Censorship, The Philippines the Worlds Internet Moderators?
![fakenews.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQW78buufsM5DVz6iAsMKwUzPQXshUBShxswqbJFtwN63/fakenews.jpg)
I recently read a post by @anonnews here, that stated that the Philippines is outsourced as the #1 moderator for the world in terms of internet censorship.
While the concept of outsourcing work to the Philippines seemed very logical to me as it is a country that thrives on work outsourced from other countries; the reasoning and also fact that I've lived in the Philippines for over a decade and observed the internet from a local perspective simply baffled me.
@anonnews claims that the Philippines has been chosen as the world's internet moderator because it is a predominantly catholic nation and thus things are moderated based on Christian and Catholic morals.
Things that are claimed to be censored are beheadings, and other gory things that occur in the world.
So why does this baffle me?
In my time in the Philippines, particularly on facebook in the Philippines, I have seen more gore and violence on the internet than I EVER did in any other of over 30 countries I have visited and lived in. This includes beheadings, photos and videos of children murdered, videos of rapes, and much more.
How then can a country where so much of what is supposedly censored globally have so much locally released? There are early teenagers, and even pre-teens that have witnessed via social media these atrocities, to the point that in my own experience and opinion, the population is largely desensitized by comparison to first-world countries. Hell, I wasn't even allowed to watch the movie Jurassic Park when I was in 2nd grade, today 7 year olds in the Philippines have seen photos and videos of murders and rapes via social media.
Catholicism a reason for the country's selection and thus censorship is done by christian and catholic beliefs and morals.
Religion is another item that caused confusion for me. While it is true that the Philippines is predominantly catholic, the Philippines has in the past, and continues to have religious wars that first world countries haven't seen in decades in their own territory to the same degree. I have been in war zones in the Philippines caused by religion, first hand, more than once.
Catholicism in the Philippines is also much more cultural than bible based. I have not met, to date, a filipino that knows more about the bible than I do. That is not to say I am an expert by any means, nor that one does not exist I just haven't met one yet. I have not attended seminary, taught Sunday school or anything of the sort. I have however had many religious discussions with filipinos and have been consistently surprised by how little the individuals I have encountered actually know about the bible.
They may be able to quote a prayer by heart, know certain customs and how to perform them etc.; however in terms of actual understanding of the bible, often times they are less aware of the actual scripture than I was in elementary school.
How then can censorship be influenced by Catholicism and christianity when the majority of the population has a hard time recalling primary facts or even the existence of some of the major stories in the bible such as that of: Cane & Abel, Noah's Ark, Jonah and the Whale, David vs Goliath, Abraham and Isaac, David in the Lions Den, etc. etc.?
Let me be clear, this is by NO MEANS an attack on the Philippines or Filipinos. This is an observation on what appears to be FALSE news fed to those ignorant of the subject matter, using the Philippines as a selling point for their false propaganda.
While the Philippines may have a large majority of workers that are outsourced by companies that are tasked with internet moderation due to higher salaries provided by companies abroad, let us not target the country, especially with a religious lean, when the fact of the matter is that it is simply inexpensive labor. NOT that it is selected because of the people's religious views. That is poppycock.
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by sasha.shade from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows. Please find us at the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you would like to delegate to the Minnow Support Project you can do so by clicking on the following links: 50SP, 100SP, 250SP, 500SP, 1000SP, 5000SP.
Be sure to leave at least 50SP undelegated on your account.
Curated for #informationwar by @stevescoins
Relevance: interesting take on the methods of censorship
Our Purpose
Well fricken said. If a company from china hires a Filipino company to moderate their web and what is presented, it is the foreign company that is doing the censorship, not the company that got hired to edit this and that, they are just doing what they have been paid for.
Exactly. It's ridiculous the false meaning people like to tie to things just to help sell some skewed version of the truth.