Tag: activism

#PrayForMarawi? The folly in Manilenos’ calls for solidarity with Mindanao Muslims

May 25, 2017 benign0 7 Comments

Chi-chi Manilenos have made waxing liberal poetic about being in “solidarity” with their “Muslim brothers” in Mindanao the current fashion trend. Social media timelines are filled with flowery euphemisms and platitudes on the subject fit for Hallmark greeting cards all punctuated by hashtags such as the multi-day trending hit #PrayForMarawi. All nice and peachy, of…

Culture, Government, The South

Mocha Uson fit for Duterte’s social media messaging but more needed to engage critics productively

May 12, 2017 benign0 4 Comments

Building a credible media machine to counter the anti-government bias of traditional media led by big corporate networks is not a simple matter of fielding “die-hard” loyalists on social media. It involves building a consistent media brand that, in the long run is perceived to be apolitical or, at the very least, non-partisan. It is…

Government, Media

Why it is ABSOLUTELY wrong for Filipino workers to expect tips

May 2, 2017 benign0 12 Comments

Tipping is a sad relic of American culture that Filipinos have embraced. Indeed, Filipino workers have gone further and perverted the concept by seeing tips as an entitlement rather than a mere pleasant surprise bonus from happy customers. Most disturbing of all is how “activists” encouraged people to tip workers on, of all occasions, labour…

Development, Economy, Society

The lynching of Renato Corona: 2012 goes down in Philippine history as a year of infamy

April 30, 2017 benign0 36 Comments

On one hand, it is quite gratifying to see some folks belatedly realising the error in their ways when, in 2012, they joined the Moron Bandwagon to vilify then Chief Justice Renato Corona as he bravely stood before the Senate Impeachment “Court”. But on the other, it is difficult to forgive people in general who,…

Politics, Society

The death of old-school ‘journalism’ proves that democracy is ALIVE in the Philippines

April 29, 2017January 3, 2020 benign0 9 Comments

Roles have been reversed. Mainstream “journalists” are now the loud and noisy shills who cry bloody “persecution” and peddle unfounded conspiracies. It is hardly surprising that people nowadays now rely on alternative sources of information. Old school journalists are just too self-important to have decent discussions with. How does the news media industry old guard…

Government, Media

The rich understand poverty a lot more than the poor do

April 24, 2017April 24, 2017 benign0 13 Comments

The old familiar bleed-your-heart-for-the-poor wars are raging once again amongst members of the Philippine intelligentsia. “Awareness” of the “plight” of the poor, after all, is quite the fashion statement in the guilt-ravaged Catholic minds of members of well-to-do cliques raised on the notion that camels have better chances of going to heaven than rich folk….

Culture, Lifestyle, Society

Campaign to put Duterte in @TIME ‘100 Most Influential’ list backfires!

April 21, 2017April 22, 2017 benign0 15 Comments

Well, supporters of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte got what they wanted. Filipinos apparently logged on in droves on to the TIME Magazine website and spam-voted Duterte into its “100 Most Influential” list. As a result, Duterte actually topped the readers’ poll and did get a place amongst the most influential in the venerable news site’s…

Media

Are UP students suffering from a failure of thinking?

April 20, 2017April 20, 2017 benign0 3 Comments

Interesting how just as the government of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is unveiling a massive programme of infrastructure spend of unprecedented proportions, the prevailing online chatter amongst would-be and wannabe “activists” had so far been centred around the proposed honorary degree to be conferred by the University of the Philippines on the president. The sheer…

Education, Politics