The power of the Net

The Internet has become so powerful that broadcast networks are now getting their news from blogs and emails, whereas several years ago, people can only react to news in their blogs or spread them by email. Today, simply by creating a controversy huge enough to grab the attention of a community, you can be on TV the next day. Case in point: the Pangandaman golf brawl and, currently, the case of UP janitor Mang Mileton.

In both issues, I was stunned by how fast news bureaus picked up the stories right off the Internet. I remember having just pressed the 'Sent' button forwarding Dela Paz' daughter's blog on the Pangandamans when I heard it being mentioned on TV. The next thing I knew, it was the hottest topic across segments for two weeks. Similarly, I was surprised to see Mang Mileton being interviewed in Umagang Kay Ganda this morning when I just read about him last night from a forwarded email.

I'm not proud of hastily forwarding Dela Paz' blog as soon as I read it. I should have investigated first instead of letting my emotion get the better of me. I realize that by forwarding that email, I helped spread a lie. The truth finding committee has found Mr. Dela Paz as the aggressor, and most of the account in his daughter's blog are twists of what really happened in the golf club. This goes to show how the Internet is the fastest tool out there for spreadng malice, but at the same time it is also the fastest means for finding the truth. Powered by the Internet, each one of us has become our own one-man truth-finding committee. This is not an optional power to exercise; it is our generation's privilege and our burden.