Why you shouldn’t hit “share”: AMALAYER

Life was simpler before all this technology. We talked to people, we breathed fresh air, and we can have a bad day without fear of being prosecuted in cyber space.

We all get mad. At one point or the other, we reach our limits, then all hell breaks lose. And then, the world goes on-- at least that was the case before camera phones and the internet. Today the cyberworld paused as most activity on Facebook circled around a young lady who got mad at the train station.

Blogging, Plagiarism, and a Senator

I do not consider myself as well versed when it comes to the intricacies of politics and issues involving the government, the people in the government, and issues in the country. When news on these topics come out, I usually have an opinion, but rarely do I broadcast them since I do not consider myself knowledgeable enough to speak on the subject. With a few exceptions like the debate on the RH Bill (of which I’ve established my position as a firm supporter), you will seldom elicit enough outrage from myself to fuel a blog post.

But here it is, and this is not about the RH Bill.

The issue here is not a complex one. It does not take a college graduate to understand what has happened: A proud politician has erred and instead of apologizing, the man, a Philippine public servant, first denies the wrong doing and demeans the other party involved, then defends the same act by justifying it as a normal occurrence, the status quo. In another statement, he defends his obvious mistake by charging back at his detractors and questioning their personalities. He asks, “Alam ba natin kung sino? Matino ba sila? Mabait ba sila?”, as if the answers to these questions would somehow lessen the gravity of his misdeed. 

I speak now because I believe this issue needs not an expert to be fully explained. It is the most basic thing we are taught in our youth: do not take what is not yours.  Whether it be toys, clothes, or crayons; or as we grow older, money, wives (yes, the bible said so), or words, stealing is stealing and no amount of explanation and rationalization will change that fact. We all know this from childhood, and if a 6 year old version of myself can understand this, why can’t a Philippine Senator?

Then again, a 6 year old version of myself would also probably know that an apology from the start would have had fixed the whole debacle, the Senator has not caught on on this either. He remains firm on his stand; downplaying the importance of intellectual property (plagiarism is not criminal, he says), claiming to be cyber-bullied, and hosting a noon time show which (apparently) helps hundreds everyday.

And don’t get me started on that Blogging Bill that was proposed– a poor attempt to “divert the issue”. 


(For those of you who do not exactly know what blogging is, this essay by Niko Batallones explains it perfectly.)