Controversy Galore!
I’m not one to shy away from controversy myself, although I rarely ever seek it, the only time was when Malu Fernandez broke into the scene, or maybe crashed, I don’t know. And even then, it was all of her doing in the first place. But recently, over at Filipino Voices, there’s been a lot of waves being made, and I’m actually conflicted as to whether it’s good for the blog or not.
First there was Benj’s forray into a semi-political topic, only because of the subject itself, and that was the blog launching of Jun Lozada by Blogger’s Kapihan. He wrote, the now, “controversial article”, The Worst-Case Scenario: The Cyber Crackdown. It garnered flack from all over the place, not to mention a few of Blogger’s Kapihan crew members. The main reason for Blogger’s Kapihan’s beef was probably the non-participation of Benj, and because Benj chose to air out his non-support of Jun Lozada, and thus was not motivated to join the blog launchings. Tonyo Cruz also wrote a semi-scathing article on the elitist attitude of a few in the blogosphere, although I share his view on this, I don’t share his target.
Second, is Benign0’s epiphany, on the workings of trackbacks in the blogosphere, and as to how linking to a blog opens a pandora’s box towards the selfishness of some bloggers to promote themselves by peppering their own posts with a lot of links. Well, we knew where that was headed, and we knew who the target was.. Manolo Quezon. Ahh, Benign0 just gets everyone’s blood boiling more often than not. Suffice it to say, I don’t share his opinion on this matter, especially because Manolo has been the one to introduce to me some of the most amazing bloggers in the political blogosphere. A link from Manolo can make anyone’s day. I don’t need to stick up for Manolo, he’s already done that himself.
And so, on the one hand, there’s freedom of expression, and I have no qualms in the writers expressing their opinions on matters that they have on their mind. On the other hand, sometimes it can get in the way of actual hard hitting writing, the actual facet of Filipino Voices that I’m more concerned about is giving rise to the debate on the issues. In the end, it may be, that such writing is good for the development of ideas, the non-restriction of thought processes, and the uninhibited thought process of the writers themselves. Let’s face it, once writers stop publishing their works, for fear of criticism, I think everyone loses.
So, let the writers be, that’s my point of view, let them defend their articles, their ideas, and their opinions, we’re all big boys and girls right? And if we’re passionate about our stand, then all the more power to all of us.
And lastly, Filipino Voices is a collaborative blog with independent minds. I emphasize independent minds. Not only independent minds, but independent views and opinions. The format is deliberate in this way, writers were chosen specifically so as to not swerve or even dive into the mental abyss of extremist thoughts. It may be a collective voice, but read carefully each article, and you will realize the independence and the beauty there can be in such an endeavor.
The next week to come, I’ll try to focus on getting The Philippine Issues Writing Project more exposure, I’ll try not to stress out if any more controversial articles are produced, and I’ll hope that all ends well with the Blogger’s Kapihan group and Benj, that goes the same for Benign0 and Manolo, but that last one is going to be a long shot.
Nick, I think you missed the point of my ‘Establishmentisation’ article and like a lot of others latched on to the ‘intriga’ aspect of it.
That’s ok. Thanks for your usual tolerance. As promised, I remain consistent to The Persona.
if not for the hottest fires, the sharpest swords could not be forged.
I really don’t get why people think my scenario is a bit off the mark.
The government has cracked down on the Press many times already. With the prominence of Lozada et al in the game, that puts their blog on the same footing as old media.
that’s a fair point, benj. we must give that further thought in light of recent events, especially with local law being rather unclear on the distinctions between posts, comments, and other nuances in blogging (and open to interpretation by lawyers like that of The Firm).
@Benign0, your article was well though out, I appreciated, don’t get me wrong, but that point regarding Manolo, well, that was the one that I noticed right off the bat, since it was the opening statement..
@Benj, It was not the scenario, I don’t think, it was the tone that was perceived, i.e.. they shouldn’t blog, because this worst case scenario could happen, which I thought was overblowing the article.. In any case, I did agree on the bit by Tonyo that there shouldn’t be an elitism that pervades the blogosphere, or else we will be making the same grave mistakes as other institutions.. Again, don’t fret, sometimes, we get misunderstood, sometimes, you just have to brush it off, and keep on doing what you’re doing..
@Jester, honestly, I’m with you on this, I really don’t think it’s far fetched. I don’t think it’ll happen anytime soon, but to put the scenario out there, for everyone to discuss, I think Benj was right to do so.