Halika 3.0

The Copycat Effect: How the Media and Popular Culture Trigger the Mayhem in Tomorrow’s Headlines available at Amazon » .

Comment by Christopher Warnock:

Loren Coleman’s “The Copycat Effect” is a well researched and compelling account of how media accounts of suicide trigger off further deaths. Coleman, a well known and respected authority on suicides and the author of “Suicide Clusters” goes into exhaustive detail and carefully documents the phenomenon of copycat suicides, giving examples from Ancient World up to the Kurt Cobain, Columbine and “The Deerhunter”.

After reading the extensive documentation that Coleman provides there can be no further doubt of the existence of the suicide copycat effect. What is interesting about Coleman’s account is that he never descends into a polemic about media violence and it is clear that the media does not “cause” violence, but rather triggers off these occurrences in susceptible individuals.

Corporate Social Responsibility Defined

Corporate Social Responsibility goes beyond charity and requires that a responsible company take into full account its impact on all stakeholders and on the environment when making decisions. This requires the company to balance the needs of all stakeholders with its need to make a profit and reward shareholders adequately…. This holistic approach to business regards organizations as (for example) being full partners in their communities, rather than seeing them more narrowly as being primarily in business to make profits and serve the needs of their shareholders. [source]

And more: Corporations that create the appearance of acting responsibly just for its public relations value are said to be “greenwashing.”

The Issue at Hand
Did GMA-7 calculate the risk and by finding the clause any resemblance to real persons or groups in fiction is purely coincidental as a sufficient safety net, proceeded to shoot and show a script depicting an ‘undocumented Cordilleran tribe’ as an object of ridicule? Did they consider that the Igorot market is negligible when it comes to affecting the bottom line so it was OK to make fun of them?

Context
Let us put this into context. I will speak of Marky Cielo and StarStruck, Asian Treasures and stereotypes or TV representations.

Marky Cielo and StarStruck:
The Quest for New Markets and Cheap Talent

StarStruck 3 was a reality show that got its contestants from around the country. Reality shows have become vogue because they are comparatively cheap to produce and some of the contestants become instant celebrities. Since these raw talents cannot command a high talent fee at the start, they are a bargain. Marky Cielo became the Ultimate Survivor of this reality show and part of the prize that he got was a contract with GMA-7 stipulating that he will be part of some of the network’s shows. Cielo is now part of the currently showing Asian Treasures.

Since each StarStruck 3 contender represented a region of the Philippines, the show was an opportunity to attract new viewers from these identified markets. Viewers were encouraged to support the contenders that represent there respective hometowns. Cielo represented Mountain Province and was vocal about his being an Igorot.

So after the show, GMA-7 was able to capture a small percentage of Igorot viewers who would understandably be watching shows where Marky Cielo would be part of the cast.

Asian Treasures:
Problematizing History

Asian Treasures is a TV show that pretends to be historical. It is a localized version of National Treasure and the Da Vinci Code. The mythical treasure amulets of the equally mythical 10 datus were scattered everywhere and the lead characters were tasked to find these treasures. According to the story, the KKK, Rizal and Bonifacio were involved in hiding these treasures.

One of the amulets were entrusted to an undocumented Cordilleran tribe. See screen capture by Jeffer.

This episode was the same one where the character played by Marky Cielo was introduced.

So the small group of viewers who were eager to watch Marky Cielo got to watch the ax- and spear-wielding war- and soot-painted warriors, too.

Fact, Fiction and Stereotypes

Betrayal

At least in the US, bloggers are accorded the same protection in keeping the identity of their sources.

In a 69-page ruling, the San Jose-based 6th District Court of Appeal broke new ground by concluding that bloggers and Web masters enjoy the same protections against divulging confidential sources as established media organizations. Civil liberties groups and journalism organizations have argued that online journalists need to protect the confidentiality of sources just as much as traditional media, such as the New York Times and CNN.

Journalists covet the ability to protect the identity of sources as a key to gathering news. The appeals court’s firm endorsement of journalistic shields for online media sets up what could be a crucial First Amendment showdown in the California Supreme Court if Apple continues to press its case.

…

Apple has argued that it is entitled to the identities of the bloggers’ sources in order to protect its trade secrets and punish anybody who stole and distributed them. A Santa Clara County judge sided with Apple last year, but the appeals court overturned that decision Friday.

The 6th District, in a unanimous three-justice ruling, rejected Apple’s argument that bloggers are not covered by California and federal laws protecting the confidentiality of journalists’ sources and should not be afforded the same protections as traditional news organizations.

“We decline the implicit invitation to embroil ourselves in questions of what constitutes `legitimate journalism,’ ” Justice Conrad Rushing wrote for the court. “The shield law is intended to protect the gathering and dissemination of news, and that is what petitioners did here. We can think of no workable test or principle that would distinguish `legitimate’ from `illegitimate’ news.”

“Any attempt by the courts to draw such a distinction would imperil a fundamental purpose of the First Amendment,” the justices added. [source]

Grammar check: supposed to
[here]

Temporary:
The Brothers Grimm
Memoirs of a Geisha
Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire
Corpse Bride

from the PEx hunters
thanks to tartarman and sugarplumfairy for the reminders

The president’s SONA was the shortest so far, and probably the last. The TV commentator was wondering why the peach roses were replaced with green seedlings growing on black plastic containers. The peach roses accordingly, were a symbol for Arroyo’s resignation.

Perhaps it’s time to take the power from the center to the countryside that feeds it, Arroyo said, echoing Immanuel Wallerstein’s center-periphery theory. This is the same mantra that is being used in the network wars these days, although thwarted to accommodate one side’s agenda.

Agree ako kay Bikoy na di na lang sana Congress mag Cha-Cha dahil na rin sa mga dahilang sinabi ni Sassy.

SONA, Philippines, Arroyo, Gloriagate

Accordingly, the Philippine National Anthem was made fun of when ‘OK, Fine, Whatever’ went to London to join the 21st Barrio Festival.

just as the cheeky girls (usual sexy dancing) were on stage, someone must have made a mistake and put on the Philippine National Anthem, Lupang Hinirang, this of course looked truly out of place, as the girls just carried on with their sexy up and down display, then a Female official from the Philippine Centre, the organizers, came on and “threw all of her toys out of the Pram” by stating the following

The Philippine National Anthem Lupang Hinirang should not have been played just then, it has come to our attention that someone is desicrating the Philippine National Flags, you must remember how lucky you are to be here in the United Kingdom, I have been here for 23 years, and I am a Filipino, she then punched the air once a again and jumped up, to the prounoucement we are all Filipinos here in the UK, you are all lucky, I am lucky, but we must not forget who we are…we are Filipinos

[source: Filipino UK Forum site]

Related articles:
Remate: Anong 40,000? Wala pang 500 ang nanood…
Taliba: National anthem binastos ng ‘OK, Fine, Whatever’
Journal: Pahayag ng ABS-CBN sa ‘OK Fine’ incident sa London

If you are concerned with the use of non-sexist language, this is one way of looking at it:

Some careful writers use they when the antecedent is an indefinite pronoun (such as anyone) to avoid making a sexist assumption; however, many other people think this disagreement in number is an error. Rewrite to avoid it whenever possible.

Sexist:        If anyone was on top of things, he would know that.
Disagreement:  If anyone was on top of things, they would know that.
Rewritten: Anyone who was on top of things would know that.

[source]

Resty O. of ExpectoRANTS asked this question: Is the pronoun-antecedent agreement rule still valid?

I am asking the question because famous writers and literati I admire and respect are suddenly using sentence constructions that blatantly violate the rule.

An antecedent is, of course, the word that a pronoun refers to in a given sentence.

In the ff. sentence, “Everybody” is the antecedent being referred to by the pronoun “their.”

Everybody is having their own version of fun.

I’ve always thought this construction to be wrong, but, for some reason, it is becoming accepted because respected writers are writing this way.

Teachers of English grammar are engaged in a prescriptivist enterprise. However, Yates and Kenkel believe it is not difficult to demonstrate the irrationality of the justifications of prescriptive rules, and, by extension, the apparent irrationality of those who adhere to them.

Linguistic tolerance: all varieties of English have equal value and merit respect and appreciation of their special beauty and expressiveness.

The goal of teachers of English grammar should be that all students consciously know the most important principles of Standard English (which, of course, need to be identified) so that they can have the needed linguistic security to decide for themselves when their language use generally, and their writing particularly, should conform to the norms of Standard English, when the norms have no relevance, and when they can consciously decide to violate them. [source]

More grammar notes here.

Look at how they stumbled: flat on their faces.

The mediaman who slipped

Rony V. Diaz writes in his article that came out in the Manila Times and ABS-CBN Interactive:

In 1993 Andrew Wiles of Princeton University announced at a lecture in London that he had proved Fermat’s last theorem (FLT). This is a conjecture by the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat in 1637 that for any integer n greater than 2, Fermat’s equation that claimed xn + yn = zn has no solution in integers x, y z except 0 which satisfies the equation.

…

Escultura, who had been working on the problem since 1992, disputed Wiles’ claim and inserted his refutation in the appendix to his book, Diophantus: Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy. He went on to present his results at the Second International Conference on Dynamic Systems and Applications in Atlanta in 1995.

…

On April 26, Andrew Wiles conceded an error in his proof. His letter and Escultura’s reply are below.

The truth about Andrew Wiles and Edgar Escultura

Alecks Pabico of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) writes:

As it turned out, Escultura’s claims regarding Wiles’s acknowledgment of errors in his proof of FLT are merely based on a guestbook entry in his website by someone purporting to be Andrew Wiles. I say that because there is no way to verify the authenticity of the message since “Andrew Wiles” did not provide any contact information, not even his email address. Some have even recognized the tone of sarcasm in the supposed Wiles’s letter as to give it much credence [source]

The guestbook in question

Tuesday 04/26/2005 6:57:33am
Name: Andrew Wiles
Homepage:
E-Mail:
Referred By: E-Mail
City/Country:
Comments: Dear Sir,

You work is incredible, I read all of it just yesterday and let me tell you I respect you. I am going to review all my ‘proof’ which I am sure is wrong (thanks to you !).

Would you like you to collaborate with me in this work, I have noticed some imperfections in your perfect proof (that sounds like you), and I’d like to create a perfect proof with you, great proffessor.

Also I’d like to have the address of the guy who let you get a PhD 30 years ago, I’d like to discuss few things with him…

VERY respectfully,

A. Wiles

—

Tuesday 05/03/2005 9:07:46am
Name: E. E. Escultura
Homepage:
E-Mail:
Referred By: Just Surfed In
City/Country:
Comments: Dear Prof. Wiles,

I welcome and appreciate your comments and I hope we can have a continuing dialogue. Regarding your invitation for me to collaborate with you, I would be glad to. But, here is the situation:

My critique of mathematics is focused not on your work but mainly on the underlying fields of FLT which are foundations, number theory and the real number system. Here is what I found:

1) Two of the axioms of the real number system are false, namely, the trichotomy and the completeness axioms (the latter is a variant of the axiom of choice), counterexamples to them were constructed by Brouwer and Banach-Tarski, respectively.

2) I also noted a flaw in the use of the universal or existential quantifiers on infinite set.

3) To avoid contradictions, it is necessary to well-define a mathematical space and its concepts by a consistent set of axioms. A concept is well-defined if its existence, properties and relationship with other concepts are specified by the axioms. Most of the concepts of mathematics today are ill-defined.

Based on these findings I constructed the new real number system on three simple axioms. Its most updated version appears in the Journal of Nonlinear Analysis and Phenomena. An extended abstract of it appears in my updated website in June.

Yes, indeed, there are imperfections in my work but not in principles. And if
you find major ones I would like to know.

Regarding my academic advisor, he was the late L. C. Young, distinguished research professor and professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin.

Again, thank you for your interest in my work and for inviting me to collaborate with you

With my very best wishes.

E. E. Escultura [source]

I hereby classify Edgar Escultura’s guestbook under ‘humor’ with a description that goes this way: “A math professor who discovered something big but can’t figure out what is funny”.

Likewise, I hereby put Diaz, Manila Times and ABS-CBN Interactive under ‘ooops’ with the caption: “Why traditional media can be worse than bloggers”.

By the way, the latest entry on the guestbook:

Tuesday 05/24/2005 5:57:51am
Name: Johannes Hieber
Homepage: http://www.karolinska.se
E-Mail:
Referred By: Friend
City/Country: Sweden
Comments: Dear Professor Escultura,

Greetings.

As a member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, you will be pleased to know that we have read your work on the Grand Unified Theory and deem it worthy of a nomination for the Nobel Prize for Physics. You may be aware of the very rigid selection process and the strenous peer-review needed to win this medal but the high quality and creativity of your academic work merits a nomination. We should be happy to receive an orignal manuscript of your work regarding the Grand Unified Theory. This will then be submitted to the Board for consideration. At this stage, I cannot promise you the prize, that is in the hands of the selection committee, but you can rest assured that you are in the good company of many other eminent physicists that have been nominated.

In your service,
Johannes Hieber
Member, The Swedish Academy of Sciences

Karolinska Institutet
SE-171 77 Stockholm
Nobels väg 8
Tel +46 8 524 864 60
Fax +46 8 33 89 66 [source]

What’s your take?

This gave me a great idea on how to promote a site.

Who said viewers won’t complain?

5,820 signatures vs exploitative, irresponsible TV - INQ7.net