Guiang, Francisco Jayme Paolo A. 2022. “Myth-Making and History-Writing: Marcosian Revisionism as Evidence of Therapeutic Historiography“, Pingkian: Journal for Emancipatory and Anti-Imperialist Education 7(1): 23-49.

Abstract

This essay explains how state-sponsored propaganda in the 1970s continues to thrive in the context of the digital world, albeit in different forms. It also analyzes popular Marcosian myths using the perspective of therapeutic historiography in order to stress how disinformation is used as a tool for political manipulation. The essay’s first section tackles the concept of myth-making and how state-sponsored propaganda in the 1970s conceived popular myths about the late dictator, Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. The second section discusses examples of popular myths circulating online, particularly the Tallano-Marcos myths, and underscores how these invented narratives distort history. The last section analyzes the Tallano-Marcos myths using Aviezer Tucker’s (2008) therapeutic historiography in order to underpin how the Marcos political machinery benefits from the massive disinformation network on various social media platforms.