The Perils of Interconnectedness

Yesterday I looked at the facebook page of someone and I saw among his status updates of how he was able to find information about the person just by googling that person's username. Self-conscious, I did a brief check on mine to see if this profile is pretty locked in tight, and the little paranoid self of mine was pretty satisfied. There are just some things that I would like to keep private even if nothing about them is incriminating or interesting. Why should the world care if I just ate my breakfast on twitter or that I liked a specific article in CNN? Its no different when I go to Jollibee Katipunan to eat breakfast and read the free Star newspaper. 

Perhaps to some level we do care. When I was a teenager, I was happily fond of such technologies as it made knowing my crush a little bit easier - there was no need to make the effort to befriend his friends just to know whether or not he has a girlfriend, or God forbid, a boyfriend. Teenagers have it easier now that there is foursquare, so they could make all the stupid alibis about running into them by chance (which totally removes the concept of serendipity, how unromantic) 

Then there is the argument, "there is nothing wrong with it as people put those information  willingly." However, what about those pictures which my friends tagged without me knowing or actually approving - someone actually sees them before I can untag myself. Gone were the days when mistakes of the past can easily be attributed to the follies of childhood and forgotten. Now it will come back to haunt you during job search time in full color, filling up your profile with what should be statistically inaccurate data as studies have already shown that a teenage brain is not fully developed to make correct decisions and yet, you shall be judge by the decisions made during your incapacity for the rest of your life. Also, there are information that anyone who could have put forth online thinking it was secure or harmless, but when aggregated could be harmful in the long run and it could not be deleted due to the number of back-up archives, making you lose control over it forever. 

When the internet was still new, and people were connecting to it via 56kbps dial-up modems (does anyone remember Edsamail?) there was a good level of anonymity. Every time you log in you get a different ip-address. People were free to choose their username and dispose of it whenever they want. Now we have Facebook which basically did away with those and instead posted our real identities over the internet making us vulnerable to identity theft. How vulnerable? By posting your real name and birthday on it, geeks can hax your credit card. 

But my real beef with Facebook is not just with what appears above; the mere fact that people can rifle through my life via my wall, suddenly ask "Close kayo ni____". First, what do you care? Second, "not really" then there's the follow-up questions of "and why is he/she posting on your wall" argh. We're not close okay! I'm friends with him/her because it seemed not polite not to add her back especially if he/she is a co-worker. Or third, suddenly it makes some people feel that just because we are Facebook friends we are now best buds. This post from tumblr just about sums it up  \/

I should probably make a username based Facebook to keep my lives separate. 

UP Fair, and Goodbye Sugarfree

Last February 18, along with friends from undergrad we went to the annual UP Fair held at Sunken Garden. It was an impromptu meet-up and considering that it featured the last performance of Sugarfree (yes, they are disbanding) I thought we wouldn't be able to get tickets. Surprisingly unlike the last time I went (three years ago), the crowd has not yet thickened at 6PM and we were able to get tickets without a hassle. Come 8PM when some of my working friends arrived, the line reached Vinzon's hall. Close to ten pm when the good bands such as 6 Cycle mind and Imago have started to play, people are already waiting around in front of Law building.

At first the crowd was quiet. A young band (the singer looked like 17 years old) even said the people were like inside a library although I'd rather attribute it to their boring songs, it seems that in general people went to the fair for one reason alone - that was to see Sugarfree perform in the UP Fair for the last time.

Before coming to UP, I did not know any pinoy band except for Eraserheads. I first learned of Sugarfree when my classmate was so excited about our new professor for Polsci 160 because he was the bassist of the band; I'm like what's that? Pretty soon some of my classmates were bringing CD's of their friends to school and would ask Sir Jal to sign them just before classes start. I think in our finals for that subject he gave out 5 points for those who watched their benefit concert for UP Manila which cost P250 pesos (you got a concert ticket + Dramachine CD). Soon enough my classmates fandom mania rubbed off on me and I religiously went to UP fair nights when they are playing long after the classes ended.

Last Friday they played the songs which had cemented their fame into Pinoy music consciousness:

1. Prom

2. Mariposa

3. Overdrive (yes, by Eraserheads)

4. Burnout

5. Hari ng Sablay

6. Tulog Na

Ebe as you can see here is already thinner with longer hair. I think most of the fraternities maxed out their backstage passes as students milled around the singer on stage lol .

Some of those who went were moved to tears when the band was saying good bye. If only it were possible, I wished that they did not disband. I would have still listened to them even if they reached the age of Rico Puno. Their last 45 minutes of airtime was not enough.

</3

Breaking one of my childhood "truths"

Yesterday I went to UP Likas, UP ALYANSA, and UP Law Batch 2014 sponsored (I had to mention everyone of them because its election season and they all have to be mentioned in one way or another) forum series about the Legal System in the Philippines. For their first event, they decided to interview a Hubert Webb to describe his experiences when he was incarcerated due to the Vizconde Massacre.

When I first heard of this forum series, I was looking forward to it. I wanted to see for myself what does he have to say after everything. Considering this was a forum in UP, people are free to ask any question ( unlike if it were held in Ateneo, where they usually have participants write on a piece of paper so that they can screen questions before putting them forward to their guests). 

Seeing him there live was a bit surreal. Being part of the generation which grew up with the 'truth' that Hubert Webb killed the Vizconde family members out of jealousy while in a drug haze, I was among those who cried "Acquittal does not mean innocence" when the Supreme Court recently declared that the evidence presented cannot stand to convict him beyond reasonable doubt (before I even read the decision). To see him walk inside the halls of Malcolm, free, and escorted by his cousins who all look well, and well to do, I cannot help but have an internal cringe for poor Mr. Lauro Vizconde who cried on National TV when the SC reversed the ruling of the CA and the RTC.

Despite my biases I went; despite these biases I tried to keep an open mind. 

Before going up the stage, Hubert went into a corner and prayed. Then he went to the couch on the stage and  spent a couple of restless moments on it.

Hubert Webb was seated on the stage with a host named Gan (who also holds weekly educational sessions for prisoners detained at the Bilibid)  Atty. Adel Tamano who said UP Law was the best law school in QC only (he said please allow me to have this chance while my wife, a up law graduate, is not around), good looking as ever came in 2 hours late/r to answer law related questions like can the state be sued for its negligence in losing evidence (possible yes, winnable - doubtful), and against Inquirer for libel (same;same) 

Surprisingly, no one asked him if he really did it. Lol. However there were the usual questions - How was life for you now that you're out of the four walls? Great. Did you get to enjoy the paid "temporary freedoms"? No, it was only for low profile convicts. Why did you have a bigger cell than the rest of the inmates? Monetary donations to the institution helped. Did you pay for your freedom? If I could have paid for it, why did I have to wait for 15 years inside before doing so?. Did your brother really do it and your family pointed you to take the blame because you had a real alibi?No. Why was the fact that you were in US never came out? Because Teofisto Guingona and others hid the investigation report. Why did de Lima never confirm it? For some reason it she cannot seem to find the time to verify my presence when all it takes is one phone call all this time since I got out. Are your co-accused truly innocent? All I know is that they were in the Philippines and I wasn't. Did you ever take drugs while inside? Did you feel any bad feelings towards your fellow co-accused? One can't help but feel that way as I was the only one being interviewed all the time, they wouldn't talk and they all rode in my alibi Etc. He answered all the questions candidly, and truthfully. 

He said that he didn't mind the questions because the people asking them were the intelligent ones who are capable of critical analysis and will not paint him as the great demon (media) without hearing him first. For that reason, the media were also not allowed inside. Poor good looking Atom Araullo was sent away :( 

I was recording the entire thing but for some divine intervention, my camera heated up and hanged, and lost all 2 hours of it. Perhaps his prayer before the interview did work. 

I expected mudslinging, woe-is-me attitude, and I'm-free-in-your-face-cockiness, and I didn't find it. Instead I found a person who seemingly just came from John Rawl's Veil of Ignorance who advocates for the reform of the Philippine Criminal Justice system, reforms anyone of us can agree with (even if we have different opinions about his guilt). He described the lack of investigation, the absence of forensics capability, the negligence of the NBI to lose vital evidence, the promotion of system of Judges who gets brownie points for every conviction not every resolution of a case and the overcrowding in the prison systems. The problems in the system are undeniable and as he pointed out, if it could happen to the son of a rich politician, it can happen to anybody.

 A portion was spent on his youth, his thoughts looking back and his way ahead. This was the part which I found most enlightening. Problems are not something you can hide or run away from, you just deal. People may say that they have so many problems, but he has been there and that. "People have to have one truth that they believe in otherwise with all the pressure you will just want to kill yourself". His life was taken away from him. Does he experience any hate actions, yes he does. Did it affect him? He said his experience in prison was much worse than this and he can take it. He can understand why people actually do and accepts it. Until such time the real culprits are found will the perspective change. He adequately describes this facebook generation where people are so afraid to be unLiked and if negative comments are posted anonymously they keep thinking about it all they. Not being able to please everyone is a fact of life. Deal.

After the 3 hour session with him I found myself agreeing to most of what he said.

Do I still sympathize with Mr. Vizconde? 

I will offer him my condolences for the death of his family and that he is yet to find justice. 

Do I still think he is guilty? 

Reading the SC decision and how it was concluded, I agree. The evidence presented cannot convict him as the culprit for the Vizconde Massacre.

Do I still feel he is guilty? 

Maybe not.anymore.

Mona Lisa "decoded"

There is an article on yahoo today aiming to discover the real model of the Mona Lisa. According to the art historian Silvano Vincenti, it was based on the likeness of Leonardo Da Vinci's male lover and student, known as Salai. Upon seeing the picture of Salai attached, this art historian must really be on to something. With a few more taps on the web I did find this picture of the Mona Lisa super imposed with the likeness of Salai, and voila!