Bad Media

Mr. Willie Revillame, the producers of 'Willing Willie' and TV5 sincerely and deeply apologize for the segment of the show featuring 6-year-old Jan-Jan Suan which viewers may have found offensive or in bad taste. We wish to stress that there was never any intention to humiliate or abuse Jan-Jan or any contestant on the show," said the statement.

". . .WAS NEVER ANY INTENTION to humiliate or abuse Jan-jan or any contestant on the show," was TV5's statement to even justify what Willie Revillame did to a traumatized six-year-old boy.

Is it business as usual? I think so. A popular saying stated this, "Whatever will not kill you will only make you stronger." It seems like this event will only make - not just Willie Revillame - TV5 bolder and audacious and empower Willing Willie to do more to get their ratings up.

One of the many things the public can do to get their message across is to publicly boycott advertisers of Willing Willie. Can this be done? If the conviction of the public is strong enough to send advertisers that indirectly 'prey' on minors by supporting shows like this, then we can see the success of this endeavor.

The question now is - is the public game?

Read my previous blog about this matter

Read the oversight agency's statement about this matter

Read the Social Welfare's Department statement

IN WILLIE'S SHOW in TV5, "Willing Willie," the audience gave off huge laughter and approval as a kid does what Willie Revillame labeled as "Burlesque" dancing in reference to an old movie.

Dancing to a Snoop Dogg hit, the boy innocently gyrates to the beat. My jaw dropped. This boy was exploited - first by his parents, next by his tita (who brought him to the show), next by the producers of the show, next by Willie Revillame, then the audience, then the executives of the show.

What parent would have their son dance like that and think it's funny? Bar dancers want out of their jobs to do and live a decent life then this. A kid who only knows what is being fed to him does what he things will give happiness to his family.

I'm not going to talk about Willie because we all know what his reputation is. What's utterly sad and disturbing are the kinds of feedback people make on YouTube that would just make you cringe:

"masyado kasi kayong malisyoso mag isip. OA ung reactions ng iba. duh. (You guys are full of malice in your thoughts. The others are just over reacting. Duh.)" - gorgeousgicel

"MGA HATERS WALA KAYONG MAGAWA SA BUHAY. TINGNAN NYO NGA ANG LIKES SA VIDEO AT DISLIKES. MGA BOBO (All you haters just have nothing else to do. Just look at the likes and dislikes. You morons.)" - MAEV123

". . .dirty dancing while crying what's wrong? talent nya yon ang masama lang kung pinahubad xa ni Willie ...Ano ba kayo konting bagay lang ginagawan ng issue...just watch and have fun (. . .That's his talent and what should be bad is if Willie asked him to take his clothes off ...What's up with you guys it's just a small thing that you guys are making an issue of. . .)" - MSYashegny

In the name of entertainment, we allow media to do this as if it's something we want our children to be when they grow up.

I am praying for JanJan right now and I hope you will too after seeing this video.

I'm praying for that this kid will be blessed to have his mind protected by the corruption being instilled by his guardians. I am praying that Janjan's parents will understand soon enough that they need to love their child more and that this way of milking money from this child is not God's way. I am also praying for the audience - laughing and approving this vicious thing to this child - to realize and repent from this way of life.

I hope the MTRCB, DSWD, and Congress will do something to protect the child's welfare.

Please tell ABC5 what they need to do about this.

"Lahat ng call center agents na magtatrabaho sa Mandaluyong ay kailangang ma-check mabuti before they are issued medical certificates,” Abalos said.

Why target call-center agents? So what if infected men are not issued medical certificates? They can always get fake ones. The question we should address is, "What are we going to do to help these men?" We can always drive people out of work and out of the city by publishing sharp comments like this, however, we will not address the main problem of transmitting the disease to other unsuspecting victims. There should be a change in the lives of these people and sadly the city administrators cannot offer any help to ease the pain of these workers. Sadly we are quick to shun them and fail to provide help.

Now to drug dependents and men who have sex with other men, how can we help them realize this destructive path they're taking? Their damning acts should stop and the community has the greatest opportunity to bring back values in their lives.

This article was successful only in causing more hurt to the city and to those whose lives are now ruined because of their mistake in getting this disease.

James on Kris: It's up to her

Just this once, I want to dive into this latest Kris Aquino controversy. I wonder why Kris Aquino left their home so hurriedly and at the same time announced so early her troubled relationship with basketball sport star, James Yap.

Almost immediately, you can place the blame on the man for such problems in relationships but in their case, It's worth taking a second look. To open up this situation, you want to ask these questions to give everything a better perspective - since this case is already very public.

First, why would James say, "It's up to her," when asked if there were more reasons why Kris broke up with him? Is he saying this out of frustration? Is this out of resignation? The public knows how Kris Aquino operate. She's very candid to the point of being tactless at times. Second, why would James be involved with other women when he knows very well the consequences of such actions? Third, why is there no buzz of what exactly went wrong with the two knowing the public have all the access they need to know the personal lives of these two celebrities? You become suspicious already.

As much as I want to give Mrs. Aquino-Yap the upper hand here, unless there's more proof of James infidelity (again!), then surely this is fast becoming a one-sided contest seeing the latter losing by a mile.

"Well, I'm sorry, guys, I don't know what's going on,. . ."

Stever Jobs always wows the crowd with his remarkable presentations. I haven't been to one (and I wish I could see him do product launches in Manila - dream on) but you can just imagine how he weaves his magic and uses such tools like iPhones and iPads to push his product. This time, though, he was lost for words and couldn't get the wifi network to get back one. The whole thing happened - for what seemed to be for Jobs like an eternity - during his iPhone 4 product launch but the audience were forgiving. But they weren't as nice to AT&T who provided the wifi network to this event. Nonetheless, it was a welcome not that such an iconic person like Jobs is human afterall and that no matter how un-stellar the presentation was, people love Mac right now - no matter what.

Ernie really comes up with some winners here: Dips, Dead Ends, Joyrides, Lotteries, and Quests � iHack, therefore iBlog.

Here's a taste:

Joyrides are things you do just for the fun of it, without caring if you’re getting anywhere. Seth himself said (roughly) that “if you play the flute just because you enjoy it, not because you’re trying to make a living as a flautist, then The Dip doesn’t matter.” It is worth noting that for some people college is Joyride, not a Dip!

Lotteries are a particularly seductive variant of Dead End that looks like a Dip, in that we periodically see people who do make it out into the Good Life.  Unlike a Dip, though, there is nothing we can do to ensure we make it through to the other side; we are at the mercy of external forces. Thus, even thought there is a non-zero chance we might win the Lottery, for most of us it really is a Dead End, and a complete waste of our potential for greatness. This is particularly true for Talent- (rather than Skill-) based disciplines, where the Lottery took place before we were born.

Quests, on the other hand, are Dips that look like Dead Ends. Seth encourages us to pursue Dips where we can make measurable progress towards a well-defined goal. However, he admits that this doesn’t apply to things like cutting-edge scientific research, where there there are no guarantees or guidelines; fortunately, he says people like that won’t be discouraged by anything he says in his book.  :-)

However, I think he overstates the case when he says Quests (like Crick & Watson’s search for DNA) don’t have measurable progress.  They do, but it is a matter of personal growth and accumulated wisdom, not the usual business metrics.  Even though we may not reach what we thought we were aiming for, a worthy Quest enobles us and ends up benefiting humanity.

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