Saturday, October 20, 2007

Oxymorons and Other Morons

There are many things I don't get in life, most likely due to my limited understanding and perception.

I don't get why the new Bayantel product is called a wireless landline. I don't care if the consumers could more easily understand what they mean even if it does not make sense. It still is an oxymoron in my book and it's contrary to the common meaning of a "land line".

I don't get why Kris Aquino still has many billboards. Is she considered a role model for Filipinos? Why do people buy the products she endorses, or watch the shows she stars in? I don't care if her father is considered a hero. People should stop giving her attention; otherwise, she just won't smile her way to the bank, she might be the second woman in her family to win a presidency that her father aspired for. I shudder at the thought.

I don't get why it's taking the police too long to determine the cause of the bombing in Glorietta 2 yesterday. It has claimed nine lives and caused injuries to a hundred innocent people, aside from damaging the stalls and restaurants in the surrounding area. Filipinos are once again fearing for their safety, and we don't know who to trust anymore.

I don't get how the bomb from high-powered explosives could have gotten through the "strict" security of the mall. It goes to show how useless it is to pretend to check the belongings of everyone who dares enter the malls in Metro Manila. What a futile exercise. The violation of our privacy and the unwanted delay in our schedules do not bear the necessary fruit, for recent history shows that malls still get bombed. Maybe I'm asking too much when I want to be protected from bombers - whoever they are, as speculations abound as to who the real minds were behind the incident in Makati yesterday. For the sake of my ignorance, I won't say any more about this.

Since it's an incident that's so sad and frustrating, the Glorietta 2 incident deserves another rant in this post.

I don't get why PGMA chose those words when she addressed the people immediately after the incident. At the very least, I was expecting her to succeed in assuring us, the Filipino people, that we are not on the brink of chaos. Who are her speech writers? Couldn't they have written, however hastily, a more sincere-sounding speech, one that could have reached out to the victims, or showed some concern over their plight, or expressed firm control over the situation? I felt the same way every time I watched her give her SONA. Maybe the problem does not lie with the speech writers.

There are days when I dare voice out questions such as these. There's plenty more where they came from, but I'll save them for another day.

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