this is not the first time that purported “new media” proves that it doesn’t know to use the internet. no wait, it doesn’t know to read, full stop. in many instances in the past, rappler would publish essays and articles as if they are the first to write about issues, not even forcing its writers to revise based on what’s already been said. (more…)
The recent spate of critiques against activism brought about by the violence at the SONA rally – one by the way, that could’ve been avoided had PNoy himself told Bistek to allow the rally as it has been allowed all these years – is not just a bandwagon bias against street protests per se (because you know, it gets so traffic right?), or activism in general (there are other ways of helping nation, you know). Neither is it just unconscious redbaiting (jail the communists!) or love for our policemen (because, yeah right!).
At the heart of this discussion made larger and gone longer than most, one that has revealed how superficial Pinoy discourse – within and beyond social media – can be, is happiness and contentment. At the heart of this discussion is the notion of positivity, if not the need for it. Being critical is a negative by default. (more…)
the question is quite simple: if Bistek’s government, and in effect PNoy himself, allowed for the SONA rally to take place, as it always has, relative and as counterpoint to the president’s State of the Nationa address, would this have happened at all? (more…)
you know that is a term of endearment, for anyone at all who grew up watching you on TV. you are rarely seen as one of them celebrities who should not have turned politician, which does mean you have more credibility as public servant. it helps that you never seemed too gung-ho about being mayor, and you waited for the right time to become so. you seemed more decent than most, is what i mean to say. but then again, what has happened since your May reelection? (more…)
in undergrad in 1990’s University of the Philippines, i was taking a required Filipino 50 class that was teaching us all to spell in the prescribed Filipino. prescribed, which means that it was up to a Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino, to tell me how to spell my English. that is how to spell English words like engineer into injinir. i asked then why could we not leave English words alone, if only because the need to spell all these English words our way, just really fucks with our sense of those English words.
you do not only spell it in a new and unfamiliar Filipino way, you also end up teaching students how to wrongly spell the word “engineer.”
in 2013, we are being told by the same Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (KWF) that we must now call nation Filipinas. not Pilipinas. not Philippines. but FILIPINAS. (more…)