencer, or worse, an online troll.
That is how we should counteract the attacks against History. We must not feed the online trolls! Historians should combat these online political trolls by ignoring them and focusing on educating the new generation.
That is why I encourage those curious students and lovers of history to enroll in NORSU’s Bachelor of Arts in History Program.
However, for those who have finished their undergraduate course in history or in the social sciences, you can also enroll in NORSU’s Master of Arts in History program. It is never too late for you to enroll, and study history if you are really interested to pursue a career in it.
We need more actual experts in history — we need more historians, and not bumptious false experts whose views are merely based on social media posts from paid vloggers and propagandists.
We also need vigilant academics — such as Prof. Ambeth Ocampo, a public historian, who, even when hurled at with odious diatribes and hateful speech in social media, continues to fight the good fight, and call out historical distortions when he sees it.
We must not allow the false experts’ ignorant comments on history to turn into generally- accepted facts that discredits History as an academic discipline. Listen to historians, they are trained in the field and they know better.
Admittedly, historians do not monopolize knowledge in history, but rest assured, they know better than others who were not trained in the aforesaid field — and definitely, you would much rather listen to an actual expert, than those online trolls who feed on drama and attention, and are too confident about their “knowledge” in history that they think they know better than historians.
Whenever you see an online troll talking about history and politics, and you know they do not have any background in it, or at the very least some academic training on it, the best thing you can do is to ignore them.
The more you entertain them and their unsubstantiated thoughts, the more you will fall into their trap. Please, for the love of God, do not feed the online trolls!
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Author’s email: JJAbulado@norsu.edu.ph
