Skip to main content

DIVING UNDER THE INFLUENZA



Moths to the light, flies to the filth.


That somehow explains divine hardwiring done on passionless choices of insects, as bees and butterflies are drawn to flowers to gorge on nectar sweet or why locust swarms descend upon foliage greens for their feeding frenzy; to fatten their bodies, convert chlorophyll and fiber into protein that would make 'em excellent comestible for the likes of a St. John the Baptist who survived desert aridity for years with locust as staple fare and source of needful nutrients.


Choices of bipeds hereabouts are tougher to reckon, say, Pornhub reports that Filipinos are tops in the world for spending the most time on the site while global environment monitoring teams are saying that Philippines ranks third worldwide in efforts to choke the land and the seas with plastic waste-- no guestimates on numbers for any analyst to gauge, like, it took 16 million of those bipeds to hoist to the highest office of the land a raving sewage-spewing psychopath.


Of a 110-million strong populace (the main bulk are nearing or just past the age of majority), some 22 million are hooked to the social media site of TV host Willie Revillame, around 18 million tune in to the site proffering loud paroxysms of gripes, harrowing sorrows that bedevil lives of strife and dysfunction. A far third in the number of fan following are the Internet platforms of such celebrities as Vice Ganda, Angel Locsin, Marian Rivera, ad nauseam.


Do these numbers point to a trenchant mood, manner, or emerging ethos, even zeitgeist?


Probably. But advertising firms are seizing these figures, using them as reliable indicators where the consumers can be cajoled to spend their hard-earned monies on. Quantity rules over quality, so, every outfit throws its money on sites that can boast the most numbers. Go where the lemmings are going-- never mind the disaster ahead.


Those who muster the most herds are the influenza, oops, lapsus calami, I mean "influencers."


Those following the herders won't be cited for diving under the influenza or whatever strong liquor they have been getting their heads addled with.


Never mind the mind-set moulded amongst followers, what matters most is that the numbers can be monetized-- ads plunked down a social media site rake earnings that line the pockets of the influencers. So, that 22-million strong following can rack up millions of pesos a week for Willie Revillame! He can laugh all the way to the bank.


Opinion pieces like this one turn up the proverbial "two-cents worth".




  











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ALAMAT NG TAHONG

SAKBIBI ng agam-agam sa kalagayan ng butihing kabiyak-- at kabiyakan, opo-- na nakaratay sa karamdaman, ang pumalaot na mangingisda ay napagawi sa paanan ng dambuhalang Waczim-- isang bathala na nagkakaloob sa sinuman anumang ibulwak ng bibig mula sa bukal ng dibdib. Pangangailangan sa salapi na pambili ng gamot ng kapilas-pusong maysakit ang nakasaklot sa puso ng matandang mangingisda. 'Di kaginsa-ginsa'y bumundol ang kanyang bangka sa paanan ng Waczim. Kagy at umigkas ang katagang kimkim noon sa kanyang dibdib: "Salapi!" Bumuhos ng salapi-- mga butil at gilit ng ginto-- mula papawirin. At halos umapaw sa ginto ang bangka ng nagulantang na mangingisda, walang pagsidlan ang galak, at walang humpay ang pasasalamat sa mga bathala. Nanumbalik ang kalusugan ng kabiyak ng mangingisda. At lumago ang kabuhayan, naging mariwasa ang magkapilas-puso na dating maralita. Nilasing ng kanyang mga dating kalapit-bahay ang mangingisda-- na hindi ikina...
Post a Comment
Read more

Kuntaw

I T was more than an implement—tough as metal, soft as petal—wielded like lightning to repulse conquerors. Invading Mactan in 1521, Ferdinand Magellan and his men must have thought that their fabled Toledo steel swords would be more than a match more the island’s native defenders—they were dead wrong. The Spaniards never knew what hit them. In the 1900s, American occupation forces in Mindanao particularly in the Sulu islands found themselves under constant harassment from what they called “crazy hermits” or juramentados . The native fighters would fast for days, go through special religious rites, then go forth to storm American garrisons. Even as the .445 caliber pistol was plied out in 1911 to stop seemingly unstoppable fighters, the Americans still never knew what hit them. Looking back with pride at such points in history when their fighting mettle was unleashed in battle, Filipino Muslims, especially the Tausugs of Sulu will, with a little nudge and tug at their patriotic sentimen...
2 comments
Read more

Baka talisay ang kailangan kung mabilis nilalabasan

KAMBAL na hitang nakabukaka ang pahayag—an open statement na hindi pinid at wala nang pasubali o baka masususugan pa. (“Susog” ang salitang ugat na katakam-takam talagang bigkasin dahil kung nanamnamin at hihimas-himasin para bang susong busog ang ibig sabihin.) We’re trying to make sense of a claim we stumbled into about the fruits of an ornamental tree. To wit: “The kernel of Indian almond has shown aphrodisiac activity, it can probably be used in treatment of some forms of sexual inadequacies (premature ejaculation).” For goodness’ sakes, what are those other forms of sexual inadequacies, er, shortages? What’s Indian almond? Higit nating kilala ang Indian almond bilang talisay. Tinatawag ding tropical almond, Java almond, Singapore almond, Pacific almond . Kilala din sa pangalang umbrella tree, badamier, ketapang, huu kwang , at sa mga botanist na mahilig sa boteny tulad ni Ama, Terminalia catappa . Makatas ang hinog na lamukot ng bungang talisay—karaniwang dilaw o namumula ang ku...
3 comments
Read more