Tag Archives: Facebook

WEANING FROM FACEBOOK and CHRISTMAS IN TRAFFIC JAMMED BAGUIO

Posted on by

Facebook is toxic. It’s no longer a fun place to be and I realized I can no longer express myself fully there, hence, the need to revive my blog. I plan to do several reviews (I have a number in the pipeline) of products I just acquired or services I availed (and these are not paid reviews, mind you).

Anyway, my family spent Christmas with my mother and sisters in Baguio at Manor Hotel in Camp John Hay (CPH) They have been doing this for years and this is the first time we joined my mom and sisters for the holidays.

DSCF1513

DSCF1483

It was a new experience for my girls and they loved Santa’s Village and that kept them entertained for a while. But costly for me since activities like horseback riding, go-carts, and jumping on trampolines are at least PHP 100 per 15 mins (for horseback riding).

DSCF1492

DSCF1497

If I can have my way, I would just have stayed in bed and savored the 15-19 degree C temperatures. But if you have kids, you can’t. Sigh. Procuring food is a bit of a hassle since stores and restaurants in CPH either run out of provisions or are closed, since, hey it’s Christmas! Give the Baguio people a break. I recommend that you bring lots of food with you when you get there because it’s nearly impossible for you to go downtown because of the horrendous traffic jam caused by tourists like us. The traffic jam inside CPH is already que horrible.

DSCF1491

Families listening to live Christmas carols early evening.

DSCF1490

DSCF1487

Rooms overlooking the garden

 

Social media, I now declare, is an evil creature

Posted on by

As a communicator and as person who lived towards the end of the repressive regime of Ferdinand Marcos, I applaud that the ordinary people are given the power to express themselves and not be subjected to the caprices and sometimes questionable filters used by some media gatekeepers to be able to have their voices heard.

However, there are limits to this freedom: your freedom ends when you are already stepping on another person’s own freedom.

Facebook and Twitter (but more of Facebook) have become toxic places for public discourse as these now sow hate among users. It has become an effective vehicle for misinformation of a population that has become a parody of some sort. The bullies are now silencing whoever is opposing them; sowing fear or ambivalence among those who have become wary or tired of offering contrary views.

And it doesn’t help matters that the owner of Facebook is playing god.

Mark Zuckerberg accused of abusing power after Facebook deletes ‘napalm girl’ post

Norway’s largest newspaper has published a front-page open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, lambasting the company’s decision to censor a historic photograph of the Vietnam war and calling on Zuckerberg to recognize and live up to his role as “the world’s most powerful editor”.

3000

Read the rest here.