Democracy is something one defends and enriches everyday, isn’t it? Take this bit from RG’s Replying to Right to Reply, which talks about another attempt by those in government to control everything, to regulate everything by those who are out of step with our time. RG’s point is spot on:
On its face, the right of reply bill seems to enshrine in the statutes of the land what has always been a time honored ethical responsibility of all professional journalists—that all subjects, sides in a news story be given equal opportunities to make their case. This is in adherence to the tenet that the best test for the validity of ideas is to let them exist in a free marketplace of ideas.
Yet by the very act of giving it the force of law—and putting that force in a personality or figure outside of the media establishment—it also defeats the existence of a free marketplace of ideas.
From the onset—I will never suffer, tolerate or support any form of media restraint of control. By virtue of its watchdog function, the only acceptable form of media regulations is self regulation.
In an age when we must Decentralize Tomorrow, increasingly, Filipino leaders are creating a world that is so 1984. Haven’t we learned enough from George W. Bush that an Age of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt leaves only a world far poorer not just economically, but culturally and intellectually as well?
The global changes happening around us is something that has been both puzzling and intriguing me. Clearly there is change happening and that a new economic model is taking place that has the characteristics of Capitalism but has a Social dimension as well. What it is, I’ve no idea. People far smarter and far wiser than I, have been searching for the same thing. More and more the name of Irving Fisher as a Modern Behavioral Economist is being mentioned.
Paul Saffo was interviewed last December 31st where he talked about the future and how the economy is going to move. One of the things that struck me the most was his discussion on the changes in the economy. He talked about a new central actor driving this change. This new economic animal he said, does both the activity of consumer and producer in the same act:
There are many lessons to be learned. Why are we Filipinos (myself included, of course) have this undying hate for failure? We ostracize failure. So what if this is the writing on the wall? Shouldn’t we fail early, fail often?
Blacklisted firms confirm corruption: made me laugh a bit:
The smoking gun came straight from the horses’ mouth.Firms previously engaged in and eventually banned from World Bank-funded projects had confirmed that politicians and rebel groups get a share in road projects, causing costs to skyrocket.
At least one admitted that a cartel involving national politicians operates at the Department of Public Works and Highways.
Even rebels are part of the problem. Why do you think people are more interested in elections than revolution? Precisely because there is no difference between rebel and politician. Where there is smoke, there is fire and electoral reform in the form of automation is a Big Lie. I agree, but have to ask, why are we still surprised?
Ok, I take back the part of “why are we still surprised”. That was just me being cynical and jaded.
This plurk thread that fellow FV contributor Arbet started on Right to Reply had @nick and @eloisa and bunch of us talking about what exactly does it mean and how we could encourage democracy more. Increasingly, I have come to the realization that simply building infrastructure isn’t enough. Certainly it plays a huge part of the answer to emancipate our people from ignorance, and from being stuck in the 19th and 20th century. Increasingly the answer for the Philippines is for people to truly have a more personal experience with the Internet. That we should adapt as a measure Net Neutrality as the Norwegians have done in conjuncture with When Running Code in Filipino:
Decriminalizing defamation law as well as the formation of a non-profit Freedom Foundation to ensure Free Speech and Free Expression is clearly needed.
There should be preferential treatment to make hardware, software, and true internet-ready mobile phones as well as access to the Internet more affordable and yet for these technologies to be successful in emancipating our people from the shackles of ignorance and into the light of being a Creator and Creative in the future economy, there must be education evolved to open our people’s eyes beyond mere friendster and mere yahoo messenger into leveraging these technologies. This is what’s it like to be learning and working in the collaborative age:
That is a new model for the workplace.
Are we creating 1984 or would you prefer we create our future, free from the shackles of ignorance and be part of creative destruction?
Popularity: 3% [?]
hahaha… that is an incredibly random link to irving fisher!
seriously, i don’t see the problem with the concept behind right to reply… the best argument is thats its unnecessary, but i haven’t seen any scenario where freedom of speech is curtailed….
irving fisher? thought this was orwell’s? oh, well.
anyway, cocoy, i think what we’re creating is some sort of a re-engineering, not creating 1984. Or, better, re-creating 1984, since we already experienced that before during the time of, I think, Macoy.
coy,
The question begs the answer, but indeed we must build the future.
We are only custodians of the present.
By nurturing today with the right values integrity, transparency and genuine cituous love of country and heritage, we help lay the path for a future better than the present.
Otherwise we either descend into penury or get locked in a time warp, with warped values, and a culture more damaged than it already is.
yup, communication involves translation. People have been asking and complaining for CHANGE but no one is willing to listen. It’s a one way street leading to nowhere. When a leader cannot grasp the concept of the new workplace video then the people who have the understanding will never be heard and will continue to feel frustrated and embarrassed.
As I said from the past, the management style of this country can no longer compete in the competitive global world.
I think the whole public service industry requires an ethic reform.
Gabby, :D
pat, the way i see two things are happening at the same time. in the philippines you have moves like the right of reply, and that ntc thing awhile back that seek more control, more authoritarian measure. more 1984. Then, at the global setting you have this thinking about the global crisis, how we are going from here, what a future economy is going to look like. to me, these authoritarian measures is running against the kind of future that is going to happen. the future is that more and more people are both becoming consumers and producers at the same time. that instead of preparing for that future, we are running against it, imho.
ding, exactly.
leytenian, yep i’m all for that too.
Right of reply is like putting police checkpoints right at the very gates or doors of print, radio, broadcast, or electronic media outfits.
To think the people behind these checkpoints are appointed or elected officials or their corporate patrons is entirely disconcerting.
Too much of a mental baggage for anyone to even start work in the journalistic field.
@karlpopper
bakit? why would this stop a journalist from writing a story?
@cocoy
seriously, any good arguments against the idea of right to reply, other than its useless?
Gabby,
i find that more and more we are forced to dumb down everything. is it government’s business to dictate that the other side should be presented? even if it is in the “interest” of “fair play”, shouldn’t people recognize what they’re reading, listening to or watching for what it is? shouldn’t people be more discerning?
in a democracy, everyone is free enough to publish a counter argument or be interviewed or show that the other side is wrong. people do it all the time anyway. why is government wasting time on such measure when there are far more pressing matters to attend to?
you know like actually giving people jobs. or cleaning up education so that people can actually face tomorrow much better than they are doing right now. surviving isn’t enough, should never be enough.
is this measure pretty useless? yeah it is. it’s not like we aren’t in a democracy, you know? There are more pressing matters to attend to.
@cocoy
thanks for the well considered reply.
i also find it heartening that you don’t mention ‘curtail press freedom’. i just don’t see it as a reason…
second, if everyone does it, then the bill does nothing to the status quo. no one is hurt.
your main argument is, its a tax on the effort of govt to include this in its ‘things to care about’ list.
i like this argument, but only if this bill indeed diverts resources away from important things. i cant see why a well crafted bill should do that.
the govt doesnt fund anything here. there is no extra spending by govt…
the other interesting argument is that the bill as it stands is poorly worded. thats not a death sentence tho. just change the words!
Gabby,
it will not stop a journalist from writing his story. But then it is like he is driving his train of thought along a railtrack, if you can follow my drift.
In the end, for want of a nail, the shoe was lost.
Who really complains here of democratic space being limited, crowded, unfair, et cetera? Them?
They have even greater resources than anyone else so why do we allow them to cry wolf? They always do as though they were onion skinned individuals and as though they are not deemed fair play for criticism inasmuch as they are our employees, we pay them out of taxpayers money.
They better behave and behave they must. They cannot bite the hand the feeds them. Besides, it is not true that the playing field is not even.
You cannot stop an idea that is due for its time.
The Blogosphere has its time now. Time to share
ideas, give hell to those who deserve it.
These people who try to stop the flow of public
opinion are living in the World of Self Delusion
and World of Self Denial. They cannot accept
change, insomuch as they are confused by it.
It is hard enough to defend democracy on a daily basis when some are paid to do the contrary role – each day of our national life.
From the outline, 1984 – this Orwellian nightmare – has long arrived the day GMA becomes ascendant to the presidency.
Their official acts have been meant to gag us.
I fondly remember how Prof. Randy David has been shoved off, taken into a car, and detained for a while by the arresting PNP.
karl
from where i stand democracy is always changing. Often you spend a lifetime so opposed to the other person’s point of view because of fundamental difference and in any given day either can find themselves an audience willing to listen or to ignore you.
and still few people are willing to raise up to the occasion and run for public office to /change/ the game. people are more willing to let others run the show. a lot because well politics is just a dirty game, others because they don’t want to engage in it. So i’m thinking for all the talk people give about change, it is just that. talk. That 1984 is what people want. heh. what will unshackle this apathy?
i don’t know.
Can others, more well-meaning than we do, stand a chance to succeed if they walk their talk?
This government is an entirely powerful establishment and to say, everything is actually being “micro-managed” is not an overstatement. It is how things really happen.
Congressmen are deprived their district allocation if they do not kowtow to the whim of the president and will have very little, if any, slice of the budget pie.
Committee chairmanships go to the more vocal apologists of this regime. And more ‘things’ are allocated to them.
The AFP and the PNP are horses with blinders and so giving them one whip at a time and more “feeds” on the other give their trainers the tamed behavior they expect from these horses.
Well, there is simply no way at the moment nor will there be one before 2010.