PARA sa isang motoristang naipit sa trapiko, nakakairita naman talaga ang makakita ng isang convoy ng mga pribadong sasakyan na, sa tulong ng ilang police escorts, ay nagsusumiksik at nambabraso ng iba pang mga sasakyan gayong napakasikip na nga ng kalsada.
Higit nga bang mahalaga ang oras ng kung sino mang Ponsyo Pilatong kumukumpas sa isang convoy kung ihahambing sa panahon nating mga hoi polloi?
Naalala ko tuloy ang essay ng nobelistang si F. Sionil Jose, ang Bakit Mahirap Tayong Mga Pilipino? Ayon kay Sionil Jose, mahirap tayo dahil mahirap tayo. Nasa kultura natin ang kahirapan. Bukod sa karamihan sa ati’y tamad, masyado rin tayong mahangin, ani Sionil Jose.
Kung susuriin natin, ang ugat ng ating katamaran at kayabangan ay ang paniniwala natin na, sa labas ng pamilya, hindi na natin sagutin ang ibang tao, lalo pa ang sarili nating bansa. Kanya-kanya – iyan ang pilosopiya ng karamihan sa atin. Madalas, wala tayong pakialam kahit sino pa ang masagasaan; ang mahalaga’y nakalamang tayo, nakaungos tayo.
Kaya naman bigyan mo lamang ng isang medyo mataas na katungkulan sa gobyerno o kaya’y kaunting kayamanan ang isang Pilipino at ang isa sa mga una nitong gagawin ay magdawit ng ilang police escorts at magparada sa kalye at ipagsigawan sa ibang tao na, “Hoy, mga peon, importante ako!”
Minsan, sa sobrang pagkainis, binuntutan ko ang isang convoy ng mga sasakyan na papuntang Greenhills sa kahabaan ng Ortigas Ave.
Wala naman silang police escort, pero lahat ng mga pawang naglalakihang sasakyan na nasa convoy ay may mga sirena o “wang-wang” na ginagamit ng mga ito upang harangin, giliran at singitan ang iba pang mga sasakyan.
Kumanan ang nasabing convoy sa Connecticut, pumasok sa Greenhills at tumigil sa pangunang entrada ng shopping mall. Gaya ng inaasahan ko, isa na namang langaw na mataas ang lipad ang nanggulang ng kanyang kapwa. Ang lulan ng pinakamagarang sasakyan sa convoy ay isang kilalang beautician na napagalaman ko ay may beauty salon sa Greenhills. Dadalawin lamang pala niya ang kanyang negosyo.
Bakit nga ba tayo ganito?
Ang madalas na hatol naming mga magkakabarkada habang nasa malalim na impluwensya ni San Miguel ay dahil marahil sa walang yugto sa ating kasaysayan na tayo’y naging isang tunay na bansa na hinulma ng ilang taong pakikibaka para sa tunay na kalayaan.
Malabnaw ang ating pagka-Pilipino kaya marami sa atin ang wala talagang malasakit sa sarili nating bansa. Pamilya, oo. Bansa, medyo.
Madalas, mas nanaiisin pa nating ma-asimila na lamang ng ibang bansa.
Sa loob ng tatlong taon, naging isang bayan ng mga migrante ang Pilipinas. Ayon sa estatistika mula sa gobyerno, kasalukuyang nakakalat sa kulang-kulang 192 bansa at teritoryo ang mahigit 7.76 milyong Pilipino. Mahigit 2.87 milyon ang tuluyang naninirahan na sa labas ng Pilipinas at sumasaludo sa ibang bandila.
Isa sa bawat limang Pilipino naman na nandito sa Pilipinas ang nais nang magalsa-balutan. Ang nakakabahala pa dito ay kulang-kulang kalahati sa mga batang ang edad ay 10 hanggang 12 ay nagnanais na sa ibang bansa na lamang makapagtrabaho.
Hindi ko sila masisisi. Tuwing makakita ako ng isang convoy ng mga pribadong sasakyan, hindi ko mapigilang maisip na lumayag na rin at manirahan sa isang bansa na kung saan ang tunog ng isang sirena ay nangangahulugan ng isang totoong emerhensiya. .
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Copy This / Jessica Zafra
Does anyone else find it funny that people who make much more money than we do are appealing to us not to deprive them of their income? You have the nerve to charge me P450 for a CD that is being sold on the street for P60 and you expect my sympathy?
The campaign against pirated software, CD's, VCD's, audio and cassettes, would have us believe that piracy is our problem. Really? How is shelling out P100 for a disc that contains P50,000 worth of software a problem for me? It would seem that the pirates are doing me, and my shrinking wallet a big favor. Why should it bother me that a movie which has not yet opened in Metro Manila theatres is being peddled on VCD on Ayala Avenue for P90? I have no fights with the pirates. They are selling me information I might otherwise not have access to because of prohibitive costs. Yes they are thieves and thieves should be punished, but they are not stealing from me. Oh sure, you can lecture me about in the long run I will pay for buying bootleg but by then I will have used the information for my benefit.
So let me make a correction. Piracy is the problem of the manufacturers, the software houses, record companies, and motion picture companies, whom I shall refer to from hereon as the corporations. By telling us not to buy pirated materials "for the good of everyone", corporations make it appear that corporate interests and the public interest are the same thing. This is unlaughably untrue. Corporations makes noise about working in the public interest but these noises are called public relations, PR. But their duty is to their owners. The anti-piracy ads, which appeals to my virtue, pass the responsibility of combating piracy to me. HELLO. They invoke the law and call on my conscience to protect their profit margin, but when I shell out P450 for a CD that turns out to be crap, I can't invoke the law, and corporations have no conscience. We may all be equal under the law, but they have the best lawyers. I guess their complaints are valid because they stand to lose more money, while I'm just a sucker who bought the promotional hype.
The anti-piracy campaign says that when we buy unauthorized copies a.k.a. bootleg we are stealing from the creators of the music, movies or computer programs. This would be the case if the proceeds of the sales went to artist themselves. We know that the artists get a small royalty; most of the money goes to the corporations. They profit from the work of the artists dry. Their excuses is for a small royalty, they can suck the artists dry. Their excuse is that they spent vast sums of money on the marketing of the artists' work.
In short, the season "originals" cost so much is because the huge marketing expenses are passed on to us. Why should we finance the ridiculous costs of hype? When you buy bootleg, you deny the artist a couple of bucks but you stick it to the corporation, which is so rich it won't even say ouch. I find it hard to summon up any sympathy for a multi-million dollar entity that does business in 100 countries. Awww, the poor corporations, their executives won't be buying personal Lear jets this quarter. Buying bootleg has a Robin Hood appeal; Rob the rich to give the poor, meaning you. It's the opposite of jueteng, in which robs the poor in order to give to the rich.
The corporations are laying a massive guilt trip on consumers when they should be working to make their products less easy to steal. With the technology we have, it is extremely to make high-quality copies of anything. In the past we worried that the bootleg goods could damage our electronic equipment; today's fake CD's are almost exactly like the originals. While the corporations are piracy-proofing their wares, maybe they should cut us a break and drop their prices. The pirates have shown that it is possible to make CD's cheaper. Take the hint, and spare us the sob stories about high marketing costs and your dwindling profits.
I don't buy pirated software not just because pirates don't usually do Mac programs but because I love my Mac. But I cannot tell PC users not to buy bootleg software when it costs one-fiftieth the price of the original. Caveat emptor, naturally, and the fake software may cause their PCs to crash but PCs do that anyway. Hey doesn't the idea of killing Bill Gates of .0000000000000000(add more zeroes)1 of his income appeal to you? Look at him, the guy's rolling in money, but he won't spend for a proper haircut. Besides, If you really want to quibble over it, didn't Bill Gates and Steve Jobs borrow information from the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center?
Cut the crap, and stop appealing in my good nature. It is not my job to protect your interests. The pirates are sleazy, but they have inadvertently raised the possibility of a future in which the artists reaches her audience directly, without a corporate middleman. Think of a future in which you profit from your ideas. Not bloody likely right but it's a good thought.
The campaign against pirated software, CD's, VCD's, audio and cassettes, would have us believe that piracy is our problem. Really? How is shelling out P100 for a disc that contains P50,000 worth of software a problem for me? It would seem that the pirates are doing me, and my shrinking wallet a big favor. Why should it bother me that a movie which has not yet opened in Metro Manila theatres is being peddled on VCD on Ayala Avenue for P90? I have no fights with the pirates. They are selling me information I might otherwise not have access to because of prohibitive costs. Yes they are thieves and thieves should be punished, but they are not stealing from me. Oh sure, you can lecture me about in the long run I will pay for buying bootleg but by then I will have used the information for my benefit.
So let me make a correction. Piracy is the problem of the manufacturers, the software houses, record companies, and motion picture companies, whom I shall refer to from hereon as the corporations. By telling us not to buy pirated materials "for the good of everyone", corporations make it appear that corporate interests and the public interest are the same thing. This is unlaughably untrue. Corporations makes noise about working in the public interest but these noises are called public relations, PR. But their duty is to their owners. The anti-piracy ads, which appeals to my virtue, pass the responsibility of combating piracy to me. HELLO. They invoke the law and call on my conscience to protect their profit margin, but when I shell out P450 for a CD that turns out to be crap, I can't invoke the law, and corporations have no conscience. We may all be equal under the law, but they have the best lawyers. I guess their complaints are valid because they stand to lose more money, while I'm just a sucker who bought the promotional hype.
The anti-piracy campaign says that when we buy unauthorized copies a.k.a. bootleg we are stealing from the creators of the music, movies or computer programs. This would be the case if the proceeds of the sales went to artist themselves. We know that the artists get a small royalty; most of the money goes to the corporations. They profit from the work of the artists dry. Their excuses is for a small royalty, they can suck the artists dry. Their excuse is that they spent vast sums of money on the marketing of the artists' work.
In short, the season "originals" cost so much is because the huge marketing expenses are passed on to us. Why should we finance the ridiculous costs of hype? When you buy bootleg, you deny the artist a couple of bucks but you stick it to the corporation, which is so rich it won't even say ouch. I find it hard to summon up any sympathy for a multi-million dollar entity that does business in 100 countries. Awww, the poor corporations, their executives won't be buying personal Lear jets this quarter. Buying bootleg has a Robin Hood appeal; Rob the rich to give the poor, meaning you. It's the opposite of jueteng, in which robs the poor in order to give to the rich.
The corporations are laying a massive guilt trip on consumers when they should be working to make their products less easy to steal. With the technology we have, it is extremely to make high-quality copies of anything. In the past we worried that the bootleg goods could damage our electronic equipment; today's fake CD's are almost exactly like the originals. While the corporations are piracy-proofing their wares, maybe they should cut us a break and drop their prices. The pirates have shown that it is possible to make CD's cheaper. Take the hint, and spare us the sob stories about high marketing costs and your dwindling profits.
I don't buy pirated software not just because pirates don't usually do Mac programs but because I love my Mac. But I cannot tell PC users not to buy bootleg software when it costs one-fiftieth the price of the original. Caveat emptor, naturally, and the fake software may cause their PCs to crash but PCs do that anyway. Hey doesn't the idea of killing Bill Gates of .0000000000000000(add more zeroes)1 of his income appeal to you? Look at him, the guy's rolling in money, but he won't spend for a proper haircut. Besides, If you really want to quibble over it, didn't Bill Gates and Steve Jobs borrow information from the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center?
Cut the crap, and stop appealing in my good nature. It is not my job to protect your interests. The pirates are sleazy, but they have inadvertently raised the possibility of a future in which the artists reaches her audience directly, without a corporate middleman. Think of a future in which you profit from your ideas. Not bloody likely right but it's a good thought.
Bonjour Paresse: Alternative Rules for Office Life
You are a modern-day slave. There is no scope for personal fulfillment. You work for a pay-check at the end of the month. Full stop.
It's pointless to try to change the system. Opposing it simply makes it stronger.
What you do is pointless. You can be replaced ...by any cretin sitting next to you. So work as little as possible and spend time (not too much, if you can help it) cultivating your personal network, so that you're untouchable when the next restructuring comes.
You're not judged on merit, but on whether you look and sound the part. Use lots of jargon; people will suspect you have an inside track.
Never accept a position of responsibility for any reason. You'll only have to work harder for what amounts to peanuts.
Make a beeline for useless positions (research, strategy and business development) where it is impossible to assess your contribution to the wealth of the company. Avoid operational roles like the plague.
Once you've found a plum job, never move. It is only the most exposed who get fired.
Identify kindred spirits who also believe the system is absurd, through discreet signs (quirks in clothing, peculiar jokes, warm smiles).
Be nice to people on short-term contracts. They are the only ones who do any real work.
Tell yourself that the absurd ideology underpinning this corporate bullshit cannot last forever. It will go away the same way as the dialectical materialism of the communist system. The problem is when...
It's pointless to try to change the system. Opposing it simply makes it stronger.
What you do is pointless. You can be replaced ...by any cretin sitting next to you. So work as little as possible and spend time (not too much, if you can help it) cultivating your personal network, so that you're untouchable when the next restructuring comes.
You're not judged on merit, but on whether you look and sound the part. Use lots of jargon; people will suspect you have an inside track.
Never accept a position of responsibility for any reason. You'll only have to work harder for what amounts to peanuts.
Make a beeline for useless positions (research, strategy and business development) where it is impossible to assess your contribution to the wealth of the company. Avoid operational roles like the plague.
Once you've found a plum job, never move. It is only the most exposed who get fired.
Identify kindred spirits who also believe the system is absurd, through discreet signs (quirks in clothing, peculiar jokes, warm smiles).
Be nice to people on short-term contracts. They are the only ones who do any real work.
Tell yourself that the absurd ideology underpinning this corporate bullshit cannot last forever. It will go away the same way as the dialectical materialism of the communist system. The problem is when...
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Sino si Supermouse at ang Roborats?
Tungkol sa kung anu-ano lang ang blog kong ito, 'sing walang saysay ng Joey de Leon-Rene Requiestas classic na 'Super Mouse and the Roborats.' Isa itong tambakan ng mga kaisipan, kahit ano'ng kaisipan -- malaswa, subersibo, pulitikal, religious, baduy, cool -- pero karamiha'y tungkol sa mga bagay-bagay na interesado ako. Musika. Sex. Literature. Pagkamuhi sa whole corporate bullshit na iniikutan ko. Siguro kalauna'y magkaka-direksyon din ito, pero sa ngayon, halina aking mga bisita. Magsulat at mag-ingay. Silipin ang laman ng aking paikut-ikot, karumal-dumal at mga walang kwentang kaisipan.
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