Anti-Gloria or Anti-Charter Change? Technology Shares Common Sense
By Rico, 7:07 am Sun Dec 14 2008 - Editorial - What Do You Think?
There are rare times when politics and technology should mix. Here’s a case of two people sharing a sensible arguments through a blog and YM. Both blogs and YM are of course, distinctively tech-driven methods of communicating.
The other day, the Philippines’ central financial district was virtually shut down. An inter-faith rally was held to denounce the charter change initiative currently up for legislature consideration. The problem was that, maybe the attendees were there for the wrong reason.
“Do they really know what they’re talking about”
Yesterday, Blogger Mike shared a “few thoughts on the move to change the Philippine constitution, and yesterday’s much-ballyhooed protest against it.” First, he points out the widespread perception that the proposed constitutional changes are only for the sake of extending President GMA’s term limits—which was never the case, according to him:
President Arroyo has repeatedly and consistently said she will block any moves from her allies to extend her term. No one in congress is even seriously considering the proposal. I hesitate to even call it a proposal because no one is proposing it.
Of course, you can always baselessly accuse people of having a hidden agenda, but then how can anyone get anything done at all? This is all scare tactics. They said the same thing about Erap. They said the same thing about Ramos. They said the same thing about Cory.
Mike also took exception with the use of certain abbreviations:
Years of dumbing things down with acronyms like “cha-cha”, “con-con”, “con-ass”, “no-el” trivializes democracy. It’s like they deliberately contracted in that manner to make it deprecating. They put labels on things then talk about them so much that people forget what they mean. Now people permanently associate “cha-cha” with extending term limits, which is just silly.
Alternative Point of View
Reader Carl, however, disagrees with Mike. Through Yahoo Messenger he shared the following thoughts with me:
[Regarding GMA's promise not to run for re-election] yeah, like that time she promised not to run for re-election.. oh wait
[On the abbreviations] what an apologist… nitpicking, useless argument
i agree that the weapon of choice is stupidity, but more or less the problem lies in protest that is useless because it doesn’t really hold anything hostage
What’s the Point?
All over the world, including here in the Philippines, modern communication technologies like the internet have made it easier for practically anyone to share their thoughts or perspectives. This is a big reason why so many statements on the web are nonsensical, offensive, and mean for meanness’ sake (see The Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory).
At the same time however, the smart people who make sense also have a way to contribute to the conversation, rising above those who are content with following other people without thinking for themselves.
Thanks to reader seav for the tip! (Image courtesy of Gulf Times)
Read More: Cha-Cha, Con-Ass, Con-Con, No-El, Philippines, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, protests
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