Guest Contributors on disquiet

social / media

On the Ressa verdict

June 20, 2020 by
O

by Andrew Fornier

Well. I think we all saw that coming, much as we hoped against hope that the verdict would be different somehow. I guess it was like walking into a McDonald’s and expecting to find Chickenjoy on sale. I mean, there are some very specific elements that would have to converge for it to happen, and it isn’t exactly impossible, but you wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to come up empty-handed.

I should preface this by saying that I’m not a Ressa fan. (This is important.) I have little patience for the kind of journalism she has represented, in which the reporter is a celebrity of greater importance than the stories she has to tell. There’s a constant undercurrent of arrogance that oozes from the paragraphs of Rappler, particularly from its opinion pieces, which seems content to berate the common citizen for their “ignorance” and proclaim, in all self-righteousness, that there is only one way to look at the news.

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disinformation and propaganda, social / media

How Duterte’s addresses to nation are sneaky political communications strategy

April 24, 2020 by
H

by Jayson Gaspar Maulit

Duterte appears on TV late at night <today at 8:00AM — ed.>, recently with Cabinet members providing insights and praising him. These are all taped-as-live, edited by people from RTVM/PCOO. Nakakairita, but what Malacañang does is a well-crafted and executed communications plan.

The national situation is important to the Palace, kasi for the first time in almost 4 years, tinamaan lahat ng krisis. EJKs, the Rice Tariffication Law, and puppeteering in the government didn’t concern the rich. China’s claiming of our islands seemed very far to the urban poor, and people who didn’t live in coastal areas. Misogyny? Racism? Bigotry? At least totoong tao si Digong, hindi kagaya ni Mar Roxas at ng mga Dilawan.

But the COVID-19 crisis? Tinamaan ang mga mahihirap, tinamaan ang mga estudyante, tinamaan ang middle class, at tinamaan ang mga oligarchs ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

So. Duterte addressing the nation. The timeslot is deliberate—meant to play with the media, avoid (close to) real-time criticisms from experts, and extend news cycles for maximum retention. The message? It’s not for us angry and frustrated citizens looking for answers, no. The addresses are loyalty checks and call for solidarity to the DDS, asking them to, again, band together.

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public health

Food, armor, information in the fight VS #Covid19

April 3, 2020 by
F

by Orlando E de Leon

Where I left off, I averred two things: 1) that I don’t consider our health workers as frontliners, and 2) that we mis-allocated some tasks. On top of these, I identified the family and the home as the real frontliners.

As a Marine General, I have always considered our medical personnel as part of our REAR ELEMENTS. In the thick of battle, we bring our casualties to a collection point for first aid, and are further transferred back in line for better medical attention. I never dreamed that my medical personnel, my rear, will fight for me. The implication being, that I have been overrun. My lines have been overrun by the enemy. I have failed. Time to commit hara-kiri.

Having said that, why are we in this very situation right now? Why is our rear fighting in front? Have we been overrun? I don’t think so, not at this point in time. My assessment is that we near-panicked that we failed to determine which and where our front and rear are. We scrambled to get a grip of the situation while innovating on the best course of action to take. To me this is very normal. So normal, in fact, that 80% of commanders would have similar reactions. I would have been in the same frame of mind considering that the enemy we have been confronted with is both INVISIBLE and INVINCIBLE. But we need to recover from near-shock and reassess, then reconsolidate, our position. This is where we are now.

As promised, I will answer two questions: 1) what type of war are we fighting? 2) how are we going to fight it?

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public health

The real frontliners in this fight VS #Covid19

April 1, 2020 by
T

by Orlando E. de Leon

Please consider this as a product of a quarantined mind, hence an idle one. It does not intend to hurt sensibilities, but rather to provoke some thoughts, not a fight. Hehehe.

One of the principles of war is “simplicity.” A war plan, or an action plan for that matter, should be kept as simple as possible, so that a private can understand it. Keep in mind that only a handful of generals and officers make the plan. A multitude of soldiers, who has no idea what these generals and officers are thinking, will execute the plan. Picture that out.

I have an aversion to plans that are more of a display of English proficiency and political correctness than straightforward language.

War is chaos. A plan intends to manage this chaos. This is why most plans focus on the essential tasks each and every one will perform. Likewise, each and every individual should know and understand the importance of each task in the whole scheme.

Why am I saying all of these? Well, because I see a weakness in our defense plan. Why defense plan? Because we have not invented the weapon to fight the enemy, yet. Hence, we cannot go on the offensive.

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public health

Thinking about the virus #Covid19

March 22, 2020 by
T

by Orlando Roncesvalles

The virus has us all riveted to our seats, watching the news, helplessly wondering what will happen next. Will we be “shut in” forcibly, as in China? Will we be more like Italy and Spain with draconian measures to keep almost all at home, not so much by force but by community efforts? Can we have something less drastic like Korea, where there is no lockdown but massive testing allows for infected people to be isolated early in the course of the epidemic. The answers are not easily found.

A thought experiment may point to how we might go about finding a reasonable approach. Suppose there were only two persons in an economy, and we cannot tell who is infected. But for sure, one of them is sick. If both go out and work, all get infected. Both die. And we have no more economy. This is the scenario if we did nothing at all to confront the virus.

If we don’t test, we can lockdown all at home, as we do now for Luzon. That effectively shuts down the economy. But at least the economy revives when a vaccine or cure is found. This means that lockdown is better than doing nothing. Lockdown at least keeps half the population alive while we wait for a vaccine or cure. Doing nothing is something like suicide, irreversible, or worse, a form of homicide.

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