Tag: social media

Attacking Mocha Uson only makes her stronger and her influence more powerful

October 25, 2016 benign0 8 Comments

There’s a rare level of dimwittedness involved in coming up with — and actually implementing — the idea of petitioning the shutdown of Mocha Uson’s Facebook page. The backfire and fallout from this quaint project all but proved just how fragmented the Opposition is today. Even die-hard characters in the Yellow Camp refused to sign…

Civics, Culture, Media, Society

The hypocrisy in the petition to shut down Mocha Uson’s Facebook page

October 24, 2016October 25, 2016 benign0 11 Comments

A petition to suspend the Facebook page of Mocha Uson, a Filipino celebrity blogger and staunch supporter of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, is making the rounds. The Suspend Mocha Uson Blog Facebook Page on Change.org has, as of this writing, attracted almost 26,000 signatories with the following write up set to be “delivered” to Facebook….

Media, Politics, Society, Tech Talk

IATROGENICS: Why Rappler is Becoming a Victim of Its Own Medicine

October 20, 2016October 25, 2016 Marcus 26 Comments

Hashtags: #TakeBackMariaRessa #OmidyarNetwork I can only feel for Maria Ressa. Her motherly interest to defend her team from criticism resulted in more harm rather than good. Nassim Nicholas Taleb comes to mind. He coined the the term “naive interventionism”, from iatrogenics in the medical field. Iatrogenics is a case wherein a…

Media, Politics, Science

Filipinos need to get better-acquainted with China

October 19, 2016 benign0 51 Comments

What have been the pre-eminent topics of late rippling across the social media timelines of the Philippines’ pre-eminent “thought leaders”? Consult various “trending” stats (filtering out all the showbiz noise that dominates Filipino social media chatter) and you will see the following words and phrases: “extrajudicial killing” “Agot Isidro” “Internet trolls” “yellowtards” “dutertards” “edsa traffic”…

Culture, Development, Education

Rashomon Effect: The Self-serving Interest of Mainstream Media and the People

October 18, 2016October 18, 2016 Marcus 46 Comments

This is in response to Maria Ressa’s comment on a post dated October 5, 2016. John, sino ba’ng hindi gustong magkaisa? Understand we all live in the Philippines, and every policy affects each and every Filipino. I think we differ in critical thinking and the role of journalism: we believe that no matter who’s in…

Government, Media, Politics, Technology

Why is President Rodrigo Duterte always angry?

October 13, 2016 benign0 36 Comments

That’s an easy question to answer: because he was elected by an angry people. Filipinos in 2016 — coming out of six years under the rule of former President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III — trooped to the voting booths full of anger over missed opportunities, great crimes that were allowed to slide, and the…

Crime, Culture, Politics, The South

According to Maria Ressa, an army of bots, sock puppets and a sexy blogger is terrorising Rappler

October 11, 2016 benign0 35 Comments

So is there really an army of “bots” that rampage through the Internet “trolling” social media and attacking hapless corporate news media sites? According to Maria Ressa, CEO of “social news media” site Rappler, there really is such an army of darkness. Ressa insists that we are in the midst of a “propaganda war” and…

Culture, Media, Politics

Out of Touch: Over-reaction to the Official Gazette post on Marcos’s birthday

September 13, 2016September 13, 2016 Celestino Manrique II 34 Comments

Once again, the issue of burying former President Ferdinand E. Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani has divided the nation. People on both sides of the issue have thrown tirades against each other. The anti-Marcos camp has been more aggressive, citing the so-called Marcos loot and human rights violations under the martial law era….

Media, Politics, Society