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Armed and dangerous
"Palace favors arming journalists - Gonzalez' is the news story of 23 May 2006 (inq7.net/) written by Tetch Torres Lira Dalangin-Fernandez. Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said that such a proposal was taken up in a Cabinet meeting, 'following a rash of killings of journalists' in the Philippines. I say that's solving a problem by changing the problem. Will the killing stop because the journalists are now armed and dangerous?

Our Filipino journalists are in fact already armed to the teeth, with something that is more dangerous than a gun that spits bullets. Let us not add fuel to the fire. They are already dangerous to themselves. They are armed with ISMS. NegativISM. AdventurISM. SensationalISM. Yellow journalISM. To make the world safe for Filipino journalists, let us require them by law to be armed to the teeth with another ISM, the Ilocano variety: ISEM, which means SMILE. Smile when you say isem. Today's pastoral SMS (text) from Fr Reuter says: 'People in the wealthy nations have money, but they don't smile. The Filipinos have no money, but they smile.' Filipino journalists should learn from their own kind. They should learn not to look the other way but to look at the bright side of life. They should remember that when one journalist points with one finger at someone, three fingers are pointing at him, or her.

14 June 2006