Myths, folk beliefs, and propaganda: Misinformation noon at ngayon

Begin the lesson by asking students about Filipino folktales, myths and legends they remember from when they were young. Ask why people tell and believe these stories even if they are not necessarily supported by facts. You may use the other guide questions below:

• Should all stories be based on facts?
• When is it okay or not okay for a story to not be based on facts? Can you cite a scenario where myths and folk beliefs can have negative or harmful effects on people?

Ask students about their takeaways from the pre-lesson viewing material, Ambeth Ocampo’s recorded lecture on pandemics in Philippine history. What does Ocampo say about the COVID-19 pandemic (which was the present context when the lecture was made) and other pandemics in Philippine history like Cholera in the 19th century?

Cholera and COVID-19: Misinformation superspreaders

Cholera, a communicable disease that can be acquired when a person consumes food from contaminated sources, was a global concern throughout the 19th until the early 20th century. Similar to COVID-19, the pandemic of the present 21st century, cholera claimed the lives of thousands of Filipinos. Also similarly, these health outbreaks were influenced by misinformation. Both then and now, religious and folk beliefs, rumors, and propaganda play a huge role in people's decision-making regarding their health conditions (Acevedo, 2021). 

Let’s take a look at some snippets from our history:

• In 1820, the Catholic clergy and Spanish merchants started rumors that deaths due to cholera had to do with non-Spanish foreigners poisoning wells. Believing this to be true, the angry natives took their bolos and massacred the foreigners. 
• Heavily influenced by religious and superstitious beliefs, Filipinos feared the cholera outbreak as some divine punishment and a sign of the end of times. They wore wooden crosses around their necks or painted the cross in front of their houses and doors as protection. In Capiz, the people attributed the cholera to three evil spirits which poison the people. 
• During the American period, an entire district in Manila was burned down and residents were turned to concentration camps where they were forcibly treated with medication. Harsh government measures like this were met with either fear or rage from the locals. It led to the spread of anti-American propaganda including rumors that Americans were dropping poison into wells to deliberately kill villagers. 

Misinformation as we know it today has always been present in society throughout human history – spread through rumors, folk beliefs, myths, propaganda, and other forms of communication. People are especially vulnerable during times of distress and confusion, such as pandemics. 

To draw similarities between past and present, identify popular rumors, folk beliefs, and propaganda that spread during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ask students to share how these affected their family’s decision-making on COVID-19 prevention and treatment.

Ask students what comes to mind when they hear the word “propaganda”. List them on the board and point out how most of them are negative descriptions. 

Propaganda: A tale as old as time

Spreading ideas or information to influence the public and promote a certain cause or person is nothing new. This definition of “propaganda” fits with what we learned from our high school history lesson on the 19th century Propaganda Movement. Led by our national heroes Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez Jaena, and Marcelo H. Del Pilar, among others, the group published provocative propaganda pieces through the newsletter, La Solidaridad, lobbying for social, political and cultural reforms in the Philippines and inspiring Filipino nationalism. Propaganda, appreciated in this context, certainly means well, isn’t it?

Originally, the word “propaganda” was free of pejorative (negative) connotations and simply meant to spread or promote particular ideas, beliefs or values. But in the last centuries, propaganda has evolved along with developments in the mass media – press, radio, television, and film – that allowed for the production and dissemination of messages at a much larger scale. Radio, then a powerful, new medium during the 1930s, was used as an important propaganda tool by the Nazis to influence the German population.

Today, most people have come to associate modern propaganda with lies, deceit, manipulation, and smear campaigns meant to discredit or damage someone’s reputation or to forward selfish political agenda. 

In the 21st century, the internet and social media dramatically amplified the reach of propaganda. Untrustworthy content now goes viral through peer-to-peer distribution (i.e., many-to-many communication as opposed to one-to-many communication that characterizes mass media technologies). Moreover, there are technologies now that can create the impression of wide grassroots support for a certain issue (i.e., bots, sock puppet networks and astroturfing) and technologies that can seamlessly manipulate audio and video to create synthetic depictions of truth (i.e., deepfakes). 

Understanding complex phenomena like misinformation and propaganda demands that we study them with a historical lens. In this analysis activity, students will compare a case study of contemporary propaganda or misinformation with a case study from the pre-digital era. You may assign the students to conduct their research prior to the session so you can allot the time for brainstorming and presentation. Use the worksheet provided.

Case study 1: Trolling Maggie Wilson (contemporary)

In September 2023, model and entrepreneur Maggie Wilson called out in her Instagram page social media influencers who were allegedly paid to troll her and her company, Acasa Manila. In a series of Instagram stories, she exposed a group of online content creators hired to create negative videos about her on TikTok and other platforms. 

References: 

• Dela Cruz, A. (2023, October 4). How Maggie Wilson’s disinformation battle helped expose paid propagandists. Rappler.com. https://www.rappler.com/technology/features/explainer-how-maggie-wilson-disinformation-battle-expose-paid-propagandists/  
• Maramara, K. (2023, September 28). Maggie Wilson Is Single-Handedly Exposing a Network of Online Trolls. 8list.ph. https://www.8list.ph/maggie-wilson-online-trolls-smear-campaign/  

Case study 2: Code of Kalantiaw (pre-digital)

A pre-Hispanic Philippine penal code that was revered as an essential legal document of Filipinos, it was widely published in textbooks and was written about for decades. It was later debunked by historians and declared to be a hoax by the National Historical Institute. Still, some communities refuse to acknowledge its lack of historical basis.

References:

• Suralta, B. (2023, July 17). What Is the Code of Kalantiaw, the Pre-Colonial Penal Code That Was Later Found to Be a Hoax?. Esquire Philippines. https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/code-of-kalantiaw-hoax-history-facts-a00007-20230717-lfrm 
• Justiniano, M. (2011). Jose E. Marco’s Kalantiaw Code: implications for Philippine historiography and Filipinos’ historical consciousness. Explorations: A graduate student journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 11(12), 19-30. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/20312 

Analysis questions:

1. Who or what has the most to gain from the propaganda or disinformation?
2. Who is targeted by this? What are their existing opinions, beliefs and predispositions?
3. What is the perception of the audience towards the source? 
4. What are the means or techniques used (i.e., digital technologies used in the contemporary case)?
5. How does the choice of media technologies and techniques affect the outcome? 
6. How successful is the propaganda in achieving its purpose?
7. If there is opposition to the propaganda, what form does it take?

Quote Jose Rizal’s famous aphorism, “Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan, hindi makakarating sa paroroonan (He who does not know how to look back on the origin, will not reach his destination).” Ask students what lessons from history should we find useful in facing today’s challenges of misinformation and harmful propaganda. 

Remember: Always contextualize

Be conscious of the experiences, feelings, beliefs and values that are important to people in a given period and the events and other circumstances that lead up to a point in time.Play the Lesson 2 video explainer to recap the main takeaways of the lesson. For possible next topics to discuss in class, check out the complete list of Disinfo Hub lessons here.