Posted on February 10, 2006 - Filed Under Punch Forum |
Rafael L. Oriel, Jr.
Winnipeg, MB
oriel@shaw.ca
10 Feb 2006
Mr. Casilang, I am not bothered by any opposing views at all. I am just responding naturally to other postings and reacting to personal attacks and what seems like character assassination.
With all due respect, Mr. Casilang and everybody in the forum, I respectfully agree and disagree with you. I agree to disagree under certain conditions that are fair for everybody including those who are not participating in the forum. I agree that we must respect each other but we should do it not only by respecting each other¹s opinion but also by respecting other people. If you know somebody personally and somebody is spreading obscene lie calling him crook or thief or other inappropriate words or making false accusations that you think are not true to the best of your knowledge, are you not going to feel personally offended? Respect begets respect and disrespect begets disrespect. What happen to the Golden Rule? I hope it still applies here in the forum.
I agree that we are here to exchange ideas not lies and personal attacks that is why I give extra effort to research carefully what I have to say in my postings. Obviously, they are not gobbledygook, contrary to a gentleman¹s claim. As much as possible, I want to avoid misleading other people. I strongly believe that our opinion should be based on facts not rumors to keep our record straight and to prevent distorting the mind of others so that they can make wiser decisions.
If we are really against corruption, we should avoid corrupting other people¹s mind especially the youths by presenting facts instead of cynicism highlighted by general distrust and false accusations lacking evidence. The mind of the youths can be easily distorted if they do not know the facts, most especially those who are born after the martial law that is why I said in my previous posting, ‘In fairness to former President Fidel V. Ramos and for the benefit of the younger generations, I like to post some information about FVR.’
Fair is fair. You told me to behave in this forum; it is just fair to ask everybody to behave. I do not mean to offend anybody, it is not my intention to offend anyone, but I am encouraged by some offending words used in other participant¹s posting. I am not here to win arguments because I know that I will end up a loser if I will gain enemies instead of winning friends. I am here with the hope that we will come to know each other as Kabaleyans or Pangasinenses, as friends not as enemies.
We are people who are in search of real life not reel life heroes and patriotic Filipinos that is why we must be able to recognize them and make sure that patriotism will not be the refuge of scoundrels.
We are people who are in dire need of role models that is why we should not look up to people with questionable characters and avoid making the character of other people questionable by making false accusations based on rumors or without supporting evidence. I strongly believe that Sunday Punch Forum is not the proper forum for cases that are supposed to be tried in the court of law so that real culprits can be prosecuted and punished.
We are people who are asking for justice that is why we should avoid getting it by committing another injustice.
We are people who are seeking the truth that is why we should justify the truth and avoid justifying lies by telling more lies.
We are people who are against corruption that is why we should avoid corrupting other people¹s mind specially the youths who do not know the facts by covering truths with lies so that they can become good leaders just like the ones we are craving for our country.
I like to reiterate, Filipinos must commit themselves to the mission of establishing a humane, democratic, peaceful, and progressive Philippine society based on respect for human dignity. We must all be Filipinos for better Philippines. Better yet, we must strive for the best if we can and
there must be no reason why we cannot.
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