Category: Culture

Filipino viral videos: mere modern symptoms of a very old cultural dysfunction

November 19, 2012 benign0 32 Comments

As my colleague Ilda pointed out, Filipinos seem to be averse to speaking out. This may seem to be a counterintuitive assertion to make, given how Filipinos pride themselves with a tradition of flamboyant political activism, tacky spectacle in the way they practice freedom of speech in their mass media, and voluminous undifferentiated chatter in…

Civics, Crime, Culture, Lifestyle, Media

Filipinos who cyber-bullied #Amalayer girl showed worse behaviour than her

November 17, 2012November 17, 2012 Ilda 240 Comments

So I finally saw the â€œAmalayerâ€ video posted on YouTube and I just had to ask myself, what the heck was the big deal? Why did this video go viral? Itâ€™s not even funny and thereâ€™s no way to tell why the girl, Paula Jamie Salvosa went ballistic towards the security guard at the LRT…

Civics, Culture, Education, Lifestyle, Media

How the Philippines’ outsourcing industries can benefit from Paula Jamie Salvosa and Christopher Lao

November 16, 2012 benign0 36 Comments

Following another viral video circus, this time involving Ms Paula Jamie ‘Amalayer’ Salvosa, we find an emerging pattern in the sorts of “scandals” that Filipinos tend to salivate over. A common denominator underlying these is a perverse fascination with the hilarious gaffes Filipinos routinely deliver in their on-going clumsy effort to use the language of…

Culture, Development, Education, Society

Multiply Is Being Subtracted

November 16, 2012November 16, 2012 Gogs No Comments

“Disc Six A dance remix, so I can catch the latest trend and it’ll make you scratch your head and wonder where my taste went. So now my fans are crying sellout, they say that I’ve lost my touch. They say I should just get the hell out before I do too much.” The…

Culture, Media, Society, Tech Talk, Technology

‘Amalayer’ girl Paula Jamie Salvosa should have Tagaloged when she Englished

November 15, 2012December 14, 2015 Kate Natividad 136 Comments

Perhaps Paula Jamie Salvosa, a.k.a. the Amalayer lady had a bad day and navigating the steaming chaos of one of the LRT stations in Manila’s train system is not exactly the best cure for a shitty day. But I can’t help but think back to how the Japanese, in their direst days following that really…

Civics, Culture, Lifestyle, Media

Can social media ‘activism’ force Tito Sotto to apologise to Kerry Kennedy and Sarah Pope?

November 13, 2012 benign0 36 Comments

It seems to be becoming a showdown between the much-vaunted “power” of social media “activism” and the traditional institutional power of a Senator of the Republic. The most recent news report on the brouhaha over allegations of plagiarism being directed against Philippine Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III screamed “Netizens refuse to let Sotto off the…

Culture, Media, Politics

Harrassment by Presidential Security: There’s Three Sides To Every Story

November 13, 2012October 26, 2013 Gogs 23 Comments

“There’s three sides to every story, baby. There’s yours and there’s mine and the cold, hard truth.” Long Way Home Don Henley On October 2012 a man meeting his family at a local restaurant was threatened to be arrested . This man’s only crime was parking in a restaurant that just happened to…

Culture, Government, Media

Should the Philippines consider becoming a state of the Union?

November 10, 2012March 12, 2014 FallenAngel 130 Comments

I mean, think about it. Filipinos worship virtually everything American. They follow American showbiz, American sport (NBA in particular), mimic American accents, and bicker socially and politically, in a manner similar to Americans. Filipinos copied the American style of government and the concept of democracy wholesale. Filipinos are using (but hardly maintaining) what remains of…

Culture, Economy, Government, Politics, Society