What's the Buzz

Technology today plays a special role of shaping world events. News travel so fast, communication is better, and each one of us is connected in any way possible. We have everything that we could use to talk to people from the other side of the earth. Distance today is not more of a problem. With technology, it seems like everything or everyone is in the palm of our hands. However, along with this advantage comes disadvantage that technology can bring. Technology with media can bring a lot of problems for the world. For example, when media is used to persuade and misinform people, it can bring a lot of conflicts and start violence. Some of us are not cautious enough to use technology and media. We underestimate their power or we take advantage of what has technology has given us. Media can shape who we are. Media can make us think about ideas that we don't usually think about. Media can give us good news and also can misinform us. With the technology today, we have the two-sided-face media. One face informs us about good information, the other face, gives us wrong ideas about things. Especially with the popular social media today, we are given a faster channel to express our feelings and idea about certain things. One day, you are just a normal person living your normal life then the next day, you are everyone's enemy because of the single comment or a picture that you posted. People from all around the world would know what you're doing with just a single status post. It sounds so ridiculous but that's what's everybody has been doing right now. We are bound by this square object that we face all day. We are trapped in a miserable world of technology in which we only based our ideas on what other people will say. This media prevents us from thinking outside of the box.

Let's Talk War

If you would scroll down in my past posts, you would stumble along a post about a soldier’s story. It was a blog entry for my EUROCIR class wherein we were asked to tell a story about our interaction with someone who has experienced being in a war. I never felt so concerned about the ongoing war before since I thought before that it doesn’t really affect us. However, studying International Studies gave me an idea that each of the world events are interconnected and that it does affect each one of us, in one way or another. Last time I was in the province to visit my family, I was asked by my brother about the capture of Osama Bin Laden, which I fairly have knowledge about (thanks to EUROCIR class). I told him that the United States felt the need to capture Osama Bin Laden because they feel that his leadership and his terrorist group is a threat to their own state. My Mom made a side comment on how I now talk like an International Studies student after, which made me think a lot because I barely feel the change myself. Back to the topic of war, I believe that violence is not the answer and as an IS student, diplomacy is better. I don’t get it how one would go in to war without talking it out first? Why would one state resort to violence and war when it is not really good for their citizens? In class, we talk about why states are belligerent. The reasons for it are economic reasons, territorial ambitions, an evil leader, competing political ideologies, strategic concerns, etc. I still believe that states should first resort to diplomacy than waging war against other states. War doesn’t solve anything.

For our future kids...

Environmental degradation is not something new to us. For the past years, we have been dealing with serious environmental problems, which are also caused by us. I find it so ironic that we make our own problems. Some of us do daily activities that we know would not be good for our environment but we choose to still do it because of some reasons. My personal motto whenever I make small or big decisions is pro-poor, pro-Filipino, and pro-environment. I actually adopted that one from Human Nature’s vision. They believe that they should make products that are pro-poor (good business for the poor), pro-Filipino (patronizing Filipino products), and pro-environment (not harmful to the environment). I have the same sentiments with Human Nature and I think the motto should be used by every Filipino to make a change for the better.

The environment is everyone’s responsibility. We should be looking after it and not do stuff that would be harmful to it. Whenever I have the chance to help the environment, I do it. I always think if my actions would be harmful to the environment before doing it. For example, instead of using air conditioner, I use fan. It would seem like it wouldn’t change the world but a simple action can start the change. I always save electricity when I have the chance because I know energy consumption is one of the reasons why we have pollution. Imagine those factories and power plants that emit certain toxic gases just for us to be provided with electricity.  Now, by switching off the lights whenever it is not needed would be a big change in the smallest way. That small action could go a long way. Another way that I do in order to help save the environment is not throwing my garbage anywhere. I am particularly specific about this and even if you ask my close friends, they would say that I scold them whenever they throw something in the wrong places. Pollution is a big problem for not only the country but also the world. By throwing our trash in the right places, we would help eliminate the pollution in our small ways. Also, imagine those animals, especially the marine life, when we throw trash in the water. You don’t only get the water polluted but you also endanger their life and most probably will kill them with your plastics.

I really don’t get it why some people ignore this big problem. I’m not sure if they can’t see or feel it but they way I see it, the problem of environmental degradation is as bad as the hunger problems of the world. I do a lot of things to help save the environment and I don’t do it for publicity or the school tells me to do so. I do it for the next generation so that they can still live in a healthier place in which they can breathe without worrying about air pollution. That is something that we all should think about. 

NGOs as a tool for global change

In Globdev class, we once talked about the different Non Government Organizations (NGOs). As defined in this website, a non-governmental organization (NGO) is any non-profit, voluntary citizens' group which is organized on a local, national or international level. Although in class, we focused on the international organizations because obviously the class is about Global Development. I would like to emphasize the importance of NGOs in my personal life. I would like to say that NGOs have been part in my personal development because of my involvement in some of them. Our group reported on the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). I have known this group since I was around 11 years old and this international organization actually help me make a significant decision in my life which until now I don't regret. I would like to say that working on the powerpoint that we would be reporting gave me more strong feelings about my involvement in PETA's vision. 

Once upon a time, I was a freshman in highschool and I was just starting on my high school journey. Youtube was then starting to get popular and I myself, as an internet geek and all, got to watch a lot of cool videos. I happened to stumble upon this video that really disturbed me. It was a video about animal cruelty. It showed how meat is being processed and more importantly how animals were brutally and inhumanely killed for their meat. The video, "Meet Your Meat", changed my life. All thanks to PETA, I'm a pescitarian for 7 years already (and running!). International NGOs like PETA can do incredible stuff and they have a power to make a change. 

I once learned in EUROCIR (European Contemporary Issues), a major subject I took last term under Ms. Misalucha, that NGOs exist for a reason. NGOs are there to do things that the states can't do. For example with PETA. This organization was created to address the issue of animal cruelty because perhaps some states and their government don't give much importance as PETA do. Animal cruelty is an important global issue and it affect everybody. These NGOs are created because states fail to establish and implement effective laws against issues. Other NGOs like Greenpeace are created to address the issues of the environment because the government agencies exert little effort to act upon the issue immediately. I believe that NGOs will one day overcome the power of some states and will run it itself. We shouldn't underestimate the power of the NGOs since it is still an actor in International Relations and it can do some things that states can't do. I personally would like to work in a NGO someday. That is actually my career goal because I actually can see their importance and I think that working in an NGO is an effective tool for change as supposed to working in the government. Think global...

Not so nationalistic

The topic of nationalism seems so far for today’s generation. There is a constant struggle to regain or empower the nationalism of the country with the new batch of the generation. It would be so hard to instill the values that would showcase the respect that our forefathers would expect from us. The underlying question with this premise is, “What else can we do?”

There are a lot of ways that we can show our nationalism to our country. Some of us have learned this from one’s earlier education but most of us have forgotten about it. The lessons about nationalism that I learned in primary and secondary school is still with me until this day. The virtue of patronizing the country’s local products, for example. I believe that this practice can go a long way. I learned about this in high school and this nationalistic practice is still kept in my mind and I still practice it whenever it is possible. I personally prefer local products that the imported ones because I know its effects in our country. I would rather buy Human Nature products than investing in imported goods that I’m sure is not even good for the environment or have been tested with animals. One could say that I am very specific with the products that I use because I always make sure that it came from a good source. Recently, my Mom asked me to apply for a passport. I have never gotten out of the country and my Mom wants the whole family to enjoy few weeks in the United States. I then asked her a question that she would later on responded dubiously.  I asked her, “Mom, why don’t   all the way in the US but we haven’t even toured the country as a family first. She was quiet for a while as she was pondering how to answer me. I guess that how we Filipinos think. We don’t even appreciate our own country first and we would prefer going to a foreign county. There’s a lot to explore in the Philippines, the beaches in Palawan, the Durian of Davao, the exotic Tarsiers in Bohol, and a lot more. It would be so cliché but it’s really fun in the Philippines.

I was browsing through my twitter one day and I stumbled upon this user who have a nature of criticizing Filipino celebrities and everything popular in the Philippines. I read this particular tweet of this user that got me thinking aloud in my mind: “Oo nga noh!” It is basically a “retweet” of a tweet of Penshoppe, a major Filipino clothing company. This particular user, named @KrisAquinoSTD, criticized how Penshoppe wants us to patronize Filipino products but they are ironically using foreigner models to promote them. Why can’t they use Filipino models? I guess it is because Filipinos would prefer the foreign feel. This Western syndrome is taking the real Filipino identity from us. This is an example of how ironic some Filipinos can get even if they don’t realize it.

Ed Westwick (star of American series, Gossip Girl) for Penshoppe
Photo not mine!

I guess that we should all take account every detail and action that we take as Filipinos. We should be considerate with the consequences of our actions, how it would affect other people, and how it would affect our country. Some people try to blame the government for our lack of nationalism. I personally think that however the government acts, it still depends on us. Our Filipino blood still runs through us whether we like it or not.

Awakening of the Shallow

I know this is kind of late already but I still want to point my views and reaction to the article we were asked to read in class entitled, "Why we are shallow?" by F Sionil Jose (you can read it here). This blog post is long overdue but I just came around with what I thought of the article.

There were obviously lots of things that were said in the article and most of those things were about how shallow Filipinos are. Overall, I am one with the author when he points out that Filipinos, compared to other nationalities are really shallow when it comes to different fields in life. I may have noticed this specific kind of behavior from the Filipinos before but the word that describes it just dawned upon me. The world "shallow" means of little depth. I'm really obsessed with usage of words and I think the word kinds of reflect what Filipinos really are, of little depth. In Filipino, the word that I think would be equal to shallow is babaw. We often hear phrases like "ang babaw naman ng kaligayahan mo" or "ang babaw mo naman". Well, I think the former phrase is something positive for the Filipinos since it basically means contentment and appreciation in little or not-so significant things although its still connected to what the author of the article wants to point out: Filipinos are mababaw. A minor portion of the population is in the category of intellectually wise and of course, a major part of the population falls into the opposite of it. I don't want to sound like an elitist but I think most of the Filipinos are really shallow. A good example, which was also stated in the article, is the content of the Philippine media. I totally agree with the author when he expressed that there is no quality information, or even entertainment, in the Philippines. When you open the television and watch the nightly news, there is no really good information that you can get from it. When you hear news of some woman stabbed by the husband or some traffic accident in the highway, you ask yourself, what can you get from it? It would probably warn the people about what could happen but I don't see the necessity of such news especially when it takes up much time of the nightly news. How about updating the people on the economic crisis? Everybody is affected by it. Or assessment of proposed laws in the Philippines? I guess the Philippine media is really run by powerful people who just want to have high ratings and earn money. We don't get anything from that kind of news! I especially felt like throwing up when I saw on news about the wedding of this particular politician with another politician slash TV host. I was like, "What, really? Who gives a damn?" This is why we Filipinos continue to be shallow because the media molds us and tells us that this kind of news is really important, which really isn't. I also was overridden by immense emotions when the author talked about the Philippine TV shows not having Palanca award winners writing it. EXACTLY! Why can't we show really good quality TV shows in the Philippines? Instead, what do we have? Rip offs from Hollywood shows. They even remake Korean teleseryes! There are really good writers who can write really good storylines but they are not noticed. If every Filipino can notice what's terribly wrong with their standards now, I think we could see more quality shows on Philippine TV.

I hope we all could understand what the author said: "knowledge is not wisdom". I hope we could all realize that knowledge is different from wisdom and the mere acquisition of information can do little than acquiring wisdom and understanding. I hope all Filipinos, especially the masa, who are easily molded by the media, can break free from the strings that made them puppets by the media businessmen. Lastly, I hope we could all read the article by F Sionil Jose so we could be awakened from our shallowness just like I did.  

GLOBDEV renovation

I would wish to inform readers of this blog that the succeeding posts will be dedicated for my blog entries for my GLOBDEV subject, which I am taking this 3rd term. I'm trying to recycle this blog since it already served its purpose for my EUROCIR subject and I don't want to go into the fuss of creating another blog. I think both subjects are somewhat similar because they tackle global issues in general. I thought that it should be said. I'm kind of enthusiastic with this blog renovation. I can't wait to write blog entries again. This activity is a good exercise for my writing skills and I'm so game right now. I'm just stating this in case you missed my eagerness.

OUT!