Enemies of the government, enemies of the people

By Al S. Mendoza

 

SEEMINGLY, the bigger problem now is not the containment of COVID-19—aren’t we there yet?—but rather, the lack of cooperation from our netizens on matters of dealing with this vicious virus.

But first, what is a netizen to differentiate it with citizen?

A netizen is one that is tech-savvy.

Meaning, he is aware of technology advances embracing mainly our computers, gadgets and other new communication vocabularies like tablets, i-pads, Bluetooth and the like.

OK, toss in Google, Youtube, i-cloud, dropair and messenger, if you please?

But a netizen is not necessarily hi-tech (super familiar with www aka world wide web)—www being basically being interconnected with world happenings.

Anyone that can control a cell phone, has familiarity with the laptop and an i-pad can absolutely qualify to be a netizen.

To be a bit precise, though, netizen is the marriage of “internet and citizen.”

So, it’s now more fashionable to be called a “netizen” than a “citizen” because it would mean that to be a netizen is to be abreast with the times.

In short, you are no longer a citizen of the world but a netizen of the universe, or www if you will.

It’s like calling my friend as a “tsokaran” before but now, I call my buddy as my “ka-chat,”  FB (Facebook) friend or “ka-Viber.”

Indeed, the world is a-changin’.

Now to go back to the meat of this piece: Cooperation from the netizens.

Do we not read almost  every day in our cell phones about netizens spreading so many fake news—almost in reckless abandon—about COVID-19?

Many postings mislead fellow netizens, like putting on internet that a cure has already been discovered for the virus, or the virus being transmitted by air.

It’s not doing us any good.

There are only two official sources of virus information: the Department of Health headed by our very own Francisco Duque III and the World Health Organization.

I can only think of one purveyor of disinformation: Enemies of the government.

And the enemies of the government are enemies of the people.

Their ultimate aim in waylaying our netizens is to bring the government to a complete collapse so that they can take over.

That’s what I call COVID d’ etat—using the virus scare to replace the red scare tactic that has become passe.

But I have complete faith that the majority of our netizens will not be easily swayed at this time of uncertainty.

Some may be disgruntled at the slow response of some authorities but overall, there’s satisfaction from the masses of our people over the way government is addressing the situation.

There will always be stabilizing  actions from well-meaning netizens as there will always be destabilizers, too.

But when the sun finally emerges from the clouds, it will shine, yes, on both the netizens who did good and bad amid the crisis.

In the end, only God’s judgment matters.

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