TV-ware

Do you know how powerful television shows could be, especially if the target audience are the children, the most vulnerable and defenseless viewers?

Last night, I have accidentally watched Joaquin Bordado, a primetime series aired on Channel 7. There’s this particular scene that caught my attention, and I couldn’t help but express my deep concern.

In the scene, Joaquin (Robin Padilla), the protagonist whose role was a hero, somewhat recognized (in a way a king awards a knighthood to his soldier) his son to be the next Bordado and gave him a white mouse borda (tattoo), a power that could be summoned in times of trouble. Upon bestowing such honor, Joaquin asked his son to make a promise and fulfill an important obligation: to protect the weak and the oppressed.

Imagine, that’s the kind of show your child is watching: a program that promotes getting a tattoo to be like that of bordado’s descendant – heroic, powerful, and magical. Is there a problem with that? None, if parents are around – beside their children while watching TV — to explain some issues hidden within the scene’s message. Because if not, there would be a misconception that would surely be etched to the kids’ memory: There’s nothing wrong with getting their skin tainted with permanent ink – because it’s fun, noble, amazing. Then, who would explain the medical risks and the other possible consequences of getting a tattoo?

It wouldn’t be surprising if one day, on your way home, you’d see children who have tattooed animal drawings on their skin using their ball pen, pencil, or crayons, playing Borda-borduhan. Today, they would only have washable figures, but tomorrow, they’ll certainly be excited to get a real one, after all, they have this wrong belief that a borda is a sign of heroism and a showcase of nobility.

Can TV more impotent than that?

While Contemplating (1)

The more we understand this world, the more we realize that we know nothing. The more we understand life, the more we understand that it is short, full of sorrows and sadness. The only way to find happiness is finding the right purpose of life. The problem is, not all of us have found it. Doubly saddening is, many of us are not even bothered to give time to look for it.

Random Notes (16 May 2008)

Picture Borrowed from National Geographic

PDI, A1:

“The earthquake that struck Sichuan province on Monday has so far claimed 15,000 lives…” Most of them are children.

Yahoo! News:

“SAN FRANCISCO - California’s Supreme Court declared gay couples in the nation’s biggest state can marry — a monumental but perhaps short-lived victory for the gay rights movement Thursday that was greeted with tears, hugs, kisses and at least one instant proposal of matrimony.”

Los Angeles Times, Kenneth R. Weiss

Photo Borrowed from sxc.hu

“The [US] Interior Department on Wednesday designated the polar bear as threatened with extinction because of shrinking sea ice, making it the first creature added to the endangered species list primarily because of global warming.”

–

I’m lost of words, something’s truly near.

Events and Opinion Mapping (April)

Photo Courtesy of sxc.hu

Goodbye ZTE, hello Rice Shortage.

It was a few months ago when the circus in the Senate began. The interesting act? To directly link President GMA to the anomalous ZTE deal. Every Senator has his own portion, unique trick, and interesting questions. None, however, succeeded. The show has been proven to be short-lived, not much different from the Hello Garci Scandal, Fertilizer Scam, Jueteng Issue, Extra Judicial Killings, and tons of other accusations. All were oppositions’ hopes to bring down the GMA Administration. Too bad, political hopes are not meant to come true.

But what will happen now? After the 9-6 vote of the Supreme Court to uphold Neri’s right to invoke Executive Privilege, what will become of the ZTE Show? Senate Blue Ribbon Chair, Alan Cayetano, even has this to say while pulling the stage curtain down: There is no enough evidence to directly link President GMA to ZTE Scandal. So? What now? Aside from the waning popularity of Lozada, of course.

It’s not hard to tell. The stomach of Juan dela Cruz begins to grumble. The resources to fill it up commence a journey of scarcity towards crises, impending to reach a complete shortage.

This is like a déjà vu. GMA was previously in the hot seat for “Hello! Garci, I’d like to commit a lapse in judgment, how about if I do it to Mindanao votes.” (Sorry, what does lapse in judgment mean again?) Then, Kris Aquino began to bleed profusely; she’s breaking up with Joey Marquez. That certainly was more interesting, so the people trashed Garci and watched Krissy.

GMA survived.

When I was young and didn’t want to eat the food my mom prepared — perhaps because I was too busy playing — she would usually scare me and say in an emphatic, clear — really scary voice, “Your tummy will hurt. The large intestine will eat your small intestine until you die.” It was effective. I’d eat out of fear, not of the intestines grinding one another, but of my mom. Surely, if I wouldn’t fear her, or at least pretend to, the next scene would no longer be an appalling persuasive confrontation, but a strong-and-tough-rod-on-my-ass action.

I think all Filipino moms taught the same lesson to their children. Not the one about hitting the child if he doesn’t want to eat, but the one about the large intestine devouring the small ones in the absence of food. This is why Juans started to leave their seat before the TV screen (showing Senate inquiry) and began to fall in a long line to buy a kilo of NFA Rice.

I can see it, the Palace by the river is beginning to rejoice subconsciously: “Alas! My people, you’re hungry? Leave the Senate, here’s an 18-Peso per kilo of rice. Dig a grave deeper than six feet, bury the ZTE dead, and I’ll feed you.”

Obviously, Filipinos can live longer without knowing what would happen to the Senate investigation, which hadn’t shown a tiny shed of hope and ability that it could successfully bring down GMA from power. So, people opted to a question of far greater interest: How can Filipino families survive without rice? This shifting of issues is much more like changing the channel from Hello! Garci Show to The Kris Aquino Bares All buzz news.

Alas! GMA has survived, again — saved by the bell that clangs Rice Shortage.

The next tough question is: In these coming months, where are we going to get our staple food? Can we survive? Where’s Janina San Miguel? Can she answer this for us?

Cyclone Nargis

Photo Courtesy of Christians Concerned for Burma

“They have never seen anything like this before.”

In the absence of exact words, this was the most precise expression a witness could say to describe how shocked the Cyclone Nargis victims were.

It’s almost a week now since the extremely severe cyclonic storm Nargis hit Burma (Myanmar) on May 2, 2008, leaving an estimated “60,000 people dead or missing” and millions of settlers homeless, according to Philippine Daily Inquirer. This count is even smaller. A Wiki entry has this: “…the final total of fatalities ranging up to 100,000.”

Amidst political issues brought by the recent take over of a military junta, Burma is facing more serious problems — catastrophic effects that seem to have just started. This time, bigger and greater. Reports say decomposing dead human bodies are found everywhere, towns are submerged in deep floods, fallen trees are blocking major roads and highways, and the military government is refusing international aids. There are also millions of people with no access to clean water, not to mention the soaring prices of rice, cooking oil, medicines, and other basic necessities.

Who wouldn’t be strongly affected by this news? I was appalled but not surprised.

We need not to become environmentalists to say that this is how bad our nature can take its revenge — unforgiving, inconsiderate. But our surrounding has just no choice. And the term revenge, inappropriate. It’s us who made this happened. Perhaps, if mother earth could only talk, she’d say, “I hate this to happen, but it’s inevitable. Climate Change, heard it? It’s a common symptom I’m dying, and you, my beloved people, are causing it. My immune system is just trying to fight back what it thinks is a major disease. It’s releasing a kind of defensive cells in the form of cyclones, hurricanes, storms, and polar-caps-melting heat. It’s not too late though. If you make your small share, I could still live, or at least have a longer time to provide you with a safer shelter, free from human-induced natural disasters. Can you do your obligations to save me? Can you commit yourselves to make Environmental Awareness happen?”

Let’s be united in our answer: Yes!