Ramble on: Just talking about stuff.

Response to friends’ post on Facebook, slightly edited. 

FLOOD of commercial advertisements on Facebook? I guess, that's bound to happen. Pragmatically speaking. I still read old magazines, including glossy magazines with about 80 percent ads. I get lucky when I get 2 or 3 interesting articles. That's the way it is. But I read old-school as a habit. I read only 4 or 5 media outlets in the internet though. Other news sources come with annoying ads or links between paragraphs so no more of that for me. 

       On FB, I am fine with 5 or 7 friends on my Homepage. Ads or reels versus posts that only irritate me? It's no brainer. Besides, I enjoy these cat/dog videos, feeds about basketball, memory of old movies, cooking tips, and silliness from my nephews. The internet per se is a giant mall so let it be. Hence, after I am done (or in between) my structured posts, I then deal with my 16 TV series (that I follow at a time), LOL! With my dog and 2 cats beside me. Life is good regardless. 💻⌨️💻

ALTHOUGH I don't work (job) anymore as I did, this internet/social media thing can really hold us captive. So I try my best to post/write as I did before we were brought online. I draft 95 percent of my posts and follow a strict time allotment/regimen. So I can't afford to get ruffled or distracted by silly arguments. Too much mental energy lost and time wasted. I was then. I mean, 20+ minutes on a singular argument about a subject that will never be resolved, esp. with someone that we haven't even met in person. Although I have blocked a few longtime friends who act like 7 year olds here. More annoying than 15 ads in one slide of my thumb, LOL! 💻⌨️💻

Politics. Society. History.

Posted on my Facebook page, years ago.

Politics and Society. 

IF we view societal/governmental issues with futility than hope then we are all fucked. What is the point of elections if we anticipate that these supposed leaders are going to abuse their powers anyway? We are just wasting time, effort and money. So what is the alternative? Maybe do a Fidel Castro/Muammar Qadaffi remedy? Cuba and Libya have better delivery of basic services but we (in a socalled democratic/free world) will always have something dark to say about those. 

       Maybe let's just hope for the better and elect a president and other legislators that we think ar "less evil"? Well, I'd like to exude optimism amidst the apparent disillusionment. The world overcame the Great Depression (1929 to 1932). Back home in the Philippines, we did improve a lot after two decades of the Marcos regime. The only "solution" to our collective frustration is a full-blown bloody revolution. But do we want that? What we must do and convince voters about, especially those who are not reached by social media (and other media) is to vote smartly. 

       Let us educate and advocate with hope of good change than annihilate and propagate based on doom. It's just that these days, there are more personality-obliterations than actual discussion of political platforms, hence the negative is accentuated more than projection of what these aspiring leaders could do to better our lives. Meantime, being positive works—and it also makes us less angry and grumpy. 🏛⚖️🏛

Politics and History.

FRANKLIN D. Roosevelt is a sort of model for governance coming from the rubble. His New Deal worked but we are talking about more than a decade of leadership (1933-1945), that ended at the tailend of the Pacific War. It was a different era amidst differing socioeconomic and political variables. China was deep sleeping that time.

       Coming from the economic downturn of the 2000s, plus the fact that Americans are also divided by political correctness, food behavior, gender politics and environmental hug-trees brevity, then there's the resurgence of new immigrant population with different cultural truths--we need a leader who could somehow keep America tight despite this disconnect and diversity. Just a good and effective president. FDR was able to do that via New Deal. Or who was the president who enjoined confederates and union soldiers and African Americans and Irish immigrants and Chinese and Mormons to work on railroads (1863 and 1869)? Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson? Tactical alliance. 

       Of course, there will always be fights in diversity but once this divergence of thoughts and beliefs work for a common good, then there is hope. 🏛⚖️🏛

Ramble On: Religion and Stuff.

Just talking about stuff. Response friends’ post on Facebook. 

WE need to look deeper and around or beyond people's biased/linear look at religion. Religion is an expression of a people's culture but there's also political leadership, regional relations per trade, natural resources, labor force etc. 

       Africa is poor despite its natural wealth but it is also shaken by tribal/ethnic animosities. Yet we need to look at how Britain and other European powers “owned” majority of the continent. Foreign control of these countries drove them into internal strife hence hostilities ensued. Although loss of power over their own country was the major cause of displeasure, religions (that interfaced with indigenous faiths) were conveniently used as a “divide and rule” tool.

       When Europe pulled out of Asia, the continent thrived economically but it took centuries after the West handed them control of their affairs. True, Middle East is least peaceful but not because of their adherence to Islam. Tempest heightened after Western discovery of oil out there and the ensuing "arms for oil" bilateral agreements with the West. Yet when the desert got richer, warring neighbors started shaking hands. 

       Asia Pacific is peaceful (second to Europe) and it is VERY religious. China is Communist but that political system is driven by Han Buddhism as a sociocultural truth. Europe can be peaceful but how'd a NATO continent be peaceful? "Peaceful" within while hand poorer countries weaponry to protect economic interests? Let these religious people kill themselves so they'd achieve peace for themselves. Anyways. ✝️🕎☪️

Politics and Stuff.

Previously posted on my Facebook page, years ago.

SOMETIMES I think are we asking too much from our (prospective) leaders? We criticize them so badly when not all of what they promised during campaign aren't met. What about 6 out of ten, or 7 out of ten? Leaders can work things out better or realistically that way, I reckon. When dad or mom says, “I will buy you a new Buick, that doesn't necessarily mean you get the Buick tomorrow—and it's all paid up,” right? There is an exchange here as well. 

       What about us, the people? Do we deliver what we should while our elected leaders find ways to deliver 100 percent of what we asked for? 

      You see, we humans have also up the hedonism/consumerist scale a bit. It was "better" when America rose from the Great Depression or Dust Bowl. People were fine with just enough stuff to live on and then go from there. That was the time when America slowly loomed as a world power. But then these days, it's tough. People aren't earning enough to pay bills yet we got lots of incendiary bills to pay which were never present before. 

       Whoever wins the presidency, I hope he/she'd be able to work things out with corporate gods and foreign policy for the betterment of American lives. It doesn't have to be polar extremes where people choose between left and right. When we buy milk and potatoes or pay health insurance, it doesn't say partyline politics. It's all about the people. But as a people, we should also do our share of building a better community and a country. It's not all about a President. 🏛⚖️🏛

Ramble on: Just talking about stuff. "Facebook Talk." "Away from Home."

Response friends’ post on Facebook, slightly edited. 

Facebook Talk.

MY pragmatic take. Many "friends" on Facebook are just there, lifeless. Some respond just to tell you they disagree (or agree to disagree) with smartass language that'd ruin your next 3 hours. So I try my best to avoid falling into that waste of time/energy trap. 

       Meanwhile, ads are ads. Lifeless billboards. I still read those glossy magazines which are basically ads. One or two good articles emerge. On FB, I basically interact with maybe 10 people or less. Online or offline, I can only handle 3 (the most) to a meaningful, focused, grownup and sustained conversation, anyway. Most in here butt in with that annoying laughing emoji, throw links or memes probably made by high school nerds, toss juvenile one liners to, as I said, mangle your next 3 hours. 

       I post or write old- school. Then, before the internet, it was simpler. Write, submit, print. Do it again tomorrow. Subscribers to the newspaper or magazine number in thousands (beyond FB's max of 5k). Do they read me? Maybe. I didn’t really care. That was the marketing/circulation department’s worry.

       There were also pass-on readership and random buyers of the paper who may have read me. But I don't think about those a lot. I just wrote, breathed, and got paid. The past.

       These days, I still maintain a personal deadline or methodical, structured system of writing. I try not to get distracted by ads or rabble rousers. I start posting on a routine-like framework. Not impulsive. When I am done, I am done. FB is just FB. I got a dog and two cats and an old life to deal with beyond my political rants, grumpy thoughts, and sappy poetry. Still, Facebook is fun to me, therapeutic. Better than pills. 🗣📲💻

Away from Home.

I STILL read stuff that tend to, maybe unknowingly, offend foreigners like me. “Aliens” are normal people, not weird. They are in "abnormal" situations being away from home and family and estranged from their cultural identities. So when they try to live some traditional ways which are not illegal anyways, it's okay. If those don't "harm" the next person, apart from some occasional irritation, it's okay. 

       Unity in diversity isn't a cool vibe that one gets because they listen to Mexican music, eat Ethiopian food, or watch k-drama. Coexisting with ways and realities by people who seem different is the true meaning of cultural interface. It is not what we say and write, but how we project these in practice. 👲🧕👳‍♀️