Some Thoughts on Social Media Giant Facebook

Facebook creates a world to its own.  It has its own unique citizens, its own iron-clad rules and standards, and, yes, its own indubitable chaos and confusion, just like in the real world.  And akin to it, I too regularly travel through it and observe the many happenings in it.

Like the real world, many citizens there are respectably reticent, timidly reserved, too kind to a fault, etc. while just as many are quite noisily vocal, infinitely categorical, steadfastly judgmental, godly self-righteous about their own perceived attitudes or opinions of events being played out in this burgeoning virtual world.

 

Thus we listen to the boisterous cacophony of declarations about how bad and greedy this woman is for what she had done, how corrupt or how untainted certain politicians are, how unfair certain actions or laws are, etc...   All this prior to the truths about them being unraveled and declared before the entire world.

Of course, all the citizens who passed judgment cannot all be wrong, but neither can they all be right.

I wonder then what happens next, when they are proved wrong.  I know if proved right, they could gloat and declare, yeah, I told you so.  Or simply be quiet about it, and maybe say a prayer or two in hope of some things good coming out of it.

But again, what happens when we are proved wrong?

Do we look back and make amends, or at the very least apologize? Remember we have thrown bad thoughts out there, words that will perpetually reside in that ether easily accessible to be recalled at any time.  Hurts and smears inflicted that may forever traumatize and haunt those they were directed against.

A good question to ponder.  Maybe even for any and all untoward, or maybe just a bit unkind or unflattering, statements we have directed against somebody who is more than just one listed as our “Friends” on FB.

Mea Maxima Culpa.

Law Enforcement and the Military in the US

I have long known that many of our FilAm compatriots are quite active politically, with some quite vocal about their political leanings in their new homeland.

As further information to be sifted in arriving at more-rounded political decisions, I have also long harbored the idea of suggesting to them the unusual request as hypothesized below.

Two very dominant sectors in American society are the law enforcement community and the military hierarchy and their command.  Beyond anything else, entry in both sectors is voluntary since all the members signed up on their own volition.  And the typical and primary reason for joining these organizations with very hazardous tasks has been the ardent desire to serve the country and the people, by providing and maintaining peace and security.  Everything else appears secondary.  So we can surmise that we have there a good number of hardy and patriotic citizens, with the best interests of the country in their hearts and minds 

These are big sectors, the military comprising of about 1.5 million people from active and reserve categories, and law enforcement totaling about 700K members.  All in their productive years and prime voters, so forming quite a formidable constituency.  And it will be noted many from the military cross over to law enforcement

All of them under the strict control and command of the highest executive officer of the political unit they belong to, whether the mayor of the city, the governor of the state, or the president of the country.  They are all necessary tools of the executive department of the political unit in the discharge of its duties, and as such needless to say, they have to be above politics, especially partisan politics.  They cannot be otherwise given the very sensitive relationship they possess with the corresponding city executive.

Still we are sure deep down, they do have their political ideologies and their choices of candidates that best exemplify their noblest goals.  Choices we surmise informed by their intimate contacts or interaction with their executive leaders.

One wonders then how many of our compatriots have family members, or other relatives, or simply close acquaintances who are connected or may have previously served under any of the two groups?  It would be nice to suggest to them to find out from them what and how they feel about the current politics.  They could be reticent about it given its delicate nature, but one is confident that the conversation being premised in confidence, they would be coaxed into revealing their thoughts.

It would be quite revealing to find out what the results are, and maybe quite divergent from the pictures mainstream media has been painting.

No rush.  But do try to find out.   And ask clarifying questions about their choices. 

The prophecy of doom continues . . . .

The prophecy of doom continues . . . .

. . . and there are no signs of it abating.  We rather see the unmistakable signs point to weightier coming conditions for the entire world.

We all started as disparate communities living as different countries with all our dissimilarities.  Differences not only in looks, but in values, goals, etc.

Then somehow in spite of widening chasms in divergence of thought and action, the drive toward globalization, and the anticipated forthcoming one world government, was imperceptibly initiated with many powerful advocates casting their lot on the efficacy and the suitable time for the ideology.

But we know we are nowhere near it and the friction points are so severe, the   chances are nil that that this desired option is available to humanity, not especially after we have been decimated by this pandemic.   Our differences continue to make that an almost impossibility.  And what is more is that many find that such change would not really redound to the benefit of the world, bit would widen the rifts already existing between countries.

Some caveats or premises before we can even hope to reorient ourselves to the path toward resolution of all the global problems now gripping the entire planet.

First, like it or not, the world has to be aligned, or at least not be obstructive, on the side of the US of A.  Aside from being unarguably the mightiest military power in the planet, it also has the biggest economy making all other countries not only interconnected with it, but also interdependent.

The US dollar is the reserve currency of practically every other nation in the world.  Thus, it is unthinkable to have people wish ill on the dollar without spiting themselves.  Those countries who hold US debt have this in their minds, too.  The US has to continue being what it is and doing what it does, or the world economy will be grossly affected.

Because it has the biggest economy it also is the biggest consumer in the planet.  75% of its GDP is consumer spending.  Because of this, those countries who produce and export have to reckon with the US.  Even China, a largely exporting country, understands this, and cannot disregard the US without jeopardizing its own existence.  This holds true to other nations in the world.

Which country has gone past this pandemic and having its economy already on the path to recovery?  Hard to name one, except maybe a little country like Taiwan.

But in spite all this, the US as the world leader and trailblazer has a lot to be accountable for the actions it has been taking to get past this pandemic.

With that explained and set aside, we turn our attention to what the world under this abnormal and entirely unfamiliar state of affairs has become.

 

Unemployment in the US has reached 20%. Unemployment ceiling for the US as far as we can reach back has only been at 10%, never more.  Its GDP has spiraled down to negative territory by as much as 33%. This because of the lockdowns, artificially slowed down by stimulus spending.  But for how long can this be sustained?

US FED policies have not only been unhelpful; it has exacerbated a deteriorating situation. And this has been so for quite a while, what with all these confusing QEs that they have employed and now, the country and the world with it are now being conditioned to the set of stimulus packages waiting in the pipeline. And as far as can be gleamed these amount to nothing more than printing more money and releasing them to the economy at large, albeit doing all this digitally.  But still mirroring the same effects.  So we have to ask, when can we expect runaway inflation?

Add to all this, the political chaos and destruction we have seen in the last months in US streets and government structures continue to consume whatever desirable advances the beleaguered administration has been able to garner the past three years.

All this points to a future that is not only uncertain, but undeniably gloomy for the entire planet.

A Prophecy of Doom! ...And Hope.

I browse around ubiquitous social media and the many news sites scattered around, and I find one prevailing thread amidst all the wanton physical chaos and caustic rhetoric strewn around. It is the rearing ugly head of evil incarnate that is hate, and that it afflicts, and maybe even kills (one is spiritual), more than this COVID 19 pandemic we are facing could ever. In both cases, technology allows the spread of their contagion at faster pace than any time before.

And addressing more on certain powerful people emanating from different strata of society.  It is almost unconscionable to learn what they would go through to publicly lie about or misrepresent what they say and do.  All in the name of hate and the underlying grab for power.  The angry anarchists both in power and on the streets!  Both those nicely dressed and suited and those masked rioters creating mayhem in the streets.

And so rather than being reticent when not being able to say anything good, the reverse becomes the truism.  Not to miss any opportunity to denigrate anybody you loathe, in dogged pursuit of an agenda tightly couched in the quest for power and influence.

The art of language, communication, and conversation has been thrown to the dogs. It has been subtly subverted – to revile people, to mislead people, and yes, to taint the very air we breathe.  And we are all the worse for it.   So how many otherwise gentle people now hate because they have been fed with false narratives?  The developing formless blob has evolved into the mob.  So how different is it now compared to the darkening times of Christ, when otherwise gentle people were transformed into an angry and cruel mob?

God help us. 

If we are believers of biblical accounts, we know that during similar godless times, God was disposed to bring wholesale catastrophe to our lot.  But he did promise with the advent of Christ that He had relented in the use of such extreme measures.

What then can we expect?

The reflex or default act of many has been a loud call to prayer.

But I say that many do pray, but they still miss the essential meaning and power of prayer.

One prays for resolution of vicissitudes because everything is dependent on God.  But the more important part of prayer is to act on those resolutions like everything was dependent on us.  Our salvation then is in us, measured in our actions under the proper guidance of Christ.  

In Memoriam: Graciano (Nonong) B. Neri

 He has been gone for three years now.  But the memory lingers.  I was one among many who spoke after the Mass celebrated prior to his interment.

Because of the frenzy and exigencies of the moments, I doubt anybody if any remembers what I said then.  I actually printed out what I read for my part.

Found the note, and will now write it out in a blog entry as permanent testimonial to a life lived in close proximity to mine.

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“Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells toll; it tolls for thee”

This is a quote from poet, John Donne.

Words we have often heard said.  Nice-sounding and inspiring words. But what exactly do they mean to each one of us?

Graciano Nonong Neri, Jr. died a week ago and we are here gathered to help send him off to a life hereafter.

In the following narration, I try my best to put personal touches to those inspiring words above.  To show how Nonong’s passing diminishes me because he was involved in my life.

More than just being first cousins, both our families were unusually close to each other, due to certain special circumstances.  This very intimate closeness made for many shared experiences, of joys and jubilation, of mirth and merriment, of sorrows and hardships.

Both families tended to do things together.  The children practically growing up together, planning and doing things together.  Going to picnics together, taking trips together, going on vacations or out of town trips together.  More like two families fused as one.  Since Nonong’s family was more blessed materially, one could say that in many of those joint activities we were more the beneficiaries rather than the benefactors.

Taking Nonong out of the equation then means simply and outrightly taking away those revered memories from me and making them vanish in mist, since Nonong was an integral part to all of them.

So from the time that I became self-aware as a person, living in the retiring hometown of Cagayan de Oro, it has been difficult for me to imagine events and occasions during my growing-up years without Nonong and his family somehow figuring in them.

During hot summer afternoons, we went riding with horses in and around the Provincial Capitol grounds.  On other occasions, we planned extended trips to Taguanao, again taking horses with us, aside from ample provisions for overnight stays.

During family gatherings, parties, and restaurant sorties, Nonong and his trusty jeep figured in helping family members to and from the different venues they were being held.

During college years in the same school, there were instances when our associations were more than just being cousins.  One time we tried our hands in campus politics, and vied for elective positions together.  And yes, Nonong was with me when I first paid a visit to a local girl we had spotted earlier.  So riding tandem in my motorbike we went together to face the girl’s family who was residing in the poblacion.

And there were even hazardous and dangerous errands we both had to undertake, like taking a boat and flying on an old and rickety plane, hopping from one Visayas island to another, bringing with us cash resources to an aunt who had a critical need for them.

And there were countless other occasions when we partnered together, again sharing memories that cannot be rent asunder without somehow making them disappear from me.

Thus, I say his sudden passing certainly diminishes my life.

And I can only bid him Godspeed till we meet again.  Till then, Nong.