The best thing about the internet is also (unfortunately) the worst thing about it. It’s fast and real-time, it exposes you to a worldwide audience instantly, and everyday it’s becoming more and more personal. One day, you’re just writing a blog, uploading photos and videos on-the-go. The next day, you are on Twitter updating the world of the mundane schedule of your uneventful life.

Get an inline mic and you can start podcasting right away. Buy yourself a phone with video capability, upload the video on YouTube and bam! — instant celebrity! The tagline says it all — “Broadcast Yourself”.

But it’s not so bad, really.  Many previously-unheard-of world-class talents who used to sing solely in their rooms or play instrument in the basement have now become YouTube overnight sensations. Not to mention we get really hot, as-it-happens news as well, all because of the wonder that is the internet.

But as in everything. There are drawbacks. There are flipsides. The devil is in the details, so it is said. So goes the saga of a supposedly privately-recorded (allegedly without consent) video intended for private viewing that has now leaked on the internet and enjoying continuous play from desktops to DVD players to mobile phones.

And now, we are faced yet again with privacy issues, colored with infidelity, sex, drugs and would you believe it, politics! And while we dig deeper into this, more and more names get dragged into the issue. The only relevance I see here is the idea that all these ultimately lead to an influential/big-time drug dealer — that is, if we are to believe what we are being told.

If anything, this only reinforces the fact that drugs and sex don’t mix well. In fact, drugs don’t mix well with anything. Sane, highly deluded and in love people do crazy enough and stupid enough things under the influence of perceived “love”. Throw in drugs and video and you’ve got yourself a ticking bomb of self-incriminatory evidence enough to keep you in jail for a few good years of your life.

This Hayden Kho-Katrina Halili cam scandal has been running for quite a long time for an issue that is supposedly (and has been, from the very start) — strictly personal (as is pretty obvious with the videos). The very fact that apart from being celebrities, these otherwise normal mature individuals are now taking precious Senate time resolving issues that could have been taken to the proper forum (the trial courts,  maybe?) is but an indication of  misplaced priorities and desperate attempts to generate media mileage (in aid of re-election maybe?) on the part of the good senators. (And why am I surprised that the Palace welcomes issues of this sort? It obviously works to their advantage. Issues of this kind serve as “good” diversions from the real issues hounding them and this government. Tsk. )

Granted that this issue concerns us all because it is an attack on women (and I am one myself) who become prey to opportunistic men who have no regard for the basic human right of respect. I get that. And I can’t even begin to tell you how I loathe such betrayal of trust not to mention the wholesale abuse of the concept of love.You won’t believe how many people are just in it “for fun”. It is tragic to play the part of the “toy” and I feel for women like Katrina who actually thought the guy loved her. I of course do not condone her alleged use of drugs, if it were true. But you can’t condemn her just because she had sex, as if  you or anyone else you know of doesn’t do such things. People have sex, that’s natural. Only difference is, hers was taped to last for all eternity, who knows? And it will be played over and over.

But still, in my opinion, as what has been said over and over,we have existing laws that can be used to charge the offending party with. And while we have little or no specific law against cyber crimes, there are means to go around with this issue. Of course we want to urge Congress to craft a tighter, stricter, more specific law to make sure similar offenses are captured by such and leave no room for loopholes.

But can we at least sort out and revisit our “To Do” list first? What of A(H1N1) cases going up? What of our very low GDP growth rate that is but an alarming indicator of our eventual entry into recession? What of the issue resolution re: C5 project? What of the ChaCha train moving faster than we imagined? What of the talks of No-El? Of the poll automation bidding? The political killings? The abducted and missing activists? What of this and that issue, ad infinitum?

There is nothing wrong with trying to address issues in and through the Senate. What is wrong, as I see it, is taking each and every issue as a matter of national security and concern. Dear senators, your sense of urgency is laudable, if only you practice it when it’s needed. Just because an issue is sensationalized doesn’t mean it merits that much attention for us to send other underrated stories to the backburner. CARP with reform, ring a bell? No? I have yet to hear a story of people emailing eachother about the urgency of CARP. And of course I understand why it doesn’t generate such an appeal as opposed to this video scandal.

But please remember that underexposure of an issue doesn’t diminish its urgency. It’s about time we stop and think before we rush into each and every issue that comes our way.

We have feasted over the videos, blogged about it exhaustively and even reported about it excessively. It already gained Senate hearing-urgency. I guess we’ve had enough. Let the wheels of justice roll as it’s supposed to. Give us a rest and let’s talk about things that will influence the price of your child’s education, might compromise the health of your family and might actually matter to us all long after the media frenzy has subsided.

This will be my first and last post about this issue. I’m sorry for adding up to the Google-able archives but I just had to get this off my chest. Thank you for indulging me. Now, back to regular programming. :)

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