If there is one post that must be read about the Dela Paz versus Pangandaman golf incident, it is this — A challenge to Bambee de la Paz and other bloggers.
It is not a historical account of the event; a quick Google search will yield that. Neither is it an aggregation of blogosphere reactions for I need not add to that. Instead, this piece by journalist Carlos Conde presents a sobering perspective of the whole Justice-for-Dela-Paz Movement that began in the blogosphere and now rages in the courts. Conde muses,
I guess what I’m saying is that bloggers like Bambee can – and should – use their newfound power and influence to right the wrongs done on other people. And, by God, there is so much injustice being committed out there! Yet, except in the circles of activists and human-rights advocates, I have not seen the same level of outrage in the blogosphere over the disappearance of Jonas Burgos, of Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan, of the atrocity done to Remegio Saladero Jr. and the hundreds of human-rights victims in the Philippines as we have witnessed in the Pangandaman incident.
There is no mistaking how Bambee’s piece got so viral so quickly. The entry was written in a highly personal manner with neither thesis nor style. It is written as you would write in a diary; it has that “just as it happened” complete with dramatic italicized colloquial phrases and capitalized emphases on words such as pleading, crying, and justice. It definitely tugs at the heartstrings. Yet what made this issue truly viral was the story — the everyday Joe the Golfer and his son Sam the Putter beaten on by a monied, beer-bellied, corrupt feudal warlord clan that’s simply so easy to hate.
Pardon my sarcasm, for I am innately skeptical about movements such as these. For when all this exploded, my thoughts were one step more cynical than Conde’s — so where are all the posts about the human rights abuses, and why does this golfer family get top billing?
Simple — because there can be no more powerful force driving mass social movements than a story that could may have well been our own. That Bambee wrote in a manner that is personal is only secondary to the fact that she was a blogger, for it was that identity that immediately established empathy, that bred sympathy, then compassion, and ultimately support. Central to Bambee’s narrative is that it could have been anyone else’s — maybe not on a golf course exactly but you get what I mean — RIGHT?
It happened with Ninoy Aquino. Back then, everyone’s narrative was dominated by the dictates of a tyrant. Yet Ninoy represented — all at once — resignation, defiance, and hope. As a star, he shone brightly alongside a million others that when he was snuffed out, the millions took over.
I am not equating Bambee with Ninoy, yet I put them side by side to illustrate the power of a shared story. Back in 1983, we did not have blogs. And thus the iconic white suit shone through the monochromatic newsprints of the time, bringing light to a disgruntled people. Bambee’s Blogspot may have a similar effect, though not necessarily beating our historical drum as loudly as the 1980’s.
Thus, I conclude by offering a response to Conde — that perhaps the reason the likes of Burgos, Empeno, Capadan, and Saladero remain unblogged, undigged and untwittered is simply because their stories are not as well known, or as urgent, or as italicized or capitalized. Of course this can be rectified with a deeper advocacy (essentially make these names as real as Bambee) that utilize the right media and message for the Net generation. For I confess: though I share Conde’s opinion of this entire phenomenon, I would be scant to name Burgos et al before I can spell Pangandaman. I too get most of my information online.
I realize that there is much justice to be had in this world and there is much more to be outraged at. But in responding to these, people will have to be rallied, stories will have to be told, and faces will have to be made known. We can hardly blame bloggers that a quick visit to Bambee’s blog makes doing all three so simple, but I nonetheless feel that it is right for us bloggers to be challenged to do more, considering how our technology has made it so easy to express ire, demand justice, and for vindication to be had.
What that more will be, only we can define in our own ways. Conde is right: blogging is personal. Yet the simplest lesson we can take from Bambee is that sometimes all it takes is the right post in the right place and the right time. And in those sometimes, all it takes is one.
A Hole in One: Rethinking the Mauling
7 January 2009 at 11:43 pm | In Essays and Commentaries | Leave a CommentTags: Blogging, dela paz, golf, Government, History, incident, pangandaman, Philippines, Politics, Society
If there is one post that must be read about the Dela Paz versus Pangandaman golf incident, it is this — A challenge to Bambee de la Paz and other bloggers.
It is not a historical account of the event; a quick Google search will yield that. Neither is it an aggregation of blogosphere reactions for I need not add to that. Instead, this piece by journalist Carlos Conde presents a sobering perspective of the whole Justice-for-Dela-Paz Movement that began in the blogosphere and now rages in the courts. Conde muses,
There is no mistaking how Bambee’s piece got so viral so quickly. The entry was written in a highly personal manner with neither thesis nor style. It is written as you would write in a diary; it has that “just as it happened” complete with dramatic italicized colloquial phrases and capitalized emphases on words such as pleading, crying, and justice. It definitely tugs at the heartstrings. Yet what made this issue truly viral was the story — the everyday Joe the Golfer and his son Sam the Putter beaten on by a monied, beer-bellied, corrupt feudal warlord clan that’s simply so easy to hate.
Pardon my sarcasm, for I am innately skeptical about movements such as these. For when all this exploded, my thoughts were one step more cynical than Conde’s — so where are all the posts about the human rights abuses, and why does this golfer family get top billing?
Simple — because there can be no more powerful force driving mass social movements than a story that could may have well been our own. That Bambee wrote in a manner that is personal is only secondary to the fact that she was a blogger, for it was that identity that immediately established empathy, that bred sympathy, then compassion, and ultimately support. Central to Bambee’s narrative is that it could have been anyone else’s — maybe not on a golf course exactly but you get what I mean — RIGHT?
It happened with Ninoy Aquino. Back then, everyone’s narrative was dominated by the dictates of a tyrant. Yet Ninoy represented — all at once — resignation, defiance, and hope. As a star, he shone brightly alongside a million others that when he was snuffed out, the millions took over.
I am not equating Bambee with Ninoy, yet I put them side by side to illustrate the power of a shared story. Back in 1983, we did not have blogs. And thus the iconic white suit shone through the monochromatic newsprints of the time, bringing light to a disgruntled people. Bambee’s Blogspot may have a similar effect, though not necessarily beating our historical drum as loudly as the 1980’s.
Thus, I conclude by offering a response to Conde — that perhaps the reason the likes of Burgos, Empeno, Capadan, and Saladero remain unblogged, undigged and untwittered is simply because their stories are not as well known, or as urgent, or as italicized or capitalized. Of course this can be rectified with a deeper advocacy (essentially make these names as real as Bambee) that utilize the right media and message for the Net generation. For I confess: though I share Conde’s opinion of this entire phenomenon, I would be scant to name Burgos et al before I can spell Pangandaman. I too get most of my information online.
I realize that there is much justice to be had in this world and there is much more to be outraged at. But in responding to these, people will have to be rallied, stories will have to be told, and faces will have to be made known. We can hardly blame bloggers that a quick visit to Bambee’s blog makes doing all three so simple, but I nonetheless feel that it is right for us bloggers to be challenged to do more, considering how our technology has made it so easy to express ire, demand justice, and for vindication to be had.
What that more will be, only we can define in our own ways. Conde is right: blogging is personal. Yet the simplest lesson we can take from Bambee is that sometimes all it takes is the right post in the right place and the right time. And in those sometimes, all it takes is one.