We beg to differ.
(Author’s note: This article is a translation of a previous essay I wrote entitled “Anti-Vaxxers: A Dangerous Trend the Philippines Needs to Avoid.” I found it convenient to write this version so as to have a wider reach, and to have more people be aware of an emerging dangerous trend. As with the vaccines themselves,…
Pope Francis’s visit to the Philippines is shaping out to be the country’s biggest coming event. Already there’s a scramble to fill precious slots that would bring ordinary folk within the pontiff’s breathing space — whether it be seats in the pope’s flight from Rome to Manila, or a place in His Eminence’s dining table,…
A collaborative exercise organised by Silicon Valley technology entrepreneur Lex Bayer and Stanford University humanist chaplain John Figdor, authors of the book Atheist Mind, Humanist Heart has come up with a new set of Ten Commandments for the 21st Century. According to the “Winning Beliefs” page of the authors’ website, 13 judges selected the ten…
Read More “The new Ten Commandments for the 21st Century announced!” »
Perhaps at the root of all the factors that contribute to the Philippines’ continued and foreseeable failure to prosper is a deeply-entrenched cultural artefact: victimhood. Filipinos like playing the victim card. It is the heart of its politics — a “victimised” people to whom populist appeals to hero rhetoric resonate. As such, Filipino politicians win…
Read More “It is time for Filipinos to start REFUSING to be victims” »
I’ve been hearing about this petition to ban the popular game Clash of Clans in the Philippines. The petition seems to have been instigated by a troop of parents long frustrated by how it has hijacked the lives of their kids. The thinking there, as I understand, is that if addictive narcotics are banned, then…
Read More “Should Clash of Clans be banned in the Philippines?” »
We make one big assumption whenever we express indignation and outrage over the instances of banal injustice that make regular news fodder in the Philippines — that ours is a “decent” society. But step back and ask a more fundamental question: Is Philippine society really a decent one? Just now I spied a recent post…
Read More “Colegio de San Agustin road rage! Is the Philippines home to a decent society?” »
When I posted that photo tweeted by former Bureau of Customs chief Ruffy Biazon of the rubbish mess left by passengers in a lounge at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3, I didn’t realise what a big wave it was going to make. Indeed it was interesting to note how deeply-revolted many Filipinos…
Read More “Rubbish at the Manila International Airport: Nakakahiya sa mga Kano!” »
It’s the semestral break in the Philippines! Filipino students refer to it by its obvious abbreviation, “sembreak”. With much of the Philippines’ youth now free from the oppression of paper deadlines, exams, and 7 a.m. classes, what are they to do with all this free time? In the age of ubiquitous internet access, social media,…
Read More “#HereWeGo! Stuff to occupy Filipino kids’ minds #NgayongSemBreak” »