Rendezvous In Dreams…

James Fallows’ Essay

If you are Filipino, and have not read this, please, please, please - read it.

I don’t know what reading it will make you feel, but it brought intense sadness to me. I don’t know whether to cave in to hopelessness, feel more hopeful, or simply indict an entire country’s culture.

Perhaps it’s just better to dissolve our country and let its citizens disintegrate into separate bands of individuals. After all, that’ what we are now. Each man for himself. We are the perfect example of rabbit hunters.

Here we go again. Launching a crusade with nary a thought. If you think this is a Malu all over again, you better shut that emotional trap of yours, and first think this one true.

I’m talking about the furor of Teri Hatcher’s dialogue on Desperate Housewives which seemed to degrade Filipino doctors. I am saying "seemed" because if you evaluate the lines she said, CLEARLY, you’d notice that is far from the truth.

Summary: The
scene entailed Teri Hatcher’s
character (Susan) at a hospital, being
told by her gynecologist that
she might be hitting menopause. Susan
replied, "Can I just check those
diplomas because I just want to make
sure that they are not from some
med school in the Philippines. "

One thing, Teri’s character didn’t say: let me just check if you’re Filipino. She said: let me check those diplomas… just to make sure they are not from some med school in the Philippines.

These connotes either: the DH writers know of Recto and it’s counterfeiting abilities in the diploma section, knows that our medical schools are so deregulated fly by night schools are rampant, or is referring to the nursing exam fiasco. None of which is a direct insult at Filipinos in general but only a jab at the Philippines’ environment.

What irritates me more is that most of our countrymen, whenever things like these happen, just go on a flag-waving crusade without even bothering to pause if the alleged racial slurs against us aren’t: true or warranted. This kind of blind patriotism
just gives other foreigners the impression that Filipinos really are idiotic and not deserving of respect.

First of all, if you are going to froth at the mouth and protest racism, you should look carefully first if what you are protesting really warrants to be protested. It’s like Filipinos are so hungry for world attention that any  kind of opportunity that comes up would be gobbled up, even up to the point of protesting a believed slur that may really not be a slur at all. (and this attitude is even more apparent when any person even remotely having Filipino blood succeeds at the world stage. It’s like Filipinos are desperate to have a mark in the world. Notice how claims of this and that famous half Filipino people are quickly broadcasted in media the moment these people gain a modicum of fame in the international community) Ako mismo ang nahihiya para sating mga Pilipino. Patay-gutom sa pansin.

It’s like that issue with Claire Danes. Instead of being embarrassed at the things she said (bec they were true, and not only Manila, but most of the country, are indeed smelly and full of cockroaches), we attacked her and called it a racial slur. Hello? Eh sa totoo naman ah. Mabaho nga ang Manila at puno ng ipis. Masaktan na kung masaktan, pero yun ang totoo. Instead of working to prove her wrong by cleaning our country and banishing cockroaches, we’d rather declare Claire Danes persona non grata because that is the easier thing to do. Attack her and lick our wounded pride. Sus! Pride chicken! I’m all for national pride. But not false pride. We can’t take pride in defending our nation against bad things foreigners speak against our country which are TRUE.

Like being branded "dog-eaters." We can’t just brush that aside as racial slur. It’s a widespread practice in the country, for god’s sakes! Of course foreigners would have that impression of us! In the rest of the international community, eating dogs is as reprehensible as you can get when it comes to animals. I mean, cmon! The dog is MAN’S BEST FRIEND. Can we be any more cruel than that?

Yes, it’s a mistake to generalize the whole Filipino race as dog-eaters, but that’s how foreigners who know little of our country will perceive us, take the famous things they know, and spout it. It’s not like we’re innocent you know. Just last week, our own senator degraded the entire Chinese race with her lunatic comment about the Chinese inventing corruption! Now that is a clear case of racial slur if I ever heard one.

How about Filipinas being defined in the Oxford dictionary as "domestic helpers?" Ah that one, I categorically say, is a definite racial slur.

First off, what kind of respecting scholar would make that kind of definition? Define an entire group into a profession, albeit a perceived lowly profession at that? Would other dictionary publishers dare define Arabs as terrorists? Or Indians as taxi drivers? If we would go on that kind of defining binge, we could categorize Americans as "the world’s foremost racist."

That attempt is clearly malicious, out to portray Filipino women, only as maids and nothing else. It also demeans the profession, as if being a domestic helper is more shameful than being a drug dealer.

What irritated me the most about this incident, was Cesar Montano going on TV and protesting the "perceived affront" talking as if he’s brushing elbows with the big leagues in Hollywood simply because he’s now a "member" of the Screen-Actors Guild of America. He doesn’t even know what he’s talking about when he criticized Teri Hatcher directly accusing her she had the choice not to say those lines.

Hasn’t Montano even thought that before he should criticize Hatcher, he should criticize the show’s writers and directors before anyone else? Obviously, Hatcher would be the last down the line who could be blamed for those lines. Yes she could’ve chosen not to speak it. But again, the thought may never have crossed her mind that what she may be saying could possibly be racist. After all, most actors and actresses trust their writers and directors to clear everything before it is aired, right? Being a director yourself, you know that Montano, right?

Like in Malu’s case, it was Malu who wrote the slur, but her editors were remiss in their duties as well.

If anything, Hatcher was just doing her job. Speaking the lines given her, and not minding the ramifications of her dialogue.

And no, I don’t watch Desperate Housewives.

Considering the private telcos inability to deliver good service with their own broadband network, wouldn’t it be just prudent for government not to stake its own effort to make all govt offices online upon the private telcos infrastructure?

All private broadband companies here in the Philippines have their infrastructure groaning at the volume of subscribers they are trying to service, and yet their infrastructure is still not enough. And we’re asking them to take into the fold the government’s needs as well? Pure madness.

Somehow, it does make sense the government is not relying on these private companies to build them this network when these same private companies can hardly build sufficient network capable of servicing their own PAYING customers.

I’m not even bent on agreeing with the 2 UP profs who claimed a government broadband network is unnecessary. Tell that to the hundreds who line up everyday at NSO provincial offices to get documents only to return empty handed because the main office (Mla) has processed their papers, but it has not yet been sent back to the provincial branch.

I think the government is right in wanting its own broadband network. I believe such a network would really be beneficial for everyone. Where government made a mistake was in allowing men like Abalos to cut in on the deal. So that an original proposal of BOT morphed into a humongous loan guaranteed by the Phil govt.

This is another example of greedy officials subverting an otherwise noteworthy project.

If a broadband network is necessary, the CyberEd project on the other hand is the opposite. Nothing can be more unnecessary than projecting online classes to school classrooms that don’t even have computers. Nothing can be more unnecessary than uploading lessons for kids to watch when those same lessons can’t be integrated into useful schoolwork by a competent teacher. We’re splurging on an extravagance when the basics haven’t even been barely met! It’s like the cripple buying an extremely expensive pair of shoes!

Which is more the tragedy. The nation is more fixated in the NBN deal we’ve hardly given a fart at the bigger crime of the two. It’s the country’s education going down the drains, yet we tune in to the battle of the fixers, rapt in attention at which fixer would sling the most mud and cry foul the most, hoping for that shred that will bring the hated administration down to its knees.

Won’t happen folks. When most Filipinos won’t even blink at Erap acting indignantly pardon is his to claim, his loot rightfully his, and his innocence as white as his wristbands. When drama elicits the widest attention, yet in the background the real tragedies that occur play out in ignominy.

And in a few more weeks (or days) Pacquiao and Barrera will fight it out in the ring, and all this hulabaloo will be forgotten collectively. And pretty soon, it will slide back into the subconcious of the people, and back there, in the end, forgotten.

Was there ever a government scandal that has ever been conscientously followed to its bitter end? Even Erap’s case and the Sandiganbayan’s verdict stands being wasted by the eagerness which some will proclaim pardon for an unrepenting criminal.

Well, just read what I’ve come across today:

New Sony In-Utero Tv To Entertain Children in the Womb
Transgendered Sea Anemone Denounced as "Abomination" by Clergy

Last night, the Wolves and I went drinking. Alex came home and it was a cause for much insobriety. Alex commented on my current penchant for blogging. He said he’s read some of what I wrote, and frankly told me up front I’m wasting my talent on topics I couldn’t earn from. He said it’s really a gold mine, being a professional blogger. Told me I was better off writing product reviews and topics similar to it. I knew he meant well by the advice, but I just could not take it if I saw myself as a sell-out. I virtually gagged when Alex suggested I write about things I totally have no interest in. I am even more nauseated of the idea of writing for an imagined audience, consumer hicks and advertising hungry clients. Don’t get me wrong. I hunger for an audience. But I want my audience to appreciate my writing for what it is: an art, and not a business. I am a writer, not a huckster. But thanks for the advice anyway. I really appreciate you caring.

Moving on, I am well aware of the money I am "supposedly" letting get away, professional blogging now being the new "lechon manok" of e-business, virtually everyone trying to jump in on the bandwagon. I have even entertained thoughts of "selling-out." I opened an account at Blogger, thinking this will broaden my audience more, since Friendster is hardly known for its blogging service, much less for its comment-friendly box. But to my dismay, I found out Blogger does not support exporting. To others, it may just be a simple copy-paste of each posts they had from their previous blog — but to me, you have to understand, my blog posts here are in the neigborhood of 80 or more posts! (as of this writing. not to mention I have 2 more other blogs with posts in the near hundreds combined) To a lazy ass like me, that is like sentencing me to death secondary to drudgery. So that Blogger account as of now remains empty. I was planning something for it but I think I won’t be able to do it now. Maybe some time in the future.

Still, moving on, CJ also commented on my writing. Telling me things which I already knew: the Jao he knew is missing in my writing today. And I told him that virtually, the Jao he knew no longer exists. Or if he did, he is buried deep in the underground of my complex personality labyrinth. There you will meet each of me and go mad if you try understanding everyone of them. Be content with knowing one. Do no try to
even fathom that one you know. Death by fatal attraction will be your downfall. That and insanity.

CJ even compared me to his brother, King. Of course I can never match King’s brilliance. Or his writing. We totally have different writing styles, King and I. That much I admit. But then, he may also be right when he claims I have lost something in me.

It is a dilemma I fight with everyday. Every writer contends with it. At least every great writer in my book contends with it. Neurosy. Approach near normalcy levels and you lose all your powers of writing. It’s like Superman discovering he’s just human. That’s why any sane person wouldn’t be such a hit writer. He’d be so boring!

Of course, the difficulty in my situation is that I might’ve achieved "near normalcy levels." Bing, being my stabilizing force, grounding me to everything real. She’s made my life so peaceful that I will have no cause for conflict unless I made one up myself! And even that only produces fake emotions.

And of course, that’s what CJ was griping about. My writing being bereft of emotions, being more for literary consumption than for reading pleasure. He did give me good advice. It doesn’t necessarily mean that if my life is peaceful now, I can’t write about conflict and emotions. For that matter, it doesn’t even necessarily mean I have to write about neurotic things. I can write about joy-joy feelings!

But of course the tragic part about that is I’d have few readers who’d be able to relate with what I wrote. Not everyone after all, can relate with being happy and contented with one’s life. How many percentage of the world’s population can claim that?

I so much want to go back to being neurotic, just to produce the same material the Jao of old produced back then. But I feel, the present Jao can offer something much more. I’ll package it with neurosy, but when people open it, there it is: peace. contentment.

In the end, I told CJ that between choosing being a great writer or keeping Bing in my life, there’s no question which I would choose.

And if you answer being a great writer, you haven’t been reading a word I wrote.

I expect this will be a rather lengthy work, so I’ll do this bit by bit. Check this blog post from time to time as I update this now and then. The idea is to collate every material posted online regarding customers’ bad experiences with any of the above-mentioned telecom giants. If I missed any company, please do inform me. I know there are already a lot of consumer groups out there, but frankly, they are doing jack-shit so perhaps thru this post, every telecom hater will meet each other here and advance the cause of launching the first ever class suit in the Philippines against a telecom company of their choice.

BAYANTEL CUSTOMERS on their Hellish experiences: 

James Reyroso relates how it took forever for Bayantel to install his service

a fellow in misery (he lives in Naga as well, and gasp! Bayantel is also shitty for him!) Calling BayanTel Head Office! Disiplinahin nyo naman ang branch nyo dito sa Naga!

GLOBE CUSTOMERS on another level of HELL:

Peter Bennet on inadvertently buying an entire pole and wiring for his neigborhood just so Globe can have a service set up in his area

Jaypee Rocas losing a job bcoz of Globe inefficency (and in part, his stupidity. duh! u shuda went to a cafe while Globe was busy letting u experience hell right here on earth)

PLDT CUSTOMERS had PLDT redefine HELL for them:

Albert praises Bayantel after switching to it when PLDT told him: no we dont want you as customer (and now, as u see from my previous blog post abt Bayantel, Bayantel is also morphing into the bad guys as more and more subscribers jump ship from the "usual suspects" into a Bayantel not ready to support the growing number of dissatisfied customers from PLDT, Globe, Smart. If they don’t do something about their physical network, they will totally lose their initiative agst the competition and everything will be back to the status quo. meaning: it doesn’t matter which provider you choose. they will all be glad to provide you their own version of hell)

Abe Olandres on what he calls "lousy service"

Andrew de la Serna and the evils of having no choices in ur area

And a cafe owner forced in the brink of bankruptcy bec of PLDT’s shitty service
—-

 

Joey Alarilla trying to unite everyone into action. Much the same as what I’m trying to do. A lot of horror stories from the comments below.

And FINALLY, a guy who thinks the same as me. That all these woes have one root cause: OVERSUBSCRIPTION. And the only solution is to broaden their physical networks to support triple the projected growth of subscribers. Instead, telecoms are playing catch-up and employing band-aid solutions. Irritating the hell out of everyone and lowering consumer confidence in — ANYTHING.

(and ps. im only linking personal narratives. there’s way, way MORE complaints abt these giants littering the web) and if u have a personal horror story to share, kindly post a link or a comment abt it here. I’m not rich, but I’m willing to shell out for lawyer fees for anyone willing to jump start a class action suit. The money I’m paying for the subscription, I’ll just pay for lawyer’s fee. But for it to be a class action suit, I’ve got to have people willing to sign affidavits and such and such. I can at least cite one instance where these companies are acting in bad faith. The onerous lock-in clause. I’m certain that is illegal. We can include the NTC for their inaction and blast them to the Ombudsman. I’m willing to bet any politician who’ll take up our cause will be the darling of internet users nationwide.

So if you can, email me jaodeballs@yahoo.com and when we have enough people, I’ll figure out how to get everyone’s signatures.

Last word, I consent IT technology here in the Philippines is new and is experiencing birth pains. But the least consumers deserve from these companies is upfront claims and no actions of bad faith. At least I won’t mind a little bit of slow connection so long as it’s not very far from what I’ve been promised (frm 512 mbps to 430 mbps). I also won’t mind days of lost service so long as they give rebates. I also won’t mind dropped connections so long as they pay me an agreed amt for every drop connections they make. And last but most importantly, don’t make false claims if you can’t back it up. Stop over subscribing until you have the actual physical networks to support it. Then, start taking on customers when you have it, instead of doing the opposite.

And someone asked how come BPO industries seem not to notice. Because the telcos are protecting these big clients and are servicing them well. I know. I worked at a call center and I’ve heard talk from an IT guy there.

With the onerous lock-in gone, we can actually make a drive for every internet subscriber in the Philippines to pull out their subscriptions from every ISP, (and endure with a dial up for the meantime while the boycott is going on) and let’s see if the ISP’s still treat our payments as small potatoes. I betcha they’d feel the loss of these revenues.

If ur ready to take action, shout with me. NO MORE TILL WE GET MORE!!

This is a rewrite of a stand-alone dialogue I posted in my Mukamo blog, which is a fanfic for RK. This rewrite is intended for screenplay, but as you can see, is rife with unnecessary descriptions and character emotions that shouldn’t be in a proper screenplay. What can I say? It’s in the range of being a treatment and a screenplay that needs vicious editing. I don’t have the heart to cut the most heart-rending parts of my post, so just bear with the liberal treatment, ok?

EXT. Inside a forest. Dusk

A lone cherry blossom stands, a clear
away from the clumps of trees marking the boundaries of the forest. A
solitary swordsman walks towards the cherry blossom. On his shoulder,
slung his sword, carried with a lazy air. His face is unreadable, only
his eyes show a depth his face does not carry. They are unbelievably
black.

Penetrating, searing.

He’s in pain, but he doesn’t seem to feel it.

He
stops at the foot of the cherry blossom. He looks around, as if fearful
intruders are wandering by. Then sure of his privacy, he starts to dig.
He strikes at the ground with his sword, boring it deep underground
before levering it up. Once clumps of dirt are loose, he kneels down
and starts to dig with his hands. Then he stands back up again to pry
more dirt loose from the ground, and kneels back down again to dig with
his hands when the sword finishes its work. He does this repeatedly
until he’s dug a hole large enough for a grave. Down in the hole, a
coffin is seen. Covered with scattered soil. Nonetheless, it is obvious
that it is a coffin. The swordsman gently reaches down to the head of
the grave and smooths away the dirt covering the coffin, revealing the
coffin to be made of glass. A beautiful, haunting face is revealed,
lying serenely inside the glass coffin. She doesn’t seem to be dead,
but merely sleeping. Upon seeing the woman’s face, a slew of emotions
flickered past the swordsman’s eyes. But only for a moment. Once again,
they are piercingly black. He reaches down and lifts the coffin’s
cover. With a mighty heave, he pushes it up, and then pushes it
forward, letting it fall soundly on the ground. The mirror cracks in a
few places, but otherwise stays whole.

He looks down again and
sees the woman’s whole body lying inside the coffin. She’s wearing a
white dress, made of thin camisole, with flowers of tiny cherry
blossoms adorning it. He bends down and caresses the woman’s face. All
gentleness seems to be flowing from him into the woman. Then with a
grace belying his savage profession, he lifts her up, and carries her
out of the grave. He puts her down at the foot of the cherry blossom,
resting her back on the tree, supporting her head with his hand.

          SWORSDMAN (V.O)

    

Open your eyes…

The
woman opens her eyes slowly, her eyelashes are unbelievably long. Her
lips open in a half-sigh. Red and full, glistening as if death did not
even affect it.

          SWORDSMAN (continued)

    

I am here — right here.

The
woman looks up and stares into his face. Recognition dawns on her face.
She lifts her hand to his face, and gently touches his cheek. In that
single gesture, an eternity was spoken. The swordsman smiles sadly at
her and motions her to look at his other hand. He clutches the sword
tightly by the pommel, his knuckles and its blade resting on the
ground. He looks back into her questioning eyes.

          SWORDSMAN (continued)

    

Drive this sword through my heart

With his free hand, he takes one of her hand to his heart

          SWORDSMAN (continued)

    

and I will give you the same cross-mark scar you gave me.

A
small gasp escapes the woman’s lips. She shakes her head slightly,
unwilling to accept his words. The swordsman looks at her resolutely,
and wipes away the tears now slowly falling down her cheeks with his
thumb.

          SWORDSMAN (continued)

    

We
shall end this now. My days of wandering the earth searching for
atonement is over. Your days of pretending to be a tragedy-stricken
courtesan is over.

The woman is now sobbing freely.
She tries to hug the swordsman tightly. He gently pushes her away. Her
tear-streaked face displays the depth of how much she wants him to
stay. She begs him with her eyes. He looks at her. But his stare is
looking far away, past her eyes, and into another time. He stands up.

           SWORDSMAN (continued)

    

For
far too long have I mourned our death. Far too long have I blamed
myself. Far too long have I carried the burden of this sword’s
blood-letting. It is only fitting that I die by my own sword, and my
blood be the last to touch this accursed blade.

The
swordsman offers his hand to the woman. She takes it, and pulls herself
up to stand before him. A gust of wind passes. The swordsman then takes
his sword, puts it back in its scabbard, and offers it to the woman,
hilt-first, cradling the scabbard’s end with his other arm. He closes his eyes
and waits for her to take it.

           SWORDSMAN (continued)

    

Tomoe, I release you from the bonds of fate that destiny has put upon us…

Tomoe’s
shoulders are wracked by her halting sobs. But she slows down her
crying enough to hold out her hand to the sword’s hilt. She waits for
him to open his eyes. He doesn’t open them. Then, with surprising
speed, she hardens her resolve and takes the sword’s hilt, slowly grazing
his knuckles with her fingers as she did so. The swordsman gently releases his grip on the sword as Tomoe takes it, along with the
scabbard, away from him.

            TOMOE (V.O)

    

Open your eyes…

The swordsman opens his eyes and looks directly into Tomoe’s gaze.
She’s standing delicately in front of him, but her stance is every
inch the swordsman that he was. No traces of regret lined her face.
Only the same emotion his face carried when he came here to dig her
out. The wind blew wisps of her hair away, ruffling her dress a little.
She pays it no mind and looks at him with that same resolute gaze he
had when he arrived at her grave. He nodded silently, his lips curved
as if smiling. But it was so brief, that the question of the smile was left hanging in the space.

            TOMOE (V.O)

    

Look
me in the eye when I drive this sword through you. Know in this space
and time that I never left you. You have always been a reflection of
me. For so long I’ve waited for you to bring me back to life, and now
that you have, it is time to bring this to an end.

Then
with frightening grace, she swiftly pulls the sword out of its scabbard
and points the sword to his heart. She then moved a few steps forward
until the sword’s tip touched his chest. Then, she put her palms
on the hilt of the sword and gently pushed. Slowly, the blade entered the
swordsman’s chest, passing through his ribcage, and then past his heart, just missing it by inches. All throughout, she was crying silently. And when the sword
reached hilt-deep inside of him, only their faces were inches apart.
The swordsman pulled out a small blade from his pocket and stroked her
cheek with its pointed end. Making a cross-mark similar to the one he
had. Then, smiling weakly at her, his hands fell at his side, the
blade dropping to the ground without a sound.

Tomoe put her lips
to his ear and whispered, so softly, the wind carried the words away as
soon as she spoke it, her sobs drifting along with it.

           TOMOE (V.O)

    

Shinta,
I release you. From the bonds of love that I have put unfairly around
you. Go now and have peace. It is now my turn to wander.

But Shinta never heard those words, his breath expiring shortly after she said: I release you…

Tomoe
then kissed Shinta full on the lips, wiping her tears away as she ended
the kiss, and with surprising strength, pulled the sword straight out
of his body and wiped it clean with the bandanna he gave her when they
were still "one." As Tomoe pulled out the sword from him, Shinta fell
cleanly into the vacated grave.

Tomoe gave him one last look, then slid the sword back into its scabbard and tied the bandanna around
her head, and slowly walked away from Shinta’s fallen body, without so
much a glance nor pause.

INT. A Smith’s Forge

A smith is
pounding on a half-finished sword. He puts it back in the furnace after
a few pounding and then dips it down in a drum of water. Then he
continues pounding again.

           SWORDMAKER (V.O)

    

With this steel, I forge a reverse-edged sword. So that one day, a swordsman might pick it up, not to kill, but to protect.

EXT. The edge of the forest

Tomoe
walks away, the wind blowing her hair back, the bandanna’s ends
billowing before it. She’s slung the sword across her shoulders,
carrying it with a lazy air. She walks away from the clumps of trees
and the cherry blossom that was her grave, towards a darkening sunset.

“You know, the very powerful and the very stupid
have one thing in common. They don’t alter their views to fit the
facts. They alter the facts to fit their views. Which can be
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that need altering”

– The Doctor

“We look with disfavor on a church which fills
children’s minds with sadistic tales of a cruel vengeful tribe of
barbarians under the guise of teaching them the revealed word of God.”
– Robert A. Heinlein, For Us, the Living

“This is not bad, this is a conspiracy to remove happiness from
existence. It seeks to wrap its hedgehog hand around the still beating
heart of the personification of good and squeeze until it is stilled.”
– Chuck Sonnenburg on Voyager’s “Elogium”


“Man, you know politics are bad when you would prefer a known mobster
in power rather than the current group because it would decrease the
body count and increase respectability.” — Academia Nut

“Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?”
– anonymous

“In a democracy dissent is an act of faith. Like medicine, the test of its value is not in its taste, but in its effects.” — J. W. Fullbright

“The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off.” —Gloria Steinem

“Some people are like Slinkies. They aren’t really good for anything,
but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a
flight of stairs.” anonymous

“I am fat. You are ugly. I can diet.” anonymous

“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, but teach a man to fish, and he will need a fishing permit.”

“If a million monkeys were given a million typewriters… well, that would be the internet surely!” — The League Against Tedium (Simon Munnery), in Attention Scum

“She probably thought you were approachable. I get that sometimes.
It doesn’t mean that she wants to decrypt her vagina for your code cannon quite yet, but you are certainly at the login screen.” - stuck at bronze

I’ll add more as I come across them…

Continuing with the premise — but rather, shows up in our words like a Judas betraying his Master. The less you have of it, the more it betrays you. The more you have of it, the more it serves you. And then punishes you. How? By self-inflicted pity at how no one understands you but a fucking outcast minority. And loons at that.

In an episode of Jon Stewart’s Daily Show, a comedy sketch portrayed a non-existent motivational speaker advocating his book abt success titled: Are You On TV? Then Shut Up. It was an obvious jab at Bush’s "bushisms" or media and political "gaffes." I close-encaptioned gaffes, because Bush’s wasn’t just normal gaffes. They were GAFFES of proportions that really betray the inner workings of his mind: a rat running on a wheel turning the rusty cogs in his brain.

To observe how radically I’m soaking up my brain compared to my stagnant college days, see the following materials I’ve been reading:

iPhone sex, introducing… (nsfw, btw), Iraq, spacetime (and this one I really followed all links for a reason), Has Been (my favorite writer at The Slate), body language and sexual miscues, a little inspirational message for me, and another inspiration. And for those who’re read widely in SF or Fantasy, and have read Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series, and liked it at the beginning but then had soured feelings abt it in the end, should read Goodkind Parodies. Really funny stuff.

And
that’s only the stuff I’m reading. You should see the stuff I’m
watching (online and on TV), the games I’m playing (on and off-line),
and the things I’m writing.

I’m soaking up a lot of information
that my 5 years in college won’t even be able to surpass. A lot is
wikipedia. But NGC and Discovery really help. (NGC specials and MythBusters) Been also on the animania
blip for awhile. My interests range widely, to say the least.

That is not to say I’m a jack of all trades and master of none. If my hobby (IT IS just currently a HOBBY) does pay-off, then I can say that at least I’m an expert in a certain field.

Another current hobby of mine is throwing posts around Manolo’s blog. This posts of his are too golden not to link: Political Behavior,  winners suck, quality of a leader. I was also complimented rather surprisingly when I posted this.   

And for desserts, how about this? Americans waking up? Are u serious? A full year after I wrote this and 4 years later after this idea formed in my head, immediately after the Bush administration tried to stonewall all investigations about 9/11.

A commenter by the name of DesertBud says: I think people are embarrassed to admit they were suckered. I sure felt
pretty stupid when I found out burning jet fuel doesn’t melt steel, and
recently when I saw a video analysis of “planes hitting the WTC
towers”, showing that all the images we’ve seen were doctored and that
no planes hit the buildings. To answer your question: No one wants to admit they’ve been had. It’s more convenient to ignore 911 Truth.

But Medicis hit the nail right home:

Another significant factor is the appalling ignorance and
self-absorbtion of the American people. The majority of Americans
couldn’t find Iraq or Afghanistan on a world map. Hell, a majority of
Americans probably couldn’t find New York City on a map. But they can
tell you all about Paris Hilton (you can probably blame the MSM for
THAT one).

Of course the neocons’ tactics were old skool. Read all about it in Terry Goodkind. Of course Terry Goodkind wasn’t the original proponent of the theory, but he was the first writer from whom I learned the idea. Before I learned all abt Ayn Rand and all that objectivism crap.

And thus my premise ends. Knowledge serves only those who have it, and those who utilizes it. The rest graze the field like lambs waiting for wolves. Or gazelles waiting for the slaughter. And therein lies the future of the world.

The following is an email I sent to Ambeth Ocampo re his PDI article Blog Experience

Ambeth,

History (writing, reading, and learning it) as we know it changed since the dawn of the electronic age. Today, the battle to write our future by writing our past, is fought online. Consider this: Wikipedia Unmasked and take into account that more and more, new media is being shaped by a collective conciousness that wasn’t present before. In the past, only those in the position to influence the news, change history, was able to do so. Now, ordinary citizens, so long as they have access to a computer and internet, can affect AND effect news, and history writing. Now, news isn’t selected by TV execs and editors for public purview. Audiences themselves can access what they want without being told that this is what should be FRONT PAGE or BREAKING material news. Thus for techies, the new IPhone may be the headlines, while for fashionistas it may be something else.

In short, you won’t have to sludge through an entire sitting (or browsing) of unwanted news to find the news you’re only interested in. with a few search criteria, you get what  you want in a click.

The audiences then define the news, not corporate media. in short, this is our (we audiences) own way of shoving the shit spewed by corporate media back down their throats. Just as modern civilization’s governments evolved into corruption, so too was the old media. And the new media is just one way of reigning in the old media and whipping it back into line. After all, there’s no better use of disciplining power than the threat of extinction in the hands of a new "evolution." Old media is not indispensible anymore.

So corporate media execs beware, you’re just a few rungs below the dinosaurs’ path.