February 6, 2006
Wowowee: Its Not About Poverty
Let us give dignity to the 74 people who died. Let us not blame poverty. Let us not trivialize their death. This is not a pathetic game show. This is real life.
It was pure exploitation. Real people- poor, destitute and desperate- used as pawns in a numbers game. It was not about helping people. It was a ratings game.
Enticing a small piece of bread to hundreds of famished people is not charity. It is a disaster in the making. Feeding people false hopes, eroding the Filipino psyche, and insulting their intelligence is unforgivable.
Charity is inherently good. The goodness or badness of an act however depends on the intention.
Charity and true concern is educating the Filipino to be self-reliant. Charity is airing shows that are worth watching- value oriented, relevant and spiritually and morally uplifting. Charity is helping without anything in return. It is not about producing game shows that insult or make fun of people. It is not about encouraging Filipinos to gamble or rely on luck. It is not about unjustly raising electric rates.
Entertainment is also a responsibility. The incident was an invitation to tragedy. And what a tragedy it was. At this point, finger-pointing won’t help. Prayers, support and learning our lesson will.
We have no one else to blame but our indifference and our loss of moral vigilance.
Fact- 74 people are dead. Let us not reduce their death to naught. Let us work for national renewal- spiritually and morally.
Author’s Note:
Let us put the issue to rest. Let us put the dead to rest. Let us stop giving ABS-CBN or Wowowee free publicity. I hope it ends here. IT IS NOT ABOUT POVERTY. IT IS THE EXPLOITATION OF ONE’S POVERTY. And there lies one’s culpability and responsibility.
See other related articles:
Thoughts of a 15-year old
Scores Dead in Deadly Stampede
Comments
February 6, 2006
jhay said:
i agree, let's put a closure to this tragedy and instead of having hang-ups and hang-overs, we should begin work on how to prevent this from happening again and to address the root-causes of this nightmare.
We could start by letting abs-cbn and all the other networks to start re-thinking their gimmicks, approach, intentions, policies and management regarding their own version of the noon-time show.
mong said:
i agree with you. poverty is not a recent phenomenon in this country. and abs-cbn despite recognizing poverty in its news programs continue to exploit the poor through its no-brainer shows.
rhodora said:
yes, i think you are right.. put the issue to rest, as well as the 70 + people who died…
and yes too - more talks about the incident will only give abs-cbn and the game hosts free publicity… (for all you know - this might help the game show's main host in his bid for the Senate! lol)
February 8, 2006
Rizza said:
I had to watch the news coverage of the incident in channel 7 and other channels 'cause I COULDN'T TAKE how ABS CBN is presenting their side of the news.