Young Blood
‘Click!’
By Joey Kiele M. LumainThe offline world of dating is complicated. To meet your potential mate, you have to find him or her in the university, at work, and in social gatherings.
The offline world of dating is complicated. To meet your potential mate, you have to find him or her in the university, at work, and in social gatherings.
This year’s edition of the World Newspaper Congress, held in Bangkok the last several days, ended with two reminders (their pairing perhaps unintended) on the perils and promises facing journalism.
Late last year, Newsweek printed its last physical issue. Its issues are now all-digital, made specifically for tablets and phones for easy access.
Fr. Robert Reyes and Msgr. Sabino Vengco offer several explanations. That’s for the SWS survey that says the Filipino Catholic faithful are increasingly becoming less faithful. Only 37 percent now go to Mass compared to 64 percent in 1991. And 9.2 percent now even contemplate leaving the fold completely
Creating quite a sensation, at least within the circles I move in, is the YouTube appearance of a young woman named Sabrina Ongkiko who spoke at a “TEDx” lecture at Ateneo de Manila.
In a world where the number of “likes” in a display picture or a status is all that matters, where nothing can possibly be more threatening than not having someone who cares about your posts in your profile, and where you can be socially accepted if you repost in-the-bandwagon yet nonsensical and even profane and derogatory posts, how can we be so sure that all of these people interacting with us are our “friends”?
While admitting that certain provisions of Republic Act No. 10175 are unconstitutional, Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza maintained that the government needs to fight crimes committed on the Internet.
Would you jail a 16-year-old girl for libel? Would you jail a 16-year-old girl for calling another girl “B-I-T-C-H,” “backstabber,” and “stupid f*ckin’ playin’ innocent” on Multiply.com? Our Court of Appeals and Department of Justice say yes.
“Gigi” in today’s headlines is not the love-struck girl (Leslie Caron) serenaded by Maurice Chevalier in the 1958 MGM musical. Jessica “Gigi” Reyes is—or was?—chief of staff of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. She cosigns checks and whips straying subordinates into line. She also rides shotgun for JPE. “Hypocrites,” she dubbed senators who assailed her boss’ P1.6 million “Christmas” doles to 18 friendly legislators. Others closer to the scene will discuss “Ma’am Gigi” in days ahead.
The oral arguments on the constitutionality of the controversial Cybercrime Prevention Act at the Supreme Court on Tuesday gave free speech and Internet freedom advocates a boost. But whether some justices were merely playing devil’s advocate or testing the limits of the petitioners’ positions, lines of reasoning were also used at the 4-hour hearing that should give the public pause. Those who share the view that Republic Act No. 10175 should be declared unconstitutional—and antidemocratic at its core—cannot afford to be complacent.
You open your social network account and browse through your network’s newsfeed. You get frustrated as you scroll down and get lost in a traffic of news updates that you don’t even care about, not a single bit. You are bombarded with bits and pieces of information about your friends’ mundane living. You read why he was late for work, what new lipstick shade she bought yesterday, or what he had for lunch. If you’re lucky, there will be a photo that comes with that.
A teacher of mine, an American Maryknoll nun, once shared a piece of advice her mother had given her: “Don’t put down on paper what you don’t want to see on the front page of the New York Times.”
