Late Night Blog

It's yet another late night at work. I'll be signing off in a bit, hoping to work faster and sharper early tomorrow morning.

Before I sign off, I'd like to touch on several things:

• reading and writing;
• asking questions and seeking answers;
• getting on with it.

In a country like the Philippines, it's difficult to guesstimate how important reading and writing are. My experiences indicated that while the "common" Filipino has difficulty understanding complex or specialized English, they can get by (thank you, pirated cable TV and imported TV shows). This is wonderful, considering that a cursory review of the daily broadsheets evidence a number of articles that would drive English grammarians to despair.

At least we try to read and keep abreast of things...

A lot of Filipinos are also conspiracy theorists at heart, possibly due to constant exposure to life in the Philippines. After being beset with perpetual illogical behavior and events, we tend to craft the strangest (and sometimes eerily accurate) explanations for them.

As a people, we should temper this tendency with a bit of journalistic discipline by trying to identify and verify sources of information. Independent witnesses and hard evidence should have greater weight that the latest texted rumor. It might help turn the country around were we to become less subject to publicity and psychological manipulation, and more critical of the news we are fed.

In the end, it's a matter of hurry. We're too busy trying to make a living, trying to support our loved ones and set aside a nest egg for the future to dedicate a large portion of our lives to muckraking and activism.

Until the next time that our collective outrage overflows and we take to the streets.

Bah! It's time to go!