Archive for March, 2011

On issues not relevant to street children as it is to the blogiverse: the National Bloggers’ Association. Before reading this, I recommend first reading the thoughts of Carlo Ople, Jayvee Fernandez, Aileen Apolo, Manuel Viloria, Regnard Raquedan, and Juned Sonido on the matter.

Some eight-nine years ago, I became part of this community by signing up for a blog. I’ve seen many blogs come and go, many bloggers go and grow. I’ve seen bloggers get rich, I’ve seen bloggers get awesome jobs. For me, blogging helped me grow up: the stories and messages I read in the blogosphere helped me mature. Blogging helped me cope with the storms in my head: it gave me an outlet where I can be heard.

I didn’t need the formalities of an association to do that, I just blogged. Like thousands of others in the blogosphere today, blogging has always been something personal to me.

I’ll be the last person to tell any blogger in the Philippines not to participate in an association of their choice, or to form one. Now I may not agree with the idea of a National Bloggers’ Association, but Janette Toral and Tonyo – or anyone else for that matter – are free to do that.  I am absolutely sure that those who support this cause have good intentions. Though I’m not going to join one, or create one of my own, at the end of the day my blog – my voice, my writing, my opinions – will be represented by this association, should it be formed.

That, to me, is the problem.

I’m not entirely sure if my two cents would bring something meaningful to the growing online literature – supportive, critical, and outright seething – on Jim Paredes’ less-than-flattering opinions about “armchair revolutionaries on Facebook and Twitter” – a must-read is Ina Stuart-Santiago’s piece on the matter, but nevertheless, I’d like to contribute to it.

I like that word, “revolution.”  I like that phrase, “Viva la Revolución.”  It rolls off the tongue with a heroic note.  It makes saliva taste like triumph.  It speaks of something grand, noble, important, and meaningful.  It turns things upside-down over its head, reverses the cycle, and changes things for the betterment of human society.  It is something so fundamental, so organized, so close to the core of what makes our society.  Yet even that isn’t above the kitschy candor of marketing: everything is a revolution nowadays.  Everyone is a revolutionary nowadays.

It’s trendy to be part of a revolution.  So much so, that we have appropriated the grand gesture of revolution to our more droll and ordinary pursuits.  I drink very revolutionary water from a revolutionary mug, as much as this post is part of a revolution.

This post is not revolutionary.  I am not a revolutionary.