Shoo go away

I seldom engage myself in forum and group discussions in the internet. I believe I am past that stage. There are some occassions that I do specially when I feel that the issue is "non negotiable". On two occassions, I had a quite spirited discussion with Dindo Generoso of OFCouncil yahoo group. We never went personal and our discussion was quite productive. We ended our exchange of thoughts cordially keeping our respects for each other. But this Cyber Istambay is the exact opposite.

I have expressed my opinion on this blog and other blogs when I see it fit, that Ang Kapatiran is not yet ready to be part of the electoral process. That their participation will just be a waste. When this Cyber Istambay mentioned the Ang Kapatiran in the Ang Bagong Pinoy yahoo group, where I am also a member, I thought it would be nice to engage him in a small discussion in his blog with regards to my opinion on Ang Kapatiran's participation in this election. I did not discuss with him on the yahoo group to avoid offending other members that I personally know who are also Ang Kapatiran members. Secondly, I don't want to create more stir on that yahoo group. I have done enough already.

So I went to Cyber Istambay's blog where I re posted an entry in my blog.. At the start, there was really nothing unusual in our exchange of thoughts. I myself is trying to validate my opinion that Ang Kapatiran is not yet ready. If Ang Kapatiran supporters can convince me that they are ready, I can change my position. I am not an enemy. We are on the same side. Unfortunately, this Cyber Istambay became personal with his counter arguments. It came to a point where he insinuated that I support the trapos. Then pinagtabuyan nya ako from his blog by saying, "shooo go away, we are busy in this election" in the comment section of his blog.

Again, this is a mindset issue. It is not just the ordinary folks who have mindset issues. If we cannot be civil in cyberspace, what more in the real world. I created a thread on the Ang Kapatiran forum entitled hindi pa hinog. I again expressed my opinion that Ang Kapatiran is not yet ready. While there is a good discussion on the thread, someone butted in to say that "close the topic and let's move on". Well, it's their forum and I really have no intention to be a panggulo or kontrabida. So I acceded to the request and did not make a fuss out of it. Then came this "shoo go away" statement from Cyber Istambay.

On these two occassions, I was told to stop expressing my views. It does not feel good to be told to stop saying what you are saying simply because what you say does not jibe with their thoughts. The emotional reaction is quite natural. The moment it sinks in, you become more objective. Then you ask, why do these people say what they say. You perceive them as allies but they treat you as an enemy. It's an attitude problem. "If you are not with us, you are our enemy." A too narrow minded perspective. This is very prevalent in our society. An excellect example was when Bong Austero wrote an open letter which created quite a stir in cyberspace and in the real world. The anti GMA group immediately labeled Austero as "pakawala ng Malakanyang" and pro Arroyo while Malacanang extracted whatever propaganda juice it can get from the issue. But essentially, Austero is neither here nor there.

Why is it that people will only see things from their perspective? Can't we be mature enough to realize that in every issue, there are thousands of perspectives due to thousands of interests. The bigger question is, where does the greater interest lie? But then again, that is getting way, way ahead of the story.

This "shoo" incident is a form of arrogance that will never help our cause. This journey is truly a lonely one but I will keep my focus. I'll move on and hopefully allies may be found.