The social media platforms have taken over the distribution of news globally. They treat a lie the same way you would treat a fact.
Maria RessaRead
Don't be afraid - if you don't exercise your rights, you will lose them.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of actively exercising one's rights to prevent their erosion.
Maria Ressa's quote serves as a powerful reminder that rights, whether they are civil liberties or other personal entitlements, require active engagement and defense. If individuals do not advocate for and exercise their rights, there is a risk that these rights will diminish or be taken away, highlighting the importance of vigilance and proactive involvement in safeguarding freedoms.
In practice
In a speech about civil rights, a speaker might say, 'As Maria Ressa reminds us, don't be afraid to stand up for your rights.'
The social media platforms have taken over the distribution of news globally. They treat a lie the same way you would treat a fact.
The difference between Rappler and other newsgroups in the Philippines is that journalists control Rappler both editorially and commercially. We make decisions that are bad for business but protect the public sphere.
If you want to rip the heart out of a democracy, you go after the facts. That's what modern authoritarians do. You lie. All the time. Then, you say it's your opponents and the journalists who lie.
Embrace your fear. Imagine what you're most afraid of, touch it and hold it so that you rob it of its power.
Let me go back to a fundamental thing we all used to agree on: information is power. That's why we became journalists in the first place.
Technology enabled Rappler's fast growth starting in 2012, but we were also among the first victims when social media was weaponized in 2016.
Those with less of a sense of service to the nation never understand it when men and women of character step forward to look danger and adversity straight in the eye, refusing to blink, or give ground, even to their own deaths. The protected can't begin to understand the price paid so they and their families can sleep safe and free at night.
Every time something bad happens to me, I don't ask the question, 'Why did it happen to me?' The question I ask is, 'Why did it happen for me?'
Normal fear protects us; abnormal fear paralyses us. Normal fear motivates us to improve our individual and collective welfare; abnormal fear constantly poisons and distorts our inner lives. Our problem is not to be rid of fear but, rather to harness and master it.
The strike, the boycott, the refusal to serve, the ability to paralyze the functioning of a complex social structure-these remain potent weapons against the most fearsome state or corporate power.
Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
I was made, by the law, a criminal, not because of what I had done, but because of what I stood for, because of what I thought, because of my conscience... If I had my time over I would do the same again. So would any man who dares call himself a man.
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