Category Archive for: internet

komentaryo

Who does #NoPlaceForHate displace?

Blogging since 2008, along with a mother who’s been doing it since 2007, our policy for the comments section has always been clear: no murahan, no takutan. As owner of the blog, you decide where that line is drawn, and you’d be surprised that in fact that line is very clear.

And no, it isn’t as simple as disapproving comments that use cuss words – sometimes the mura is not directed at anyone, as it is about frustration and anger. And sometimes the comments that have no cuss words, no kabastusan, but in fact miss the point, are the ones you’d really rather delete; better sense of course dictates that you shouldn’t – even those with comprehension problems have a right to free speech. Besides, you can always ignore those comments. (more…)

komentaryo

Of silence, Paris, the Lumad

The month’s been long and it isn’t even over yet. Much of my mind and heart have been taken over by Lumad stories, ones that we rarely hear about first hand, and so it’s been critical (at least for me) to hear the Lumad themselves speak.

But of course this came with the realization of distance. How far is a land like Mindanao to Luzon, how far is Surigao, Davao, CARAGA, SOCCSKARGEN, from Manila. If the silence that surrounded the Lumad killings are any indication, it could be a continent, a country, a whole world away.

That it is like Paris, that it is not Paris, is precisely the point. (more…)

kultura

Fight the fakery (The beauty deception Part 3)

The first two installments on Beauty Deception spoke of how far we go, how complicit celebrity culture is with, and how media enterprises fall into the trap of, the beauty industry. And when we speak of the latter we do mean the bigger ideology of perfection, one that’s achieved via treatments and plastic surgery and every nip and tuck imaginable; one that’s achieved by selling images of real women perfected via photoshop.

Image is all, and yes our female celebrities are about the creation of this image. But it need not be a shameless display of skin whitening products and new cheekbones, of perfected skin and long sleek hair. It need not be tied to one kind of woman, with one particular look that is intertwined with success and freedom, happiness and woman power.

That no one seems to care, that there is no real intervention in media, is a dangerous thing. Imagine the generations of young girls who will think white(ned) armpits and vaginas, long black hair, a thin frame, are all important. Imagine the kinds of Pinays we raise when we intertwine gender equality with a shampoo advertisement selling long shiny black hair.

A public that cares

Elsewhere in the world a vigilant public is critical of plastic surgery in celebrities. The media question drastic weight loss (especially in young actresses). Photoshopped images are the enemy. This outlook is borne of a belief that these images are imbued with a particular set of standards for beauty, one that is intrinsic to any celebrity culture. These images are dangerous because these make people believe in an ideal which—given photoshop and cosmetic surgery—is also impossibly perfect and unattainable.

No one escapes these images, but publics elsewhere expect celebrities to care about how their (fake) images affect their audiences. (more…)

komentaryo

Pinoy social and online media 2013 (Part 3)

Last of three parts.

2013 elections and social (and online) media reveal its class. And its limitations. Social media screamed bloody dynasty at the Binays during the May electoral campaign, when Jejomar’s daughter Nancy decided to run for the Senate, she with no track record of public service whatsoever. This pointed to an arrogance really, where fielding Nancy as Senator was to say that it doesn’t matter why she qualifies, what matters is that her last name is Binay. Yet what this also pointed to was social media’s double standard, where no one even spoke of Bam Aquino running for the Senate, presidential cousin as he is. What, everyone thinks that Bam’s social entrepreneurship stands for “public service”? Then why could we not be critical of precisely that, too, when there is plenty that is wrong with a platform that runs purely on entrepreneurship? (more…)

komentaryo

miracles

I helped out with the August 26 Million People March, with the September 11 EDSA TAYO, with Pork Day the 13th and Rock and Rage Against Pork on September 13. It was all a matter of knowing that extra hands would be useful, and while for the August 26 MPM it was clear that one person who was part of the meetings to organize the event was going on a totally different tangent, the rest of us were united in the call to Scrap ALL Pork. A call that has not changed across the other rallies I’ve helped out in; a call that has been carried by other rallies I wasn’t part of (the September 19 No Remittance Day and the September 21 rally in Luneta) all the way to the October 4 MPM@Ayala. (more…)