FilAms for Biden-Harris unshaken by fake news, disinformation on social media
By Cristina DC Pastor
Filipino Americans leaders backing the Democratic ticket seem airily confident about winning the election, dismissing worries about fake news and disinformation on social media.
“If anyone thinks that the battle will be decided on social media, then they obviously don’t vote. The battle will be won by vote, by mail, and the polls,” said Artesia, Calif. Councilmember Melissa Ramoso, national co-chair of the Filipino Americans for Biden-Harris (FABH). She – together with Brad Baldia, East Coast regional co-chair — responded to The FilAm’s email questions.
Ramoso and Baldia said a “national coordinated campaign” will deliver the votes for their candidates Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris. “The race will not be over until after all votes are counted. We are not to be seduced by reports of positive polls or fake news,” they said.
Intelligence reports have confirmed evidence of vote manipulation, misinformation, and coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russian government in the 2016 election. Supposed meddling by the Russians played out across social media through “sensationalist, conspiratorialist” information masquerading as news reports.
“The election will in no way be won by arguing with trolls or bots on social media, or with clever point-by-point takedowns of fake news posts,” said West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon, who is vice president of the Democratic Mayors-Democratic National Committee. “Instead, we’re focused on making sure that FilAms’ voices are heard and our votes are counted.”
The issue of abortion, which overly conservative FilAms like to throw at the Democratic ticket over social media, is an issue FABH is prepared to confront.
“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris believe that ‘reproductive rights are a constitutional right. And in fact, every woman should have that right.’ And this right has been recently affirmed by the US Supreme Court striking down Louisiana’s abortion law,” said Ramoso and Baldia. “Health decisions between a physician and woman is sacred and the government has no right to tell a woman what she should and should not do with her body.”
They quote Biden as saying, “I’m prepared to accept for me, personally, the doctrine of my church” about when life begins… “but I’m not prepared to impose that on every other person.”
Some Catholic FilAms seriously concerned about abortion believe Trump is the more acceptable candidate because he fashions himself as pro-life. However, a bishop from Kentucky has denounced as “disingenuous” Trump’s stance on abortion. Said Rev. John Stowe of the Lexington Diocese, “For this president to call himself pro-life, and for anybody to back him because of claims of being pro-life, is almost willful ignorance. He is so much anti-life because he is only concerned about himself, and he gives us every, every, every indication of that.”
“Joe Biden is the first and only Catholic vice president in U.S. history,” declared Cabaldon. He further said that in the 2016 election, FilAms didn’t really vote for Trump in a big way.
Research by the Asian American Legal Defense Fund showed that only 27 percent of FilAms voted for Trump while 71 percent went for his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
“Biden is a devout Catholic who draws deeply from his faith,” Cabaldon said.
© The FilAm 2020
