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Article in the chronicle

Discussion in 'Dumaguete City' started by shadow, Jul 31, 2014.

  1. shadow

    shadow DI Forum Luminary

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    "Yesterday the owner of internet web site “ Dumaguete Forum” came to me and apologized for the unprovoked personal attack by one of its members. He assured me they do not approve of such behavior and Mr Broadside had been suspended. No mention of Mr Muddyfeet, who’s attack upon me was much more egregious, inaccurate and personal, was not mentioned.

    I thanked the owner for his sense of propriety but I assured him that he, Mr Broadside, Mr Muddyfeet and the website had nothing to fear from me. I had no intention of taking any litigious action. I express my opinion every week and I am sure there are many who disagree with me. I do not believe or support censorship and in fact I solicit dissenting opinions. The best disinfectant for lies, distortions and half truths is sunlight. Unless the attack is malicious and personal, such as Mr Muddyfeet, I support freedom of the press. The truth only hurts those that are afraid of it.

    Dumaguete Forum is basically a good website. It has and does serve the community well. Many of its members have done volunteer work during local disasters. They often support each other and, the community. They should be commended for those sacrifices, and service. The fact that the website was sued was the fault of one individual not an indictment of the entire Dumaguete Forum community.

    I join Pat’Os reported lament over Mr Braodside’s suspension. I encourage Dumaguete Forum to re-instate Mr Broadside and allow him to express his opinions with the same freedom I enjoy. The freedom of the media to express dissenting opinions is important.

    Some time ago a local Filipino columnist asked and important question and was immediately sued by a local politician. The unwarranted lawsuit, in my opinion, was designed to stifle the press. The important question was NEVER ANSWERED and the official was elected to office. Sadly the legal system here is often misused to prevent the free exchange of ideas and information. The message seems to be if you can not kill the journalist, take his money and scare him. Truth and justice are being held captive and often the wrong people are in control. Freedom of the media to ask hard questions and reveal truth is VITAL to a democracy."




    It should be noted that as soon I talked with Kojak about this, Broadside was immediately re-instated. He was banned for only two days while I tried to sort this mess out and keep the peace. Following this episode, I received numerous apologies from various members for their posts, but there was none forthcoming from Broadside. My temporary ban of Broadside was a hard decision to make, but given that Broadside is (or at least was) a friend and probably knows more about the history of this website than I do, that he would understand this is something I had to do in an effort to keep the peace. Perhaps I was wrong and misjudged him. I have certainly been wrong before. Broadside is publicly invited to return to the forum, he has been a very valuable asset to this forum for years, and at this point we need all the valuable members we can get.

    I too support free speech, however, Kojak nailed it right on the head with this one sentence, "Sadly the legal system here is often misused to prevent the free exchange of ideas and information."

    I commend Kojak for his morals in this issue, someone else may not have been so understanding and forgiving. Hopefully we all learned a little and can get on with things.


    If there was a lament by PatO regarding Broadside's temporary ban, I must have missed it. Nothing would surprise me as I had plenty on my mind at the time.

    Thanks for understanding.

    Larry
     
  2. Dave_Hounddriver

    Dave_Hounddriver DI Forum Luminary Highly Rated Poster

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    I would just like to add the link to the article as it shows authorship and puts a face on this 'Kojak' fellow

    Freedom - NegrosChronicle.com
     
  3. OP
    OP
    shadow

    shadow DI Forum Luminary

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    Another point I would like to make. As many of you know, we were out of town when this all came down. In fact, we were right in the path of the beginning of a typhoon. When someone first text us there were problems in the Barrio, at first we tried to edit out the offending posts, but with poor internet access from a cell phone it was too much, and we just shut down the Barrio. Kojak makes reference to Muddyfeet. I find no posts in there now by Muddyfeet, so maybe they were deleted, this is the first I have heard about Muddyfeet being involved. The only other thing I had to go by was a half sheet of paper that was given out by Kojak. I do not remember if there were posts on that sheet of paper. It no longer matters, let's get on with life.

    The bottom line here is the Barrio was made up of about 60 members, mostly all foreigners. In the comments about the atty of record, there were also some pretty inflammatory comments made. However, the chances of those comments getting back to the atty were small, who among us would be the rat? Probably nobody would have told him. Kojak, on the other hand, is a well known member of OUR community, AND, a member in good standing of this forum. How could anyone think that with 60 readers from our own community that he would NOT get wind of what was being written about him? Granted, a better way to deal with it than passing around copywritten material would have been for him to come to me, but then I wasn't even here, so that point is moot.

    We are the few, the foreigners. We should be sticking together, and strive to make this a better place for all. Other communities with large numbers of foreigners here have a strong support group among their members, they stick together and work together for the good of all. Why does every small club that tries to form in Dumaguete fail miserably? Why does Duma seem to be so "clanish"?

    I propose we all try to get along. I would like to see not only Broadside return to the forum, but Kojak as well. So I put this to you, can we put this behind us and work together? Can we make this be the start of something new in Duma, where we can all be helpful to others?

    Or are we all just doomed to exist in our own private little "cliches"? The locals all band together when there is a problem, why can't we?

    As they like to say here, "is up chew".

    Larry

    "Can we all get along?" Rodney King
     
  4. baltoed

    baltoed DI Forum Adept

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    Its not just in Duma.. I've noted *clan*..and or *clam* mentality in 3 different provences I have lived over the last 5+ years. Pretty much gotten me to stop smiling, putting my hand out, and saying hello. Although there is one member here that will laugh and scoff at that remark..lol As if they have nothing better to do than chikka chikka, or worse tsismis (chis-mis) behind others backs. Nature of the beast???..product of not having enough to do? Dunno here myself.

    Back in '09 when I first moved to RP and we lived on a different island; I came over here to see my family in Talay and the only guys name I had here was Larry (and Mrs)..we met them for a few brews down the end of the boulevard..( blue monkey?) Just the way I am.. Larry stood out in my mind as one of the few that ever had anything good to say about pinoy family back in those days ( That I read in Yahoo expat groups anyways)
     
  5. PatO

    PatO DI Forum Luminary Highly Rated Poster Showcase Reviewer Veteran Marines

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    FRIENDS
    Living abroad and being and having friends is really not that much different than in one's home country. Most of us here may know a lot of people, have many acquaintances, but have few friends. I probably have 6-8 that I would call mutual friends. I am now meeting more people and hopefully can add a few more.
    There are a lot of websites that suggest characteristics of a friend. I like the following one which narrows the list to a profound 5.
    Five Characteristics of a Close (True) Friend

    A close friend rejoices in your joys and sorrows over your pains. A true friend is not just sympathetic, they are empathetic. They share your feelings, weeping with you when you weep and rejoicing with you when you rejoice.

    A close friend won’t defriend you if you disagree. Friendships are tested when there is a disagreement. But true friends don’t cut you off because of it. They may tell you what they think you need to hear and vice versa. But they will do it in such a way where you can receive it. The reason is because you know they love you unconditionally more than they love their views.

    A close friend stays in regular contact with you. I have friends who contact me from time to time and vice versa (once or twice a year). We regard each other as good friends. But a close friend this doth not make. Close friends communicate fairly regularly.

    A close friend is someone whom you trust implicitly. They have earned your trust. Consequently, you don’t doubt that they have your back. And you don’t fear that they will stab you in the back. You trust them enough to confide in them about highly private and confidential matters. Close friendship brings with it disclosure (John 15:15).

    A close friend will stand by you, defend you, even take a bullet for you when you’re under attack. To my mind, this is perhaps the highest measure of friendship or one of the rock-bottom “tests.” The posture of a true friend is, “If you hurt my friend, you’ve hurt me.” It is never, “Well, that person never did anything to hurt me, so it’s not my issue.” This attitude is what separates goats from black sheep. :-) True friends stand with and stand up for each other. As Martin Luther King, Jr. once put it, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
     
  6. john boy

    john boy DI Forum Luminary Highly Rated Poster

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    Pat,
    Spoken with passion, excellent.
    Wish I could put things over like you just did.....JB
     
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