The Philippine Blogosphere and Political Thought 101: The Blogosphere as a Medium for Political Discourse, Part 1

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(Part 1 here.)
(Part 2 here.)
(Part 3 here.)
(Part 4 here.)
(Part 5 here.)

(I am not going to speak of Malu Fernandez. I won't waste any more cyberspace on her.)

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Well, whaddya know. Apparently I am considered to be one of the "premier bloggers regarding the issues in the Philippine political arena" who has "expert opinion" to share.

(Considered me tickled pink. Heh heh.)

I received a letter from a student who is requesting answers that might prove useful to some schoolwork he is currently working on. I must say, his questions did lead me to do a bit of reflective thinking on my own take on political blogging.

Here is the young man's letter, quoted in full:

Dear Sir:

Good day! I am RMBG, a senior Political Science student from the University of the Philippines Manila. I am currently doing a case study on the Philippine blogosphere and how effective it is as a new media in conveying political thought and as an avenue for political discourse for an elective class (PS 196 - Philippine Political Thought) due on March 17, 2008. As one of the premier bloggers regarding the issues in the Philippine political arena, your expert opinion regarding my research would be of great help. Attached is the list of the main research questions for my case study.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

Sincerely Yours,

RMBG

Far be it for me to be uncooperative.

***
Before we get to RMBG's questions, I think I will first profile myself so that the young man will understand the nature and quality of my answers.

This is who the jester-in-exile is:

Personal circumstances: born and raised in Baguio City, in a generally conservative, apolitical (oft-times, anti-political) household; primary and secondary education acquired through the city's public school system; is not nor was ever a figure in campus, local, nor national politics except as a voter and taxpayer; has had minimal travel out of the country

Educational background: an engineering major (acquired via government scholarship); now reading law in a state university

Employment history: nearly a decade of work experience in the corporate world after earning a bachelor's degree; prior to that, some lecturing and tutoring, as well as a few odd jobs here and there (CV by request; please provide at least three days notice)

Political views: political beliefs may not be easily categorized; has generally liberal (possibly left-of-center) views, but has recognized the validity of some conservative opinions; is a strong believer in representative democracy, participatory governance, justice, and law; is generally passionate about civil and political rights but has been known to question issues such as affirmative action; generally agrees in principle with the philosphies of such as Mencius, Cicero, Augustine, Thomas More, Ibn Khaldun, Voltaire, Rosseau, Kant, Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Stuart Mill, Paine, and many others; is quite leery of strictly-construed Plato, Machiavelli, Feizi, Marx, Mao, Lenin, Hitler, Giovanni Gentile and similar; if reduced to Dungeons & Dragons terms, generally belongs to the Lawful Good alignment

Blogging history: started The Journal of The Jester-in-Exile as a personal online journal in July 2005; still considers the blog to be a personal blog, the political commentary merely due to his personal interest in issues and events of the day

I hope that will suffice for RMBG. An additional caveat for the young man: I am NOT a political theorist, nor a political science major, let alone a politician. Thus, much of my answers just might be quite simplistic for those who are well versed in such arcana.

***
For starters, let me say that I believe that any medium used to convey political thought, bar violence and terrorism, is in itself beneficial -- I will even go as far as to say that even grafitti containing political messages does have its use -- as the start of political discourse, insofar as the medium and the message provoke thoughts and opinions in the reader, the viewer, and the listener. For a medium to be unable to connect to its target audience and for a message to not elicit a reaction (whether for, against, or "a plague on both your houses") from the listener shows only that the medium and the message are ineffective.

My personal belief is that there are only three ways for political thought to be conveyed. From source to recipient, they are: one-to-one and many-to-one.

One-to-one discourse would be in the nature of an individual attempting to convince another individual. For instance, one person can be talking to someone else, one person can be conducting a teach-in (note that each listener is a "one" listening to the person at the lectern or the higher end of the grassy knoll), one person shouting his lungs out on Hyde Park (again, note that each listener is a "one"), a handbill, a flyer, a pamphlet, a poster, or a graffiti message (each reader or viewer is a "one"), and so on. Many-to-one discourse could be exemplified by rallies and mass actions, wherein a group and its overt, public actions are viewed by each individual resulting in opinions formed about the group and its message.

I think that the blogosphere is of the one-to-one means of political discourse, with each individual blog conveying its message. Personally, I am more inclined to look at the blogosphere as the digital form of Hyde Park (as opposed to Manolo Quezon, who posits that the blogosphere is more of pamphleteering; note that this is still -- in my view -- one-to-one discourse). To my way of thinking, each blog is, in a sense, a speaker on a soapbox; the reason why I consider the blogosphere to be analoguous to Hyde Park. A blog's readership is akin to the crowd that forms (or is conspicuously absent) around the speaker; any person surfing the internet will have the choice to stay reading a blog stumbled upon or exit to another website the reader finds more interesting; this is analoguous to any passerby deciding to stay and listen to the Hyde Park speaker or continue walking on. Each blog also has a share of its commenters, which I believe to be analoguous to hecklers, cheerers, and jeerers that will be among the crowd around the speaker.

That said, we're ready to answer RMBG's questions.

***
Back in a flash -- my answers to RMBG will need coffee.