Tag: activism

Social media and the dismal state of Filipino activism and political commentary

August 10, 2016August 10, 2016 benign0 4 Comments

Sad to say, Philippine “activism” hasn’t progressed much over the last several decades. The “movements” may have moved from the streets onto social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, but the quality of the discourse has remained pathetically dismal. The venerable former blogger Dean Jorge Bocobo (DJB, a.k.a. @SagadaSun on Twitter), for example, has taken…

Culture, Development, Politics, Society, Tech Talk

Does President Rodrigo Duterte command an ‘Internet army’?

August 2, 2016 benign0 13 Comments

According to some pundits, President Rodrigo Duterte is waging not just a “war on drugs” in the streets of major Philippine cities. He is, they insist, also waging a war on social media, commanding an “Internet army” that disseminates content supposedly meant to discredit his enemies. Are these assertions based on fact? For one thing,…

Media, Politics

Human Rights advocacy is the latest fashion statement in Imperial Manila

July 28, 2016 benign0 25 Comments

Whose side are Filipino “activists” on nowadays? From all the chest-thumping and fist-waving we are seeing all over social media and mainstream media nowadays, it would seem that the Philippines’ chattering classes are on the side of the crooks! That is exactly how both President Rodrigo Duterte’s massive base of voters and the broader swathe…

Crime, Culture, Society

Aquino supporters are violating the human rights of the police and President Duterte himself!

July 26, 2016 benign0 33 Comments

When you are in the heat of a standoff with an intruder in your own house and you have a weapon within reach, which of your options would you err towards: (1) recognising the intruder’s “human rights”, or (2) recognising your own right to security within your own home? Hold that thought for a minute…

Crime, Government

What do the Yellowtards stand for and who do they look to for leadership?

June 15, 2016June 15, 2016 benign0 26 Comments

There is a question that’s baffled me over the last several weeks now: What do the Yellowtards stand for and who do they look to for leadership? On first glance, the answer to this question seems obvious. Of course they stand for all the good things delivered by the 1986 people power “revolution”; freedom, democracy,…

Politics, Society

Why Change from Within the System has Failed

June 13, 2016June 14, 2016 ChinoF 16 Comments

One of the retorts against us GRP bloggers is, “why don’t you run for office?” This is of course based on the assumption that you can only reform Philippine society through the government, and you have to be a part of the system to make it work. It has the sense of, “if you can’t…

Culture, Politics

Philippine blogging and social media in the time of President Rodrigo Duterte

May 17, 2016May 19, 2016 benign0 11 Comments

Now that the smoke belched by Election 2016 has cleared people seem to be reflecting on what just happened. It seems some of them have taken to taking stock of the social media landscape to try to make sense of and possibly shed light into what exactly got into Filipino voters’ heads. The underlying thinking…

Media, Politics, Society

The Disgusting Business Of Philippine Politics And How The Dumb Masses Allow For It

May 10, 2016May 10, 2016 Grimwald 15 Comments

People keep asking me why I seem to have chosen to keep quiet about politics save for the occasional spoof article and instead focus on smaller issues in our country. Well, the thing is, as I’ve come to discover, politics isn’t really what’s wrong with the Philippines. No, the real problem in the Philippines isn’t…

Culture, Media, Politics, Society