So... Death Threats

.:So... Death Threats:.

Real journalists get death threats because they try to expose the truth and fight for what's right. I get mine for writing a comedy article. Huh.

Well, maybe not entirely a comedic one, but if you read the list, you'd see that it was anything but a 100% serious article, what with the bait-and-switch I pulled on people who expected to see a bunch of sex scandals because they saw "Chito Miranda" and "scandal" in the title. It was a nice touch, got a lot of readership, and even got shared on Yahoo, where it got a whole lot of mileage.

And that's where things went nuts, because, hey, it's Yahoo, and their comments section is just a small step above YouTube's.

Anyways, at the end of the Yahoo feed of this particular list (Look for it yourself, as I'm not keen on screencapping it or linking to it here.), the comments section went abuzz with the usual homophobic, self-righteous, non-sequitur comments, especially from people who were clearly annoyed that I didn't list Hayden Kho among the scandals they were hoping to see. That's par for the course, and I'm kinda used to those comments on Yahoo, even if they haven't been directed to me in the past.

What caught me by surprise was the noticeable vitriol coming from members of "Ang Dating Daan," as they proceeded to rail against me for daring to point out a scandal that actually exists, but just so happens to involve their leader, Brother Eli Soriano. Which is mind-boggling, because for those who bothered to read, I made it a point to mention that he could very well be innocent, and that's actually my presumption.

What I do not presume, though, is that Brother Eli's dogma is not sexist or homophobic in nature. I don't care if he points to the Bible as his source for his views until he turns blue: pointing to the Bible as an inspiration for your sexist or homophobic ideas does not magically make your ideas no longer sexist or homophobic. It simply means that in a book supposedly about love, salvation, redemption, and goodness, you decided to hold onto the parts that just so happened to be sexist or homophobic to push your agenda, while conveniently ignoring the parts that happened to condemn menstruation or allowed for slavery or something. What? You can't ignore all the hateful parts?

So, anyways. The comments were mostly your usual ones, calling me a paid hack for the Iglesia ni Cristo (Newsflash: I'm a freethinker.), gay, and a bunch of other silly accusations. Then they started data mining to find out my full name and where I live, and shit got real. Thankfully, their attempts at mining data is far from accurate, but wow, that sure escalated quickly.

A few days later, I received a message from someone claiming to not be a part of ADD, but an avid viewer of their television programming. I don't know how that works, but whatever. Essentially, the gist of what he's trying to say is that I shouldn't be so shocked, and in fact, have no right to be surprised at people getting all angry at me, because how dare I insinuate wrongdoing upon Brother Eli, never mind that every single human being in this world has definitely had their share of wrongdoing. That I shouldn't bring the issue up, because it's embarrassing. Right. Because Brother Eli should never be brought up unless in a positive light, right?

So, yeah. The vague attempts at making me fear for my life, coupled with this not-too-subtle message to me annoyed me, more than anything else. Just as Brother Eli is free to remain a fugitive from the law, while an outstanding warrant of arrest is still out there for him, I am also free to point out this fact. Because it is a fact. I'm not saying he totally raped a dude, but clearly, the dude is saying Brother Eli did, and I'd be a liar if I said that never happened.

And please don't give me that crap about Brother Eli clearly being innocent since he has yet to be arrested, when here we are, still looking all over the country for Janet Napoles.

It's funny, really. I write for the 8List mostly for the lulz. Every now and then, I try to mix the lulz with some sobering commentary, to the best of my ability. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect that a bunch of overly defensive people would implicitly threaten to endanger my well-being just because I pointed out some things that happened to have been in the news, even if so many of us already forgot about it.

.:Speaking Of Lists...:.

I decided that from this point on, if some of my 8List articles get rejected or taken down for being too "controversial," then I'd be more than happy to post them here. Maybe I'd post that one about annoying comments, but the one I really wanted to write was something about how Kim Chiu should fire her agent.

Fun times, fun times. Maybe at some point, I'd finally get to write a list for Cracked. That'd be the dream now, wouldn't it?

.:Well, Well, Well:.

After weeks, I finally managed to hang out with Mike Unson again, and we had a lot of interesting discussions about the state of comedy, new material, improv, and where things are headed in general. Definitely a great brain to pick, to put it plainly.

.:Ekstra!:.
Watched Ekstra, the Vilma Santos indie film from Cinemalaya, and while it was awesome, I found it a bit anti-climactic. I mentioned it in passing on the Rowdy Empire, where I will be on air again tomorrow night, from 9-12MN, and it was fun catching it with my old friend TJ, but I have to admit that I found the ending anti-climactic. The ending ticked us off so much we ended up getting detained for a while. This is why I can't bring myself to write a review about it.

The handcuffs cannot tell a lie!

.:Last Week!:.

Unless we finalize a new deal, it's our last weekend in The Fort, as the newest improv group in the Philippines, Switch, performs from 7:30 PM onwards near the Jamba Juice area, or if it rains, in the Promod walkway. This is in Bonifacio High Street Central, the one with the fountains and stuff.

See you there, I hope?