Maybe it’s a lack of perspective. Or maybe it’s the Pinoy blogger’s tendency to act all high and mighty. Or maybe he’s just plain joking. Or maybe I’m overreacting.

Anyway, I’m referring to this particular post which prompted me to share my two cents worth on jologs and “The r0kkeRzZzZ \m/.” The post I’m referring to is Ade Magnaye’s Know your Jologs Part 1.

I stumbled upon this post on the Man Blog in my search for a mental breather and for some reason, reading the Man Blog is just like watching Jack TV or WWE. It doesn’t take too much brain power but sure cracks you up.

Definition of Jologs

First point is jologs. I’ve got to admit that after focusing on critical discourse analysis for quite some time, I’m very sensitive to the use of the words. Seeing yet another post on jologs made me raise an eyebrow.

As you may have deduced from Ade’s post, jologs seems to have a very negative connotation. This prompts us to ask, “What’s jologs anyway?” Somehow Ade failed to mention the roots of the word.

As for this piece of information, I’d like to refer everyone to the great Jolographer himself, Paolo Manalo, author of Jolography. His “much-circulated essay,” Being the True, the Good, the Beautiful and Definitive Meaning of Jologs attempts to limit the definitions. I haven’t obtained Sir Paolo’s permission to quote lengthy portions of his essay so I’m afraid I have to leave the reading to you guys.

Pinoy Rock

On to the part of Ade’s post that made me raise the other eyebrow:

No, not ROCKER, because rockers are fine upstanding citizens who get drunk, get stoned, and basically throw their lives away. But they’re geniuses. Some well-known rockers are John Lennon, Ely Buendia, and the like.

We have to admit that a good number of great rockers bit the dust. Cobain would probably be the one of the best lifethrowers of the bunch blasting his head and with it, grunge rock – the definite rock form of our young lives (besides the E-heads). And Lennon and Buendia? Where’s Paul, Ozzie, Zappa, Hendrix, Pepe and Raimund?

But a good many of our Pinoy rockers are indeed, geniuses and most of the ones I personally know love to get drunk. But throw lives away? I’m afraid not all, not many, but a few. Most of them are family men and women who are trying to earn a decent living both from day jobs and from their music (’cause MP3-downloading pirate scum deprive them of loyalty checks!).

There, I wanted that out, because I got to read this Ade’s post right after helping my sis supply some information for one rocker who’s planning a party for his son. (Now that’s a fine upstanding human being!)

r0kkeRzZzZ Profile

Let’s move on to Ade’s description of :

You can find r0kkeRzZzZ \m/ in their natural habitat if you go to any rock concert. There you’d find them in black t-shirts (if wearing clothing at all), getting drunk, smoking weed, swaying wildly to the music of Cueshe and 6cyclemind, and throwing those oversized Red Horse bottles around.

Some points here I really have to agree. Man, you got to see what kids wear to rock concerts nowadays. Those spiked-up “emo” (what a messed up word!) hair can literally kill someone. “Pahnks nat dhed!”

Swaying wildly to Cueshe muzak is way beyond my comprehension. Can you really do that? Sway wildly? Anyone please enlighten me on that. Pogi bands are the anti-thesis of what I love about Pinoy rock music today.

\m/

For those curious about the \m/ sign, read this bit by a fellow Sugoi Staffer.

Social Class

Still, what “jologs” refers to is a group of people – a chunk of the masa. Now labeling subcultures of society has been with us since, perhaps, time immemorial. There’s quite an assortment of terms we’ve labeled as racist/politically incorrect.

Jologs are a chunk of the population. And so are the hijo de coños. And to paraphrase Karl M. – “The history of man is the history of class struggle.” So that means when a revolution begins it’s going to be one class against the other. r0kkeRzZzZ, Web Puritans, and Grammar Nazis will be gutting each other. Nasty. Nice.

Personal Experience

These so called “r0kkeRzZzZ” are the reason why I hate large-crowd concerts and prefer smaller venues like bars. They’re more intimate (and share a few beers with rock stars!) and with the admission prices stiffer, you get a good crowd.

There’s one concert that Peyups.com hosted about four years back at the Ang Bahay ng Alumni. I remember that was the time when Slapshock was hot. We were there listening, and when it was Slapshock’s set, a swarm (literally like locusts) of these so-called “r0kkeRzZzZ” filled the floor. Our group elected to evacuate just in time before the moshing began. I vividly recall there’s this one stupid “r0kkeR” who took a stage dive. Unfortunately for the unlucky bastard, the crowd parted and he fell flat on his face. Served him right. Haha.

Spongecola and jologs? I’d like to think they happened to have a masa appeal. I knew two of the guys back in high school (Yael’s quite a thespian too, just like his kuya). If Osama Bin Laden happened to like The Beatles, that wouldn’t make Paul McCartney a radical, right?

Context

Most probably I am overreacting. You might even call me too defensive for comfort and I could understand if you think that I’m out for blood. Take the context, for Chrissakes? Ade writes with that particular “voice.” And I do take that similar “jerk’s POV” with my other blogs and some of my own posts. And the Man Blog? I love the Man Blog. It’s like a frat party online.

Conclusion

We all have biases. Just so happened that even with rock afficionados, there are rockers and “r0kkeRzZzZ.” There are “Pahnkz” and “Artistes.” But let’s not forget the greatest quote from School of Rock:

There used to be a way to stick it to The Man. It was called rock ‘n’ roll. But guess what. Oh, no. The Man ruined that too with a little thing called MTV! So don’t waste your time trying to make anything cool or pure or awesome. The Man’s just gonna call you a fat, washed-up loser and crush your soul. So do yourselves a favor and just give up!

So there you have it. If you want to blame someone for the “r0kkeRzZzZ,” blame MTV Pilipinas and MYX.

Jologs or not, that’s a fellow Pinoy, brother. If you feel so anyone feels so righteous about oneself, then better take a boat or plane out and swear allegiance to the Republic of John Wayne so help you God.

Postscript

Don’t get me wrong with this post, Ade’s a batchmate of mine in grade school. And Ade’s profile indicates he loves rock too. I’m not against him in any way. Just a few differences in opinion and some common ones too! I just wanted to drive the point of how our own society’s elitism is evident even in the blogosphere. And having the power to self-publish makes that more apparent.

I just hope Ade won’t go ballistic with this. Hehe. But I guess after this post, every article I write will be “fair game” for Grammar Nazis and pseudo-critiques.

Rodney King asked, “Why can’t we all just get along?” Peace, love and rock and roll! \m/

Check out these other posts:

1. I’m not “jologs,” Aym a sertipayd MaK Dadi!
2. Diskurso sa kulturang jologs versus the middle-class mindset ng Pinoy Web 2.0
3. Loverage 3 aftermath: Condemning the jologs
4. Beware of what you wear: more on “jologs”
5. Yes, and we have more “jologs” discussions on blogs