After Action [COMPLETED]

[GBU] "ABS-CBN SHUTDOWN"

Written 14 June 2019

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

SUBJECT: Congress shutting down ABS-CBN for an indefinite length of time

THE GOOD: There will be less of these shows that are . . . somewhat disingenuous. Like―hello? We are living in an Orwellian society as depicted in "Black Mirror": unauthorized and unwarranted surveillance of the people is rampant, information can now be manipulated to suit the views of a certain group of people (post-truth politics), the Big Lie is as central to the Big Government as taxation, the Great Game of geopolitics is becoming more and more dangerous with each passing day, and―this I've learned from Mr. Raymond Khoury―the "social credit" system is already a thing in China. Meanwhile, the Philippines has not moved on with shows that still use the already-outdated black-and-white morality as one of its central themes, where the rich are automatically labelled as evil oligarchs, and it's okay to be poor―as long as you're not hurting other people. Newsflash: not all rich people are evil or anti-union, but there are the downright unscrupulous rich people who would do anything in the name of huge profit. (Ironically, Pablo Escobar has done something to improve the lives of people living in his native Medellin―albeit for appearances sake, due to the nature of his wealth.) And while there is nothing wrong with being poor―they never chose to be poor in the first place, right?―shows like these are inadvertently killing the desire of the Filipino people to rise from the quagmire of poverty. Unfortunately, though, this extends to contemporary literature, as well as film―though there is now an increasing demand for "quality" movies. This may come off as being elitist and prissy, but they should―at the least―try to improve the quality of shows airing on Philippine television and silver screen. Also, we'll never see any more of the notorious showbiz personalities that made ABS-CBN their home for a while.

THE BAD: This shutdown was made possible either by the rekindling of an ages-old feud between the Lopez and the Marcos (more like the Romualdez), or by the television network being a "biased, anti-government institution". This is looking more and more like another successful step towards 'Dutertotalitarianism'. And we're just a few steps away from the aforementioned "Orwellian Black Mirror" society―or much worse.

THE UGLY: As with all things, this might only be temporary. Once ABS-CBN manages to un-fuck itself from the current predicament, they will be back . . . with a vengeance.