Beam me up Scotty!! and hurry damnit!
I never though I'd be in that age of humanity when people start paying for water like it is a manufactured product.
By "manufactured' I meant that the raw materials did not resemble the end product. A bottled water cost $1.00 for the 20oz. Pepsi in comparison, cost the same, but with value-added nuritional stuff like: carbonated water, sugar, caffeine , some weird acids, number-coded colors and other artificail alien secretions that we probably dont want to know.
The Aquafina bottle says: "All bottled waters are not the same. Aquafina's state-of-the-art hydRO-7 TM purification system consistently removes substances most other bottled waters leave in. So the only thing you taste in your water...is water".
Straight from their Marketing slogan, there's nothing in it but water. They gave us damn pure water, there werent minerals, no Sodium, not even a single calorie in it!! And like mindless creatures, we actually love and pay for it. I must be damn rich because I bathe, tub and flush with the same stuff everyday! If you make it, they will dumb.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Thursday, September 14, 2006
A Country of Our Own
This might just be the answer to the Philippines' worsening situation.
David Martinez believes that the nation-state is dead. I believe it never had a chance to develop. Both students of the "Philippine phenomenon," we see the past and the present in the same light, and differ only on the probable outcome of what appears to be an imminent, self-fulfilling implosion.
Martinez makes no claim that his is the only, or the total, truth, but those he identifies
and dissects lie at the heart of our malaise. His overall perspective is refreshingly honest. It singularly challenges most of the other "truths" that have been conventionally conditioned into the population by our ruling elite. His is the voice of veracity, one certain to upset all who insist that the nation-state exists, or that it will survive and evolve while its character and configuration remain in the exclusive hands of those who have traditionally held the reins of power and controlled the resources of the country.
Reflecting on the variety of social, economic, and religious impositions inflicted on our people for 450 years, Martinez and I find our deepest agreement in condemning our ruling elite's self-serving [and self-defeating] practice of enforcing conformity in the guise of achieving unity. The diversity of our vibrant and distinct cultures, which has always defined Philippine society, should have been --- and ought to be --- the source of national strength. Martinez is right: history cannot be edited to serve the ends of arbitrary nationalism. A "na-tional language" ought not be coerced on our various cultures at the expense of our other indigenous tongues; nor should the greed of the few outweigh the needs of the many. To achieve nation-state status and solidarity, cultural identity must be honored and cultural uniqueness promoted until the best of each becomes a light unto itself and to others. Instead, our diverse cultures have been subjected to policies designed to privilege one and marginal-
ize the rest, deepening rather than bridging divisions that affirm Martinez's view that we are less of a nation today that we were a century ago.
Local, national, and global dynamics compel us to seriously re-evaluate our present-day formats of governance, economics, and social justice. More profoundly, they compel us to reflect even deeper on the social norms and values which ought to shape our choices. An ominous, defining crisis of unprecedented proportions looms before us, whose outcome will confirm or disprove the views that Martinez and I happen to coincidentally hold. My own hope is that the Philippines will survive, the pain of this crucial catharsis etching the lessons of past mistakes into our collective soul. I believe in my heart that this is immensely achiev- able, but only if we heed and learn from the provocative truths so well laid out in this chal- lenging book.
Jose Ma. "Boy" Montelibano
Spokesman, COPA [Council on Philippine Affairs]
and Philippine Daily Inquirer Online [INQ7] Columnist
David Martinez believes that the nation-state is dead. I believe it never had a chance to develop. Both students of the "Philippine phenomenon," we see the past and the present in the same light, and differ only on the probable outcome of what appears to be an imminent, self-fulfilling implosion.
Martinez makes no claim that his is the only, or the total, truth, but those he identifies
and dissects lie at the heart of our malaise. His overall perspective is refreshingly honest. It singularly challenges most of the other "truths" that have been conventionally conditioned into the population by our ruling elite. His is the voice of veracity, one certain to upset all who insist that the nation-state exists, or that it will survive and evolve while its character and configuration remain in the exclusive hands of those who have traditionally held the reins of power and controlled the resources of the country.
Reflecting on the variety of social, economic, and religious impositions inflicted on our people for 450 years, Martinez and I find our deepest agreement in condemning our ruling elite's self-serving [and self-defeating] practice of enforcing conformity in the guise of achieving unity. The diversity of our vibrant and distinct cultures, which has always defined Philippine society, should have been --- and ought to be --- the source of national strength. Martinez is right: history cannot be edited to serve the ends of arbitrary nationalism. A "na-tional language" ought not be coerced on our various cultures at the expense of our other indigenous tongues; nor should the greed of the few outweigh the needs of the many. To achieve nation-state status and solidarity, cultural identity must be honored and cultural uniqueness promoted until the best of each becomes a light unto itself and to others. Instead, our diverse cultures have been subjected to policies designed to privilege one and marginal-
ize the rest, deepening rather than bridging divisions that affirm Martinez's view that we are less of a nation today that we were a century ago.
Local, national, and global dynamics compel us to seriously re-evaluate our present-day formats of governance, economics, and social justice. More profoundly, they compel us to reflect even deeper on the social norms and values which ought to shape our choices. An ominous, defining crisis of unprecedented proportions looms before us, whose outcome will confirm or disprove the views that Martinez and I happen to coincidentally hold. My own hope is that the Philippines will survive, the pain of this crucial catharsis etching the lessons of past mistakes into our collective soul. I believe in my heart that this is immensely achiev- able, but only if we heed and learn from the provocative truths so well laid out in this chal- lenging book.
Jose Ma. "Boy" Montelibano
Spokesman, COPA [Council on Philippine Affairs]
and Philippine Daily Inquirer Online [INQ7] Columnist
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