An Article Unfit for a QUEEN'S SMILE
In an article appearing on the Manila Standard Today, 3/10/08 entitled, “ The Problem with Blogging", the real Malu Fernandez metamorphosed again with her usual bigoted diatribes on the Filipinos.
While glossing over the article as I was waiting for my after-coffee matutinal ritual, I came upon this portion of the article:
It's just like all this hullabaloo about ousting GMA. You deposed ERAP in Edsa Dos. Now you're unhappy with his replacement. Make up your minds. (For the record I'm not pro anybody I'm pro whatever lesser evil is out there). You can't overthrow one president then decide you made a mistake with your second choice. I's not like buying a green Hermes bag and suddenly deciding, oops I should have gotten the black one instead. Unfortunately that's the kind of nation we have become, a bunch of wishy-washy whiners who whine about everything under the sun and found the blog sphere to be the new medium for whining. Yes we do what we have to do as a nation to get things done and stop corruption and evil (I'm all for that) but we never seem to be happy with what we have, hence the complaining and whining. It just never stops.
I have to read this portion twice just to see if I got it right.
I believe in the freedom of press. I also believe that as a freedom, it has correlative obligations contrary to the belief of those denizens of that stinking hole by ILOG PASIG who thought that by usurping their positions, they have an unqualified license to do what they wish with the powers of their putative office. Back to this article, these correlative obligations are as much as parts of this freedom of the press itself because it is upon the exercise of these obligations that this freedom also stands. Without these obligations and their observance, the freedom of the press becomes a farce and a mere license that loses its role in a civilized society.
The least of these obligations requires from the journalist a certain degree of sensitivity for the feelings, at a given time, of the subject or subjects of the article written or, in particular, the avoidance of journalistic-license abuse to hide the bigotry of the writer lest it veers away from true journalism. And when journalists lose their moorings, such as what Malu Fernandez does, on their obligations, they expose themselves to what their freedom, in the first place, protects them from. It is in this light that I take the liberty of putting again to task my favorite lady journalist, Malu Fernandez, for her journalistic license to make fun of our people at this critical moment of our nation.
While obviously Malu would like to pass this article as a satire, it falls flat on its face when she trivialized the raging cry of the Filipino people for the resignation of GMA as coming from “ a bunch of wishy-washy whiners who whine about everything under the sun.”
For Malu to reduced the righteous indignation of a people as mere whining for their mistake in their choice is deceptively cruel. Deceptive because Malu , wearing the hat of a journalist, appears to follow the line of ILOG PASIG apologists who want to douse the raging fire from the hearts of our kababayans by insinuating that this cry was a whimsical, an OA reaction from an infantile people. Malu could not manipulate the truth. We all know that this rage of our people came in the heels of GMA’s oft-repeated intransigence to lift the veil of governmental secrecy over questioned national transactions amidst a growing public perception of widespread corruption, repeatedly involving the highest office in the land since 2004. It is cruel because this writer glosses over this outpouring of strength for what is right, borne by the pain and tears of a people long maligned and abused by their leaders, to be a mere response by the people to their own mistake!
Excuse me, Malu. Anong katarantaduhan na naman ito?
HINDE BA ANG MAGNANAKAW NG PERA NG BAYAN AY MGA TAGA-ILOG PASIG ? HINDE BA ANG NAGSISINUNGALING SA ATING BAYAN AY ANG MGA TAGA-ILOG PASIG? HINDE BA ANG NAGTATANGOL SA MGA TULISAN SA BAYAN TULAD NINA FG, BOLANTE, GARCILLANO, ABALOS, PALPARAN, NERI, ETC. AY WALANG IBA KUNDI ANG MGA TAGA-ILOG PASIG?
Bakit ang may kasalanan pa ngayon ang biktima?
And as if adding vile to a sick joke, she used by way of analogy [obviously to give the writer a patrician air] a HERMES brand bag, to drive her point. What literary use has the HERMES bag got to do with this raging public cry for justice and truth? Isn’t it that this raging cry of the Filipinos is also in response to the growing number of Filipinos, who by now totals 27 million and who, amidst this public perception of unbridled corruption in public service, could not even swallow their own saliva because of their hunger and poverty, courtesy of this administration’s boundless greed? Is this Malu’s style of a satire? Satire on what?
What a very sick way to entertain readers!
As we have seen by now, GMA and her pursuivants are able to cling to power because of their “bodyguards of lies” such as this article of Malu Fernandez. Naturally, it is just right to make it part of the people’s vigilance to unmask these apologists of oppression posing as journalists. But what could we really expect from journalists, like Malu, who would rather compromise what is right by choosing the lesser evil?
Finally, this article of Malu, a satire-turned-tragedy, only shows the utter paucity of her character. At its best, it displays her garden-variety writing talent. Unlike ordinary articles of some lady writers of note like Sylvia Mayuga, Patricia Evangelista, Solita Collas Monsod or Ninez Cacho Olivares, Malu’s article is unfit “ for a queens smile” as a paraphrased saying goes because, from its style and content, it is obviously “ made for a swine’s eyes only”.
And that comparison, my dear kababayan, is an insult to the swine!
FIDEL UMAGA
MFP NJ
AMDG et Philippinensis
I believe in the freedom of press. I also believe that as a freedom, it has correlative obligations contrary to the belief of those denizens of that stinking hole by ILOG PASIG who thought that by usurping their positions, they have an unqualified license to do what they wish with the powers of their putative office. Back to this article, these correlative obligations are as much as parts of this freedom of the press itself because it is upon the exercise of these obligations that this freedom also stands. Without these obligations and their observance, the freedom of the press becomes a farce and a mere license that loses its role in a civilized society.
The least of these obligations requires from the journalist a certain degree of sensitivity for the feelings, at a given time, of the subject or subjects of the article written or, in particular, the avoidance of journalistic-license abuse to hide the bigotry of the writer lest it veers away from true journalism. And when journalists lose their moorings, such as what Malu Fernandez does, on their obligations, they expose themselves to what their freedom, in the first place, protects them from. It is in this light that I take the liberty of putting again to task my favorite lady journalist, Malu Fernandez, for her journalistic license to make fun of our people at this critical moment of our nation.
While obviously Malu would like to pass this article as a satire, it falls flat on its face when she trivialized the raging cry of the Filipino people for the resignation of GMA as coming from “ a bunch of wishy-washy whiners who whine about everything under the sun.”
For Malu to reduced the righteous indignation of a people as mere whining for their mistake in their choice is deceptively cruel. Deceptive because Malu , wearing the hat of a journalist, appears to follow the line of ILOG PASIG apologists who want to douse the raging fire from the hearts of our kababayans by insinuating that this cry was a whimsical, an OA reaction from an infantile people. Malu could not manipulate the truth. We all know that this rage of our people came in the heels of GMA’s oft-repeated intransigence to lift the veil of governmental secrecy over questioned national transactions amidst a growing public perception of widespread corruption, repeatedly involving the highest office in the land since 2004. It is cruel because this writer glosses over this outpouring of strength for what is right, borne by the pain and tears of a people long maligned and abused by their leaders, to be a mere response by the people to their own mistake!
Excuse me, Malu. Anong katarantaduhan na naman ito?
HINDE BA ANG MAGNANAKAW NG PERA NG BAYAN AY MGA TAGA-ILOG PASIG ? HINDE BA ANG NAGSISINUNGALING SA ATING BAYAN AY ANG MGA TAGA-ILOG PASIG? HINDE BA ANG NAGTATANGOL SA MGA TULISAN SA BAYAN TULAD NINA FG, BOLANTE, GARCILLANO, ABALOS, PALPARAN, NERI, ETC. AY WALANG IBA KUNDI ANG MGA TAGA-ILOG PASIG?
Bakit ang may kasalanan pa ngayon ang biktima?
And as if adding vile to a sick joke, she used by way of analogy [obviously to give the writer a patrician air] a HERMES brand bag, to drive her point. What literary use has the HERMES bag got to do with this raging public cry for justice and truth? Isn’t it that this raging cry of the Filipinos is also in response to the growing number of Filipinos, who by now totals 27 million and who, amidst this public perception of unbridled corruption in public service, could not even swallow their own saliva because of their hunger and poverty, courtesy of this administration’s boundless greed? Is this Malu’s style of a satire? Satire on what?
What a very sick way to entertain readers!
As we have seen by now, GMA and her pursuivants are able to cling to power because of their “bodyguards of lies” such as this article of Malu Fernandez. Naturally, it is just right to make it part of the people’s vigilance to unmask these apologists of oppression posing as journalists. But what could we really expect from journalists, like Malu, who would rather compromise what is right by choosing the lesser evil?
Finally, this article of Malu, a satire-turned-tragedy, only shows the utter paucity of her character. At its best, it displays her garden-variety writing talent. Unlike ordinary articles of some lady writers of note like Sylvia Mayuga, Patricia Evangelista, Solita Collas Monsod or Ninez Cacho Olivares, Malu’s article is unfit “ for a queens smile” as a paraphrased saying goes because, from its style and content, it is obviously “ made for a swine’s eyes only”.
And that comparison, my dear kababayan, is an insult to the swine!
FIDEL UMAGA
MFP NJ
AMDG et Philippinensis
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Philippine Politics
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2 Speak Out:
Unbelievable! I'm obviously all about freedom of speech, but I still can't believe Fernandez had the audacity to liken the political choices of fellow Filipinos to that of buying a Hermes bag--seriously! What a degrading statement! And no sh*t Filipinos "never seem to be happy with what [they] have" considering Marcos, Ramos, Estrada, and now, Arroya have all turned out to be insidiously corrupt administrations! Anyway, thanks for posting this. As you can see, Fernandez has gotten me all worked up :p
Indeed BB, and that just shows where we are right now and the state of journalism in the Philippines.
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