The Social Impressionist: 2013

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Sunday 27 October 2013

Alone: The Social Tragedy of Loneliness


Some people may find solitude a comforting state to spend their entire life, avoiding the unnecessary inconveniences that mingling with other individuals in a daily basis can be considered a nuisance. There are people who prefer to be alone and don't want to be involved in social practices that can be considered irrelevant in life, mostly living an introverted point of view that satisfies their self esteem, but all the more so, improves their capacity to think more clearly that leads to better decision making. Introverts are people who mainly live a solitary world of identifying themselves with the blissful existence of living inside their own state of mind, detached from the chaotic chasms of life's somewhat and often times, absurd profanities.



Introverts are mostly individuals that have come into terms with the reality of life and the truthfulness of social awareness and implicated adherence to social order. Going about one's daily tasks without the cumbersome intangible idiocy of some people that can be considered a liability in ones pursuit of a peaceful and stress free daily existence is more than what people with this kind of mental aptitude prefer. Mostly creative logical thinkers, introverts seldom “come out and play” despite being sociably coherent amongst their circle of acquaintances, work wise. They are the kind of individuals who find pleasure in being alone and prefer to be that way, spending most of their time dwelling on work.


Though stereotypically being designated as “geeks”, not all aspect of introversion can be addressed as such, most of the time. Regardless of such social branding, introverts are one of the most socially active people in the world, involving themselves in social media. Not to be given the wrong aspect of social description, introverts are more comfortable in dealing with society at a distance, not getting themselves attached to any aspect of ideologies or advocacies besides their own. Loneliness is a comfort zone to some but for others, it is a torment that can lead to mental anguish in the sense of borderline insanity.



The human specie is a social organism that tends to exist with the need for longing and attention. |It is a fact that has existed since our conception in this world. The need to be with someone seems to be the most insatiable instinctive drive on our psychological aspects as human beings that we give it more importance than all other social values. The natural comforting need to mingle among others is a natural instinct directly attributed to social propagation. The human need to eventually interact and divulge in society can not be disregarded as it is built in our genes. Despite all other social deviations founded on norms and morality, ideologies and social conditionings, we, as humans need other humans to satisfy our needs and urges, amongst ourselves.


The human touch is a very fascinating principle that involves the basic need to reach out and make physical contact to an individual. Regardless of any gender, age or diversified social inclinations, we long to be touched, in more ways than one. A good example would that be between a man and a woman, that involve the basic principle of touch. Despite any social implications of norms and practices, touching indicates longing or wanting as it is a motivational body language that yearns desire. A woman who gently puts her hand behind a man's back and gives it a gentle stroke is a clear sign of desire, despite age and social standings. It is viewed more as a sign of sexual want and is a natural instinct for both sexes.


Another aspect of social perspective in the light of this is the fear of solitude. Most people struggle for most of their lives try to fit into society and the need to gain respect from others. Delving into social acceptance for most of their lives, these individuals are the extroverts. Living a mostly hedonistic way of life that involve in the pursue of worldly pleasures. A good example of this would be that of former NBA superstar Dennis Rodman, who adheres to this kind of lifestyle. Oftentimes associated with opulence, hedonists are the real party animals.


The stark comparison can be considerably incremental to put conclusion between introverts and extroverts, as to put a generalization between the two. Leaving us to think for ourselves on who truly is the most lonely one considering all of these rational evaluations. Loneliness is one of the most frustrating sates of human mentality one could deal with. It is often times a factor that leads to depression that can imbalance the brain, leading to mental deterioration. The need to want and the want to need go together hand in hand in completing the human psyche as loneliness is a psychological disorder.


This reminds me of that old song from the group “America”, entitled, “Lonely People”, which goes with the line...”look at all the lonely people...thinking that life has passed them by”. A more apt word would that be of contentedness in your human existence. Asking for something that society would not give you for your own satisfaction is indeed a lonely thought even though you have come to a resolute acceptance that you are deemed to stay alone for the remaining of your entire life. It is a sad thought to ponder upon, indeed, Though happiness should never be this complicated from the start. It was us that has put the complications in life.


Saturday 19 October 2013

The Rise and Fall of the American Economy: Enter the Dragon


Today, the American economy is facing again the fear of economic recession as it's efforts to regain an economic vigor from the 2008 economic crisis continues to miserably fail, despite all out efforts to strengthen its ailing productivity as a country. The mounting unemployment and health care problems of the country seem to have no clear path to solution as its government continues to forge hope upon its citizens minds that help is on the way. The reason for this is the steady decline of production in all of its domestic and international products that they all relied on China to produce.

80% of all American consumer products (except for food and pharmaceuticals), are now made in China and has led to the rise of China, as the leading manufacturing entity for the whole world. This resulted in China, having gained the technological knowledge of producing goods at a very low cost, which has boosted its economy ten folds. The rising cost of production in the United States and other European countries has put China, as the top manufacturing center of the world economy. Domestic unemployment has doubled despite assurance from the U.S. Government, that it will improve its socioeconomic standings, but to no avail.



Obviously, the governments (U.S.) effort in assuring its people of financial stability is less felt as the growing number as dissatisfied citizens continue to complain about the continuing deteriorating socioeconomic state. China on the other hand, is steadily growing as a military and financial monster that would someday inevitably gobble up the entire world. This could be traced way back in the late 1980's, as China started to manufacture goods for other countries who can not maintain the rising production costs that has given China the advantage in regards to cheap quality mass production and high output volume at a very low price cost.

The Chinese work ethics could also be an integral reason for China's economic growth as production is more important than numeral profits, so as long as production continues at a steady phase. Very different from other cultural outlooks regarding production and profit scenarios that has led to the downfall of most world economies. The accumulation of Chinese technology can be cited from the failure of other nations to maintain a steady profit in its production, urging companies to move from their local production into China, thus giving the needed technological aspects of mass production to the able hands of the Chinese people. As the years went by, China developed upon these foreign technologies until they had perfected their own system to which they employ today.

As the rest of the world now, relies on China to produce almost all of its domestic goods from textiles to electronics, we can expect that China will eventually rule the world...economically, and who ever rules the world economically will eventually...rule the world! Despite all of the modern armaments ant technological advancement in military might, the United States can not deal with the fact, that China can debilitate the American economy with just one snap, unless the Americans want to say goodbye to their iPhones? China has a strangle hold on the world economy which is very evident on our status quo as a world economy, and will continue to be so for a very long, long, long, long, long....time. Since the American government has failed its people quite miserably in all aspects of economic upheavals, despite false promises of hope.

The American economy is slowly dying and it is an irreversible deteriorating state. It can also be seen clearly as an exodus of conglomerates slowly pull out of the American economy and establish their headquarters in China as seen with companies like Facebook, who are now partially operating in China. Promises are sweet but the truth is a bitter fact as numbers don't lie. Its only a matter of time and I can surely say that the time is nearing as America is slowly spinning down and only just a matter of time until it stops.

Friday 11 October 2013

Golan's Media of Cebu: The Continuing Saga of the Whoring of the Filipino Writer


As I wrote before regarding the continuing plight of the famished and underpaid Filipino writer, that is also being victimized by his own country men in obligatory writing for other foreign principles, I can not help but utter out these refined sentiments that I'm sure everybody will agree on, "the Filipino will rat you out just for the sake of earning from your own misery" (kaya ibenta ng Pilipino ang kapwa nya para lang kumita). This is quite true all over the world were most Filipinos work here and abroad.

The term objectively implied here is "social cannibalism" in where people disregard any social adherence such as sympathy or apathy just to be first in line when their foreign masters call them for a doggy snack! This proves a resounding confirmation that we as a Filipino society are slaves to the social turmoil that has led the once reputable  and honorable occupation of writing look like and over aged prostitute still plying the sex trade route just to feed the hungry soul and at least a little compensatory respect that a writer deserves.



Such manner of taking advantage of the misery festooned upon the writer's need to earn is a company in Cebu City, Philippines Called Golan's Media. On the first week of my stint as an article writer, I was paid a measly $29.00 for a total for a whole weeks work! When the second week of my work has ended, I noticed that there was no notification about funds to be forwarded to my account. This is one of the signs that something is not right.

As expected, a certain Mark from Golan's Media of Cebu, was starting to complain about the quality of the work that I had previously submitted, that it had a lot of errors, that I needed to revise and edit it all..."Screw you Mark!"
This are just some of the simple lame reasons why on line writing sucks and it is because of Filipinos that take advantage over other deprived writers who would like to earn just to make ends meet.

Social slavery can do this to all of us depending on who is on top of the slave pyramid. They will give every reason to steal your efforts or even get them for free from you without a thank you in return. These are just some of the evil truths of Internet writing jobs that the Filipino writer has to face on a daily basis. Do you think that foreign employers care about this? Absolutely not!

It's a dog eat dog world out there, which just goes to prove how vicious the world can be for people who were raised on the principles of honor and trustworthiness. Money is not the issue here, it is trust and the trust on your own countrymen. An honest advice to all writers who had the unfortunate experience such as these, publish the works that you have been deprived of as your own because you were the one who labored for it!

Don't let other people earn from your endeavors only to make them earn from yours!

Sunday 6 October 2013

Death by G.M.O.

The stupidity of human intellect never seems to amaze me enough that it now has reached in new heights of absurdity as it celebrates its impertinent manipulation of the natural course of nature. GMO or genetically modified organisms had been created by scientists to fight nature itself in an attempt to over ride the natural selection of nature on who will live and who will die. GMO's boast the impervious aspect of being modified in every way possible to survive the harshest aspect of natures fury which includes super crops that can survive with as little water and natural substantial organic nutrition as possible and at the same time would not be eaten by natural parasites that usually pester food crops.

Sounds good right? So, why am I so pissed off regarding the global acceptance of GMO's? Because it is stupid and it is wrong! Conglomerates and research scientists work hand in hand to find a solution to world hunger and had gone to venturing in the research production of “super crops”, which is a noble cause of idealism at first glance, but in the truth, it is a sign of the coming days on which the earth is starting to turn against us for all the stupid ideologies that we had done to keep our species alive.

GMO is a growing threat in all aspects of human existence as research scientists backed by multi-national conglomerates in cooperation with governments around the world, prepare for the worst, the dwindling food supply that was triggered by climate change due to our arduous attempt to improve the life around us mainly propagated by our egotistical ideologies. Nature is the perfect balance of things around us and manipulating things concerning nature seems to be the only step in an attempt to ensure our survival as a specie.

What is wrong with GMO's you might ask? GMO's are modified to withstand the harshest aspects that may render conventional species of plant life vulnerable to natural changes in the environment, particularly climate change, parasitic insects that prey on these crops that we so desperately need to survive as a food source. GMO's were specifically energetically modified to withstand the natural course of nature so that it will be more viable for food production as the world steadily moves to the aspect of a dwindling supply of food sources caused by the rising global population.

Parasitic insects will not devour GMO modified crops because a gene on the modified crop was either manipulated or completely removed as to not be detected by the insects, that is why insects don't eat GMO's. So, what's the problem then? Research scientists and corporations don't really care about humanity but their own interests only as multi national conglomerates try to capture the food production industry to enslave humanity in its own need for food. The truth is that only insects and certain species of animals in this world know what is edible enough to eat, that goes to prove that insects that do not devour GMO modified crops know if it is fit enough to eat.


Incidentally, frogs are an important part of ecology as well as they can distinguish where heavily polluted air is and they will avoid propagating in that particular area. Frogs breath through their skin and it is best to monitor the frog population in the world as they are and indication in the rising toxicity in the air we breath. Our egoistic pursuit to escape our evident fear of dearth has even made thing much worst for us as a specie due to the fact that we have limitations in all aspects of what we can do. Our ego as a society won't save us for much possible worst things to come if we keep on fighting the divine purpose of what nature intended us to be. Incidentally G.M.O. Also stands for your Genitals will Melt Overnight!

Tuesday 1 October 2013

Man Made Technology and it's Origin from Nature



Our World today is changing fast beyond our our wildest dreams. We have reached new heights on the level of Science and Technology with an astonishing pace. We owe it all to our selves for attaining such marvelous achievements in regards to improving the Society that we had founded since the time that we learn to make use of fire.

For the past 100 years, we had seen how drastically we had sought to improve every aspect of human life around us. We have created magnificent edifices that culminate our glorious exuberance. We went faster than the speed of sound, have escaped the clutches of gravity and have ultimately reached the fringe stellar boundaries of the Moon itself! It seems that the possibilities are endless.

We always had, as a specie, an amazing way to overcome all sorts of adversities that stand in the way of our progress beyond our limitation and capacity to which through able thinking, could always devise ways and means in dealing such obstacles. The Human mind is such a fascinating mystery as it can conjure solutions as instinctively as to adapt to its environment and when put in a position to make decisions in regards to survival and self preservation, the Human mind is the only reason that we have gotten this far in regards to our evolution as a specie.

We, among all of the other species that thrive on this Earth, are the only ones that are endowed with the ability to think beyond our primal instinct and from this ability we had created technology that is way too far to be conceived and achieved by other similar groups of species. We are categorized as belonging to the family of “The Great Apes”. Included in this family are the Gorilla, the Orangutans, the Chimpanzee and us, the Human beings.

Within this group, we share 90 percent of all anatomical and behavioral characteristics that just goes to prove that we are indeed related to each other, although for centuries now, scientists are still trying to find a common denominator to link our distant relatives with a genetically evolutionary explanation which up to this day has no definite acceptable answer. We might have evolved differently from our Ape relatives in terms of anatomy but we differ with our way of thinking and intellect.

Man had ascended on top of the hierarchy of being the most predominant creature on this Earth, not because of a superb physiological ability to adapt to its environment but because of his ability to create a system in which he can maintain a indefinite place in the cycle of life through the technology that he created for himself and for no other reason beyond that. Despite of this Man still remains as fragile as the day he started to learn to walk upright on his own two feet.

True to the sense that we, as a species, have developed means of defying the numerous laws of nature and its many facets. Still, we have many things that even our technology can not resolve including the adept intuition of occurrences that most animals have a keen sense of knowing it. It may be irrelevant at this point to concede to complacency and rely solely to the knowledge that we posses that had preserved our way of life on this planet.

Most animals on the other hand have a strong sense of intuition that has helped them survive most of the time through natural genetic instincts. A good example for this are the aviary species of Birds that migrate across vast distances due to the changing of the seasons in order to escape the clutches of a frigid death bought on by the onset of Winter. What is really amazing is the manner in how they migrate to more temperate climates in order to maintain the survivability of their species, specifically considering on how the manage to navigate long distances and not getting lost without using any form of visual markings but instead only using the magnetic field of the Earth!

There are also other species of animals that can detect natural impending dangers such as storms or earthquakes even before they occur. Others, such as Bears, can sleep through a long winter through hibernation which helps them survive the icy cold winter and emerge thereafter. Thinking of this, one can not help but wonder if we as Human beings are truly the most predominant in all of creation? Man made technology is not in any way “unnatural” with the way of Nature! Impossible you say? I beg to differ.

Everything in the realm of Nature is natural by origin including the technology that we brought on to this world, why you ask? Simply put that Man has evolved from Nature itself and obviously all things that have come from nature are natural in origin, including the technology that we made for our selves. It was natural for us to evolve out from our primal beginnings and was only natural to develop technology for our own survival, hence, Man made technology is a natural occurrence in Nature.

“If this concept of Natural Technological Evolution is true, then why is the whole World going out of control because of us?'

Good point! There was a point in our evolution and conception of how we should define the use of the technology that we created to help ourselves live our lives to the best of what we can do for the most of what we can do for each others benefit, however, in the midst of our haste in developing beneficial technology for general use, we accidentally stumbled upon the dark side of the technology that we created.

Atomic energy and Synthetic chemical compounds are just a few things that were accidentally discovered that in the first early concept of its infancy were thought to bring about a drastic change to our lives for the better. Unfortunately, we misused these as weapons that eventually became an eminent threat for our survival as a species. Sad to think that the same technology that we created could possibly be the last and ultimate reason for our demise!

Though it is a frightening thought, there is still hope and it comes from those individuals who advocate a more peaceful and natural means to ensure our survival on this planet by means of quantifying deductible and logical reasons slowly changing to a more viable means of natural living. Advocates of Natural Healthy Living recommend that we should slow down in technological development because we already have much more than enough to support our society and any more added, sometimes non-essential technology could be the prime devastating factor that may destroy the social structure of our society.

It could be rightfully called “The Green Revolution”. Since its conception in the early 1960's people had been advocating this for too many a good reason because it will decide on our species survival for the next thousand years. This advocacy is about returning to the threshold of Nature and renew our point of view on how we would deal with all the technological mistakes that as of now are slowly emerging as a global problem.

We must have a clear mind in implementing this and a choice to abandon all unnecessary social conveniences which we had come to rely on. A first step is in the way we eat, which for some obvious reasons contribute as a general health problem in our society today. Our unmindful diet intake decides our health status and forgoing health condition and ample care should be put in mind while considering this. 


Monday 30 September 2013

The Zen of Life



Who We Really Are”



We always question life and it's purpose and despite of all that we think we have achieved to understand the meaning and purpose of it, we still find it rather hard to contemplate the dynamics and struggle to find a singularity as to how to be content with the never ending chaos that we created in pursuing acceptable answers in why life goes the way it does. Ever since we learned to think and started to question things that concern our existence, we have looked for answers around and within our minds in why we live life with such turmoil despite advancement in improving our selves as human beings. Most important of all, why we behave so irrational when it comes to understanding our fellow human beings.



With the dawning of the Age of Reason, human society has been brutalized with war and conflict within the foundation of it's culture. It seems that human beings are easily intimidated by its own kind despite coming from one gene pool. No matter how hard we try to understand ourselves in this society we still lack rationality and may have overlooked the simple meaning of “peace” despite devising ways to fully utilize our mental faculties in trying to achieve it. It is so ironic to think that in comparison to all the things we had done to improve the life around us, conflict of war and chaos follows us in the distant,waiting and lurking in the back of our minds just waiting to be released.



Fear is one of the traits that control any living organism and it is fear and inadequacy within its environment that stimulates its need for self preservation. Living organisms are genetically inclined to survive and they automatically veer away from things that may be a threat for their existence. Humans have that same fear amongst themselves and it is this fear that triggers a paranoiac tendency to retaliate against one another regardless of any rational reason bearing any thought of to what it is. It may be rooted from the source of our ancestors...the apes.



Apes have this uncanny habit of looking at each other and leaving a bad impression on their fellow apes that it often ends up in a fight. It is often called “The Bad Monkey Look”, and as the term suggests it, apparently is a predominant trait amongst the great apes including humans. As a specie, we are so egoistic and take pride in what we achieved and done for our own self improvement but that can not be a valid reason to justify such a negatively enforced trait. We hate competition even amongst ourselves that we end up plotting means to eradicate competition as to emerge as a dominant and controlling entity. Leaving it to the predominant specie to take all pertinent resources to ensure its survival.





Despite of this undeniable truth in which we exist, there are still those who believe that this chaotic way of life is just an evolutionary stage in which our society is going through and that the final understanding of what our purpose in life is still in the process of being unlocked in the deepest recesses of our minds. It maybe just a question of acceptance and outlook of how we perceive life all around us and that the complications of this society that we exist upon based on the conveniences that we created to favor us.



Our true biological purpose in this world is to populate it and consume it's natural resources, quite true, but the way that human beings go through about life is such a frightening manner. Compared to other living organisms, we as a species are the only ones that leave a trail of destruction while slowly ravaging the very resources that can sustain our lives. Unlike animals that only take what is proportionally permitted in nature, we on the other hand consume more than what is needed and at the same time dilute our selves with our own residual filth caused by our intentional defiance of nature's divine purpose.



For millions of years even before the emergence of human beings, animals have populated the world without much complication as far as nature was concerned. Naturally living out their lives as intended by instinct dictated them without making not as much of any detrimental unbalance to it's natural surroundings. As far as nature was concerned, nothing can be far ideal than this. Then we came in the world strutting out our egoistic ideologies that drastically changed every imaginable concept of life contrary to its natural precepts.



Since then, life as we know it continued to flourish up to this day to favor our own convenience despite the growing threat of unbalancing the natural cycle of nature which is now clearly being manifested by drastic climate change. Despite the undeniable truth, we still remain remorsefully defiant thinking that we can never be undaunted by such unimportant things that do not concern our own personal conveniences regarding our way of life. Unfortunately nature can never be defied. Human beings have no hold when it comes to the seemingly naive thought that it can in some ways control or go against the natural balance of life despite all the compendium knowledge that man has achieved.



It is now coming out of the clear that we are anomalous to nature as we don't live by the natural guidelines that it intended us to dwell within its natural confines. Continuing to live with a blinded idealistic fervor might lead to the demise of the human species as nature can easily eject us from its own system. Just like when the body ejects foreign substances that knows can be harmful to it's biological system. It is just a matter of humanity making its next step with its dance against nature, to make a fatal step will end the dance in a chaotic reality for us.



The Zen of Life”



Defiance of nature can be so unfavorable to us as human beings that we tend to forget who we really are. Our own achievements blind the reality around us as to make ways of covering up the ugly reality of the natural truth from which we had been spawned. The life around us contains negative and positive sides of reason both which favor each others justified principalities. Regardless of this obvious truth neither one of both principalities can not exist without the other. As it is a “singularity” as illustrated by the Buddhist symbol of the “yin and yang”.



Buddhism is not a religion but a principality on how to deal with life and all that can be negatively bad for human existence in all aspects concerning nature around us. Be reminded that “Zen” had been derived from the original Buddhist context and was adopted by Shinto monks of Japan. Adding to this, Buddhist do not consider Buddha as a god but rather as a teacher that showed the clear path of enlightenment though the adulation for Buddha is a from a purely human conceptive point of view as stated by followers of the discipline.



Man is a primitive being despite of all claims of social achievements, as manifested in his primal urge to uncontrollably hate his fellow human beings. A famous ancient saying that goes...” Stop wanting. Less is More” is one of the basic founding teachings of Zen. The more we want, the more our possessions cause confusion for us. This is greed in all of the sense of the word itself which is one of our worst traits as humans. Less is definitely an accurate proportional suggestive word to put emphasis in how we should conduct our lives in a daily basis. The less you bring with you as only the necessities, the faster you travel about your way in life and the lighter it is to make clear cut decisions.



Life is more vibrant and dynamic if we were given clear and tangible choices which have substantiated positive implications that improve our inner thoughts and manifest a positive response from those who we meet everyday. Others prefer a radical way of changing the world, while others prefer a pacifist way of dealing with the chaos. I say change the world according to its natural flow an not adversely change it to suite our purpose. The temptation of taking advantage of one another is bit of a narcissist and egoistical approach and not really well worth the effort as seen on the previous history of past wars that we as a society paid very dearly for our ignorance.



Peaceful coexistence is not one of our strongest traits as humans and that is a given. But the world does not evolve around hate and war and the mere purpose of both are hardly not essential to human existence. One does not understand why people hate each other because of differences in various beliefs and implementation of variances in traditional social beliefs and practices. For others they find violence and hatred a necessary means to answer everything in life, just another proof of us not completely evolving out of our primitive genealogy. Social order favors only those who put inhibiting laws against other human beings in fear of being over run and losing control over others within the same species.



It is so hard to enforce a peaceful means of running the world without critical objections that come from people that fear being taken advantage by servitude. Social equality still remains an elusive state of reality despite claims of actual implementation as to provide a comforting assurance of balance in this world despite the actual chaos that still runs rampantly. Still we are hopeful that man will one day leave all the hatred behind and renew his outlook on life for the betterment of himself and nature. But as of now we still need to find within ourselves to search of the answers individually and not collectively as a species.



Peaceful resolutions of human existence can be achieved unless it is purposely denied. Hate gets the best of us as a society and we incoherently laugh at ourselves enjoying the misfortunes of others while enjoying our own comfortable conveniences as well. Unless we change willingly or wait till nature take on its own hands at changing in how we look at things in life, which will not be very pleasant for us, we as a species must take the first step to have a collective consciousness in dealing with the actual reality that is happening to prevent the unthinkable which will inevitably come for us.



The word “Zen” means “perfect simplicity”, achieving it simply put is just being simple without being complicated. We put the complications in a fairly simple life because we don't want to be bored with its plain simplicity. An “Overdone” life does not have an everlasting way of satisfying society as being perfect, because human beings are easily bored. Simplicity itself is beauty, and the imperfections of life are a testament of the perfection of nature. Simplicity is contentedness and once you are content with the simplicity of things in its natural aspect you will be happy inside,smiling.



The choices we make are the sole reasons that will decide on our fate and no amount of human reasoning contrary to natures divine purpose will ever. Thats why we were made with a conscience, the reason that we decide from good or bad and its not bad to use it once in a while.






















  

Wednesday 25 September 2013

Ashes to Ashes...Dust to Dust The Last Hurray of Willie Revillame


Stepping back in time to when Willie Revillame started out as a personal roadie for Ronnie Rickets, who was then Philippine cinemas top action star in the 80's, no one ever dreamed that he, (Willie) would become a big success in his present field of endeavor. The years of perseverance and hard work finally bore fruit for him, as he found his first debut in the movies, starting out as an “extra” which was solely attributed to Mr. Ronnie Rickets's own personal commendations.

Ronnie Rickets is a very accommodating celebrity that despite his stellar status in the Philippine movie industry, is also an honorable individual in private life as well. There was hardly any bad things written about him during his stint as an iconic action star even up to this day. It was only natural for him to gain the trust and admirable respect from people in and around the Philippine movie industry as to give in to his favors with no contention of whatsoever.

As to becoming friends with Willie Revillame was concerned, it was a relationship that lasted for years. A genuine yearning to help friends, Ronnie Rickets always recommended Willie Revillame to any opportunities that may come his way in regards to the movie industry, thus landing Willie in a spate of movies as an extra at first and then gradually landing minor parts that require a dialog.

The years eventually passed and Willie Revillame's career soon took flight, eventually landing him co-starring rolls in mostly comedy screw ball films. It was in the late 80's when he was given a big break in his career, that gave him the chance to co-host a noontime show. After the era for “Student Canteen” ended, which spanned three decades, “Lunch Date” soon followed and made it as the second most watched noontime show in the Philippines next to “Eat Bulaga”.

Lunch Date” lasted for a few years until in the early 90's, when GMA Television Arts finally pulled the plug on the show eventually ending it. No sooner than a few months have passed, Willie was back again in the limelight. ABS-CBN Channel 2 had taken in the former cast of “Lunch Date” to do a new noontime show that was to directly compete, head to head with “Eat Bulaga”, as the former noontime show is now rating in as the most watched noontime show in the Philippines.

Magandang Tanghali Bayan” (MTB) as it was known then, was now competing head on with “Eat Bulaga” as ratings were almost at par with both the networks. The show consisted mainly of Randy Santiago, John Estrada and Willie Revillame. Their combination of hosting seemed to be the perfect formula as each hosts individual charisma became evidently complimentary to the shows theme. It enjoyed a prime in network ratings until ABS-CBN decided to cancel the show due to managerial issues that ended the shows glorious run in the early years of 2000.

Latter on, in the middle of 2006, ABS-CBN offered Willie Revillame a stint to do a noontime show, but Willie agreed to do it with one condition and that was that he should have a major input on how the shows format will be to his liking. Eventually, ABS-CBN agreed to do so in Willie's own term as Charo Santos-Concio was heading Programing Management during that time. Willie Revillame was now in total control over the programming of his own show as he planned a glamor filled format that would entice audiences and “Wow Wow Wee” was born.

The show enjoyed rave reviews during its first few years until tragedy struck. It can still be remembered to this day as the “ULTRA Stadium Stampede” incident which involved more than a crowd of 7,000 people, waiting in line for almost 2 days, just to get a chance of entering the stadium, hoping to get a chance to win any minimal amount of money that the show was more than generous to give. It left a few hundred injured and claimed more than enough lives to question the managements safety policy that involved ABS-CBN in the matter.

It was just one of several spates of bad luck that has befallen the show, as latter on, Willie Revillame was once again criticized in dishonoring the funeral rite of former Philippine President Corazon C. Aquino, as he somewhat berated sarcastic commentaries on how it was conflicting the shows “Happy Theme” as he said, “Wag nyo munang ipakita yan!...Nag sasaya kami dito eh!” ( Please don't show that now...We''re trying to have fun here! ). That unmindful remark had become an evident sign of Mr. Revillame's bloating ego as it was not to be his last unmindful remark as yet.

After a souring of relationship with the management of ABS-CBN, Willie Revillame's show was put on ice, permanently as his irrational way of managing the show to reflect his personal agenda slowly became unfavorable to the networks ideals. Instead of incurring more bad press and collateral damage from Mr. Revillame's unmindful brash approach to network entertainment, ABS-CBN finally broke ties with him to end the bad spate of fate that was evidently doing more harm than good.

In 2010, ABC TV 5, under the new managerial hands of Manny Pangilinan, sought ought to create its own noontime show to fill the void in its noontime slot and got Willie Revillame to host it, as always, it included that Mr. Revillame have total control to all of its proceedings. Thus “Wow Wow Willie” was born and on its maiden telecast, the production was never short of the grandeur that was personified with Willie Revillame. As usual, the masses flocked and fought the elements of the harsh weather just to get inside and bask in the opulence of the shows glitz and staggering prizes that was the center of anyone who would come to see and blindly hope that Willie would grant them his good graces in giving it away.

Unfortunately, ABS-CBN was preparing charges against the show for using its copy righted name brand that was clearly used by Willie Revillame in his show in ABS-CBN, thus forcing the management of ABC TV 5 to change the name of the show to “Willing Willie” as to not further agitate the ongoing court case against Willie. All seems to be going well after that until another spate of bad luck struck the show which involved a little boy that performed on the show as a contestant that gained the irk of people. The “Jon-Jon” incident was one of the most unforgeable moments of the programs seemingly distasteful to most who have remembered it.

It can all be recalled that Willie Revillame let Jon-Jon dance the “macho dancer” routine can be overlooked and simply pass it off as a sort of comical interlude, but what was bothering about it was Mr. Revillame let it be prolonged for too many times, as the boy started to cry and the crowd started to laugh in ridicule at the boy's own expense! After that incidence, ABC TV 5 was forced to change the programs name to “Will Time, Big Time” in order to avoid any more untoward issues that may be related to that certain folly, which was clearly Mr. Revillame's decision.

Unfortunately, Manny Pangilinan decided to pull out from ABC TV 5 as he clearly stated that the network was “not making any tangible earnings as a company”, that led to Manny Villar to come into the rescue. Things were now surely becoming distraught for the programing as ratings on the programs time slot continued to dip despite rigid marketing campaigns to alleviate advertising sales. It can be clearly seen as the big gap of advertisers on the time slot can be counted as being too few which is evident for its almost 4 hours of running. The programs segment would continue for a straight 10 to 15 minuets without a single advertiser, which proves Manny Pangilinan's statement.

After which came Willie Revillame's promotion of his “Wil Tower Mall”, a high rise condominium unit mall, which he proudly promotes on his program. But to a certain aspect of it seems like an insult to look at as Mr. Revillame's prized possession of exotic sports cars are displayed on the lobby. One observer was quick to comment, “Are we in the lobby or are we in the parking area?”. What is the deal of showing off such brash full opulence when you profess to be a man of the masses? Long before Willie Revillame's rise to fame, there was already Tito, Vic and Joey, who were already entertaining the masses with their brand of noontime show. Despite of their long decadence in show business, the trio never bought airplanes or yachts or built towering buildings with their names to be remembered.

It just shows that some people yearn for respect in society and that they will go to great lengths in order to be recognized for their hardships in life. There is absolutely nothing wrong with respect and adulation just as long as you are not fooling your selves and others as well as to letting people to believe that you genuinely care for them. Fortunately, the intangibility of idealistic principles can not conquer the reality of life that people have problems and there are people in this world that will take advantage of an individuals precarious state of misery in life. On the coming weeks, as September 2013 draws to a close, so will Willie Revillame's show “Will Time , Big Time” on ABC TV 5 as the curtain will finally come down.

To that, ABC TV 5 has clearly stated that it will consider Mr. Revillame in its future plans of new shows, but that is a doubtful notion as the dark shadow of past misfortunes seem to follow Willie Revillame on all of his enterprising endeavor, like a lurking sign of bad luck bestowed upon him for some unexplainable reason. This misfortune has a name and it is called “Karma”.

Good luck Willie, you will truly need it as it seems that you have exhausted the trust and complacency of all the people around you as the road ends, inevitably to where you started...Nothing.





Tuesday 24 September 2013

Plight of the Filipino Overseas Contract Worker


The labour force of a country is the backbone of its social progress, quite true. But in some countries especially in the Philippines this remains an ironic melancholy of sorts. The Philippines is one of the world’s top provider of cheap labour to countries which need such workers ranging from house hold help,entertainment and medically related fields.


The country earns from this and is an integral part of its economy in a point that the country’s educational system is veering away from old and obsolete traditional methods integrated almost a century ago into a more simplified and straight forward educational system solely for the purpose of processing the whole Filipino society into a labour ready commodity.


Strange as it may seem, some educational institutions even advertise on mass media about these so-called educational institutions concerning job assistance programs for students that enrol and undergo their educational programs and give the public an impression of complacency regarding employment guarantee.



As a country that was once colonized by the United States, the country has one of the highest literacy rate in the South-east Asian region. But even though it is true, the Philippines are still facing a plight within its own domestic employment problems. Local unemployment rates are growing at a statistically uncontrollable rate despite of government programs to induce alternative measures to provide a temporary solution to this problem.


The government has already instigated an educational reform program adding 2 more years in both the primary and secondary levels of the school system. This ratified implementation aims hopefully to help those who go through the program acquire a certain degree of proficiency geared towards a higher chance of employment possibilities that are available in the present economic system.




Even though there are countries that employ the Filipino work force there are still undeniable hurdles that have to be considered. One such issue is that of the European Union’s ongoing warning to the schools that are offering seafarers courses in the Philippines. It is said that in the coming years, the European Union will cease to employ the services of Filipino seafarers unless that the said schools that teach such courses meet the European Union standards that are required on all European Union flags carrying vessels.


The said sanctions will be implemented in the next 3 years and unless the Philippines meet the standards imposed by the European Union, a great number of Filipino seafarers will lose their jobs because of a faulty substandard educational system.


The cost of sending children to school in the Philippines is quite high despite being a third world country and despite of government claims of economic growth and stability, the inevitable is still very obvious! One cannot deny that such adverse claims of social prosperity not be fully manifested in this society. An average child would be allocated an amount to almost a little bit more than 1,000,000 pesos just to acquire a decent college education but the guarantee of a stable job opportunity is not as directly proportional to the value of acquiring it.


We might say in a reserved manner that it is quite a gamble to invest in your children’s future, and thus the emergence of the informal educational system which consist of an educational program aimed to develop basic skills implementation which is in demand at the moment and  that it requires only the basic skills set intended for the international labour requirements.


In short, the economic labour growth is directly proportional to the global labour needs of the international labour market, and the Philippines have started to follow with the demands of the world in regards to labour. The Filipino people have become a world commodity not as to dehumanize the term but the fact of the matter remains, third world countries such as this, have no choice but to follow unwittingly and choice less or be left out in the cold reality.


As Filipinos, we are a hard working class of society never ever questioning the purpose of adverse labour despite the for the obvious reasons of servitude to others. This condition of a hard-working mentality goes back to about 400 years to the infancy of this Asian society.


The Filipino mentality toward labour has a funny history for that matter. It can be seen in the ordinary household where it takes place early in the morning as the day is about to start. Parents would often wake up their children very early to do menial   household work such as cleaning, cooking, laundry and all sorts of things. Laziness has no place in the household and everybody does their share in all work done within.


This idealistic principles are passed down from generation to generation and is considered one of the most sought after aspects of Filipinos that landed them a niche in the international labour market. Where does this all lead to? Let's go back to the time where the Spanish colonizers took reign over the country and enforced a slave labour mentality to the point of enforcing it to the natives of the country.


The Spanish master would come down and forcefully wake their Filipino slaves and order them to serve them without any humanitarian considerations. Added to that enforcing strict methods of labour sanctions including rationalizing everything including the distribution of food!


To tell you the truth, 400 years of enforcing such methods have a huge psychological effect upon a society that up to this day, the Filipinos have suffered a sense of psychological inferiority towards foreigners. Which explain why as a nation, the Filipino people are so accommodating to foreign principalities!


And even though they thrive to achieve a sense of self-worth we still fall short on many aspects considering acceptance as equals in a world that perpetuates social equality but in fact we are led to make-believe that we serve and that we as a nation have a purpose! Yes, we do have a purpose and that is to be slaves of the system of the World.

 
Purpose? To serve. Bred to a point where all social aspects of a positive outlook in life to mould us into doing what the World wants us to do.Conspired by governments and systems integrated by conglomerates with just one purpose….. Lambs to the slaughter.





The Dooms Day Clock


Our World today is changing fast beyond our our wildest dreams. We have reached new heights on the level of Science and Technology with an astonishing pace. We owe it all to our selves for attaining such marvelous achievements in regards to improving the Society that we had founded since the time that we learned to make use of fire.

For the past 100 years, we had seen how drastically we had sought to improve every aspect of human life around us. We have created magnificent edifices that culminate our glorious exuberance. We went faster than the speed of sound, have escaped the clutches of gravity and have ultimately reached the fringe stellar boundaries of the Moon itself! It seems that the possibilities are endless.

We always had, as a specie, an amazing way to overcome all sorts of adversities that stand in the way of our progress beyond our limitation and capacity to which through able thinking, could always devise ways and means in dealing such obstacles. The Human mind is such a fascinating mystery as it can conjure solutions as instinctively as to adapt to its environment and when put in a position to make decisions in regards to survival and self preservation, the Human mind is the only reason that we have gotten this far in regards to our evolution as a specie.
 

We,amongst all of the other species that thrive on this Earth, are the only ones that are endowed with the ability to think beyond our primal instinct and from this ability we had created technology that is way too far to be conceived and achieved by other similar groups of species. We are categorized as belonging to the family of “The Great Apes”. Included in this family are the Gorilla, the Orangutans, the Chimpanzee and us, the Human beings.

Within this group, we share 90 percent of all anatomical and behavioral characteristics that just goes to prove that we are indeed related to each other, although for centuries now, scientists are still trying to find a common denominator to link our distant relatives with a genetically evolutionary explanation which up to this day has no definite acceptable answer. We might have evolved differently from our Ape relatives in terms of anatomy but we differ with our way of thinking and intellect.

Man had ascended on top of the hierarchy of being the most predominant creature on this Earth, not because of a superb physiological ability to adapt to its environment but because of his ability to create a system in which he can maintain a indefinite place in the cycle of life through the technology that he created for himself and for no other reason beyond that. Despite of this Man still remains as fragile as the day he started to learn to walk upright on his own two feet.

True to the sense that we, as a species, have developed means of defying the numerous laws of nature and its many facets. Still, we have many things that even our technology can not resolve including the adept intuition of occurrences that most animals have a keen sense of knowing it. It may be irrelevant at this point to concede to complacency and rely solely to the knowledge that we posses that had preserved our way of life on this planet.

Most animals on the other hand have a strong sense of intuition that has helped them survive most of the time through natural genetic instincts. A good example for this are the aviary species of Birds that migrate across vast distances due to the changing of the seasons in order to escape the clutches of a frigid death bought on by the onset of Winter. What is really amazing is the manner in how they migrate to more temperate climates in order to maintain the survivability of their species, specifically considering on how the manage to navigate long distances and not getting lost without using any form of visual markings but instead only using the magnetic field of the Earth!

There are also other species of animals that can detect natural impending dangers such as storms or earthquakes even before they occur. Others, such as Bears, can sleep through a long winter through hibernation which helps them survive the icy cold winter and emerge thereafter. Thinking of this, one can not help but wonder if we as Human beings are truly the most predominant in all of creation? Man made technology is not in any way “unnatural” with the way of Nature! Impossible you say? I beg to differ.

Everything in the realm of Nature is natural by origin including the technology that we brought on to this world, why you ask? Simply put that Man has evolved from Nature itself and obviously all things that have come from nature are natural in origin, including the technology that we made for our selves. It was natural for us to evolve out from our primal beginnings and was only natural to develop technology for our own survival, hence, Man made technology is a natural occurrence in Nature.

If this concept of Natural Technological Evolution is true, then why is the whole World going out of control because of us?'

Good point! There was a point in our evolution and conception of how we should define the use of the technology that we created to help ourselves live our lives to the best of what we can do for the most of what we can do for each others benefit, however, in the midst of our haste in developing beneficial technology for general use, we accidentally stumbled upon the dark side of the technology that we created.

Atomic energy and Synthetic chemical compounds are just a few things that were accidentally discovered that in the first early concept of its infancy were thought to bring about a drastic change to our lives for the better. Unfortunately, we misused these as weapons that eventually became an eminent threat for our survival as a species. Sad to think that the same technology that we created could possibly be the last and ultimate reason for our demise!

Though it is a frightening thought, there is still hope and it comes from those individuals who advocate a more peaceful and natural means to ensure our survival on this planet by means of quantifying deductible and logical reasons slowly changing to a more viable means of natural living. Advocates of Natural Healthy Living recommend that we should slow down in technological development because we already have much more than enough to support our society and any more added, sometimes non-essential technology could be the prime devastating factor that may destroy the social structure of our society.

It could be rightfully called “The Green Revolution”. Since its conception in the early 1960's people had been advocating this for too many a good reason because it will decide on our species survival for the next thousand years. This advocacy is about returning to the threshold of Nature and renew our point of view on how we would deal with all the technological mistakes that as of now are slowly emerging as a global problem.

We must have a clear mind in implementing this and a choice to abandon all unnecessary social conveniences which we had come to rely on. A first step is in the way we eat, which for some obvious reasons contribute as a general health problem in our society today. Our unmindful diet intake decides our health status and forgoing health condition and ample care should be put in mind while considering this.