Not many “intellectuals” appreciate Internet memes. No one can deny though, the power of the viral to spread both information and culture among a great many. Many of us played bash the politician in the Pangandaman – De la Paz issue. While the case seems to have contracted rot in the courts, we can all take comfort in the fact that out soapboxing brought the issue to a national light.

In that we felt our importance in working in tandem with traditional media in being citizen journalists. We exercise our rights to free speech in search for truth and justice and our rapid-fire soapboxing was heard all over the world.

So what’s with this Right to Reply bill that already passed the Senate and about the pass the House? Kabataan party-list rep Mong Palatino warns that this sucky bill will cover not only blogs but other forms of electronic media as well.

Honestly, I haven’t really paid much attention to the issue until I read the article with Palatino’s warning. You can read the whole text of the Senate bill here or you can read the unified statement of media groups and organizations here.

In a nutshell the essence of the bill is contained in this statement:

[A]ll persons…who are accused directly or indirectly of committing, having committed or intending to commit any crime or offense defined by law, or are criticized by innuendo, suggestion or rumor for any lapse in behavior in public or private life shall have the right to reply to charges or criticisms published or printed in newspapers, magazines, newsletters or publications circulated commercially or for free, or aired or broadcast over radio, television, websites, or through any electronic devices.

I would leave the legal discussions regarding this bill to those more capable. On my level, I think the bill destroys the very thing that separates us from beasts – the command of language.

The beauty of language resides in its arbitrariness – that we can create new ways of representing ideas and real-world entities through varied signs. By snuffing out innuendo and suggestion, the bill robs language of its arbitrariness. Correct me if I am wrong but wouldn”t the bill force a definite interpretation of every utterance we make? Congratulations, lawmakers. You’ve killed language.

Language has always been a loaded weapon but in this reality when the common people only has language against the powerful’s force, money and the law, the bill basically is crafted to turn our only weapon against us.

I agree with de Quiros. This bill sucks. Our message becomes their advertising platform. And it plainly takes away the fun out of soapboxing.

This is one of the moments where I envy the Brits. At least they have the Speaker’s Corner at Hyde park. Sometimes I think that’s the reason why we, as a people, never invented anything like the Spitfire, or broken the Enigma code, or published any opus or thought of world-changing value .

This nation never allows its people to think.

Check out these other posts:

1. English language teaching and church hymns
2. Language studies and blogging
3. KAISA as UP’s ‘change’?
4. A public service announcement from People Against Text Language
5. Pinoy Blogger Survey: What language do you use in blogging?