I wanted to write about this a long time ago but kept it off until today when I read several comments about the Phil. Blog Awards. Yes, blogging is a privilege. It is not for everybody. It is only for those who have internet access. It is only for those who have enough time on their hands. It is only for those who have something to write or say.
So, don’t be surprised to learn that the demographics of bloggers are the ones who can pay for DSL on their homes and offices or even that Visibility or PLDT WeRoam. Don’t be surprised that these bloggers are the ones who have enough time to write and bloghop instead of worrying about their 8-5 jobs (worse, look for a job) or studying for their final exams and do their homework.
If you join our online community at MotorcyclePhilippines.com and you happen to go to one of the EBs (eyeballs), you will realize that 99% of them have motorcycles. And yes, that does not represent the Philippine demographics (i.e. not 99% of the country have their own motorbikes). I co-own that site of close to 40,000 members and I don’t even have my own bike.
If you join a Photography club and 80% of the people who come to photo shoots have dSLRs, it doesn’t mean the 20% who have point-and-shoot cameras is the minority group in the entire country. In fact it’s the other way around — there are more point-and-shoot camera than dSLR owners in the Philippines.
So, if you go to events that require you to wear formal attires, don’t expect that people attending it is representative of any bigger sample population. The ones you might be expecting are still in school finishing their exams, or still at the office doing OTY (thank you overtime). The ones you will meet are the people who have enough time on their hands, the ones who have gas money, or the ones who can pay for a taxi cab. Go to our blog parteeh and you’ll see that the demographics of the people there are totally different from that of the blog awards.
More than half of the population in the Philippines are poor. My parents are poor. My brother didn’t finish college nor does he have a job to feed his 3 kids. That doesn’t mean I need to find a way for them to blog and be part of this online community. I can’t, because they have something more important to spend time on other than writing about their thoughts. I wish I could, but I have to fulfill my other responsibilities to them first.
Blogging is a privilege, it’s not a right. Do not equate it with your constitutional right to suffrage or to get a decent education (hell, not even everyone has had education). So don’t expect that the blogging population is in any way representative of the voting population.
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Hmm…I knew it would come to this. But hey, me thinks it’s all part of the maturing Pinoy blogosphere that has reached critical mass.
Hmm… I’m missing something… what happened during the event?
Been busy with my new work (Web Content Developer) and with my main blognetwork down (currently re-uploading to a new host ^_^ wee), I lost track of what’s happening in our blogosphere.
But I agree, it is a privilege and not a right. And by the sound of your post (this one and the other one ‘we not I’), someone or some group said something not entirely accurate or true to the whole, or the bigger picture.
Anyway… God Bless to all, let’s enjoy the Holy Week.
Sad but true. Bloggers are an indeed an elite crowd. Not our fault, though.
Yeah… I love your posts…
To whoever/whatever this post points on…
This right applies to them:
“The right to remain silent” or in other words “Shut the F**K Up!”
If upper class or middle class bloggers decide to portray issues that affect all social classes in their blogs, well and good. In any society whether western or Philippines, it’s always the bourgeoisie that speak up for the rest of society. Think “martial law”outcry by the bourgeoise . For the priveleged few like us, it’s up to us to make a voice for the less privileged.
I agree blogging is a privilege and it’s our choice on how to use it for the common good of our kababayans.
Being a blogger is a privilege the same way others are privileged to become cops, firemen, doctors and crooked politicians, even bums. It’s the path one chooses that sets them apart. Sure, everyone can play blogger, everyone can have a voice. But the question is — is anybody listening?
I think it’s your right to blog if your privileged enough to afford it
agree!
privilege or right, bloggers should exercise utmost care and responsibility. the freedom we enjoy is not absolute.