I think anybody who is reading this Soc-Aw reflection right now is familiar with Tracy Borres. She is the infamous student of Bobby Guevara who blogged about her experience during her immersion. Her comments were so elitist that her blog was being sent to almost every student and even teachers to be read. Her reputation was tarnished and her life as a normal student is over. I am not demonizing her but what I see in this situation is a powerful tool that one could harness. It is the ability of information dissemination. It was striking to hear from friends outside of our campus to know about this incident. It seems like a curse on the surface level because some people now generalize Ateneans to be elitist and her blog is the main proof of it. However, if we look deeper, we see here this power of blogging and how it has become an influence in directing the public discourse.

Another example is the case of the Pangandamans. Most of you might know the incident that happened on that golf course. It was for me the first time bloggers and officials of our government were clashing. The incident made everyone see that a new constituency is on the rise with a public opinion that can seize the public. Injustice and abuse of power by people of authority drew bloggers to pick a side and it is usually the side of the underdog. With bloggers having social networks of not just bloggers but also friends in real life and friends online, people read their blogs and were sympathetic to the side of the victims. People, bloggers, and non-bloggers alike, were outraged to read people in authority using their power and influence to abuse the powerless people who had the courage to complain about infractions of the rules.

My uncle, a famous blogger, wrote that “the internet has broadened the world’s democratic space and has forever changed the way we interact with our environment and with each other... the challenge for bloggers is how to use this empowering medium responsibly, with due regard for the truth and genuine concern for others. Like it or not, blogging has become a power social phenomenon to be reckoned with.

Citizen power and empowerment is slowly evolving. No one knows, maybe the internet sphere might be the new venue of EDSA. Right now, blogging is still making its mark on the political sphere. Correct and genuine information dissemination is needed for this new power to be harnessed because without it, it is simply mob rule. Apathy for me is the most dangerous trait of an Atenean. However, deep at the very core of every human being is an ethical grounding. When a human being sees something that is ethically wrong, that person will get outraged. Just like how our national hero, Jose Rizal, wrote his two books that fueled the fire of the Filipinos to fight injustice and oppression during the Spanish time. What we might need in the near future are great writers or orators that would touch the innermost core of our ethical grounding and create a spark that would lead to change.

Apathy among Ateneans for me is rooted in the fact that Ateneans have the ability to quickly leave the country whenever a bad situation happens. A few decades ago, student activism was very much alive because the Ateneans felt that it is either the Philippines or none. Right now an Atenean is bombarded with lots of negative situations in the country that one could easily be used to the influx of bad news and thus there is apathy towards future bad news. What Ateneans need is an inspiration and not just situationers. To graduate and feel the heavy burden of facing the problems of the Philippines and not just by simply pointing fingers. Who knows maybe the inspiration might come from one of you. Say something inspirational, write something inspirational, and more importantly... be someone inspirational. Tap each person’s ethical grounding and change will happen.