[MUSIC]
CHRISTOPHER L. EISGRUBER: It is now my great honor to introduce Maria Ressa,
a member of the great Class of 1986
and the CEO and executive director of the online news organization rappler.com.
As many of you know, Maria was originally scheduled to deliver this year's Baccalaureate
address in the University Chapel.
We are grateful that when our plans had to change she agreed to join us from the Philippines
for this virtual event.
Maria is courageous and tireless in her commitment to community engagement, social responsibility,
the pursuit of truth, and the service of humanity.
I am proud to call her a Princetonian and could not imagine a more inspiring and fitting
speaker to join us in these challenging times for today's ceremony.
MARIA RESSA: Thank you for inviting me to speak to you at this historic moment.
I was really looking forward to coming back to the University Chapel.
I was hoping it would remind me of T.S.
Eliot's tradition and the individual talent that the latest novel you read is affected
by Shakespeare and your understanding of Shakespeare's changed by the latest novel you read.
But, what an incredible time to look at Princeton again.
It's so disappointing not to be on campus, but I'm so proud to be speaking to the graduating
Class of 2020.
This is a time when creative instruction takes new meaning.
You are standing at the rubble of the world my generation created.
The upside, your class will be among the first to have a freer hand to imagine and create
the world as it should be, more compassionate, more equal, more sustainable.
Our editorial agenda at Rappler, the news group I helped create, focuses on our global
battles for climate change, for truth, and of course, against this virus.
Technology enabled Rappler's fast growth, starting in 2012, but we were also among the
first victims when social media was weaponized in 2016.
For the last four years, Rappler and I have been under constant attack by our own government.
The weaponization of the law followed the exponential attacks on social media which
acted like fertilizer, tearing down our reputation, inciting to hate, and paving the way for my
detention and arrests.
That's with an s.
I posted bail eight times so I could keep working, and Rappler and I have paid more in bail and
bonds than Imelda Marcos which been convicted in at least four countries.
My lawyer, Amal Clooney, says the cumulative penalty for all these politically motivated
charges is more than 100 years in prison.
The lesson I learned, you don't know who you are until you're tested, until you fight for
what you believe in.
That defines who you are.
So, as you go out into our troubled world at an extremely challenging time to find a
job, figure out who you are.
When tech has atomized meaning, what's important to you?
What gives your life meaning?
I remember my graduation in 1986.
I had no answers to those questions, so here are three ways
you can live your way into the answers
Number one, make the choice to learn.
Two, embrace your fear.
Three, build a community, but avoid the mob.
A Princeton education sets you up for life.
You have learned how to learn, and at a time when technology's changing everything, you
will constantly have to learn.
When I graduated, I had a choice between a high-paying corporate job or a fellowship
that would defer these ten year payments for students loans for one year.
My mentor told me, "Make the choice to learn."
All through my life, when I'm faced with a fork in the road, I always ask myself, "Where
can I learn more?"
Make the choice to learn.
The second lesson I learned as an immigrant moving to a public school in New Jersey, I
was ten years old, and I couldn't speak English very well.
I'm a really shy person, and I hid the first year or so until I realized that we are our
own worst enemies, that our fears prevent us from being our best selves.
So, I made a list of what I was most afraid of, and in my mind, I began to confront and
to beat them.
Embrace your fear.
Imagine what you're most afraid of.
Touch it and hold it so that you rob it of its power.
I admit that it took me more than a month to defang the fear of jail.
I hated that the baton was passed to me at this moment in time, but I also knew I wasn't
going to drop it.
I think that's where courage comes from.
Finally, beware the mob.
This is the worst of human nature, and social media mobs have become the norm.
Know that lies laced with anger and hate spread fastest on social media, forming lynch mobs.
Switch out of thinking fast to thinking slow.
Slow down and think.
Also know that no matter how much of a superstar you are, you cannot accomplish anything meaningful
alone.
Build and strengthen your community.
Rappler builds communities of action.
I just hope it's enough to protect our democracy.
So, make the choice to learn, embrace your fear, and build your community.
Now, close your eyes with me.
Imagine the world you want to live in.
Open your eyes.
Now, go and make it happen.
Congratulations, Princeton Class of 2020.
We are in your hands.