Careful, careful. Kailangang-kailangang maging careful.

Belo twits Facebook user: Go to court, not to media

UP Law alumnus Argee Guevarra is at it again.  No, not as flag bearer of the New Sense Party (read fast), but just the same attempting to rouse thought on social phenomenon - in this case, the Internet.

As counsel to Josefina Norcio (whose condition is no butt of jokes), Atty. Guevarra elicits legal action from the Belo Medical Group through FB, without responding through legal fora.  Interesting how this will turn out.

Just this weekend, I told my 11 year-old cousin that he was wrong to refer to some girl as a "flirt", whether or not he has real proof.  Apart from being absolutely negative, what does "flirt" exactly mean anyway, in terms we can measure?  No matter, the irresponsible labeling speaks ill of the labeler, as it does the labeled.

And last night, I cautioned a student online about calling his accomplished paper "crappy" since his professor (of that subject or another) might see the FB status and misconstrue it as either he doesn't like the subject or he evaluates his own output to be less than optimal, which may affect his grade.

It's funny how we want to be heard (or read) but we forget to be mindful of the repercussions of freedom of speech.  It's bad enough someone will try to harm us with lies on the Internet.  It's worse when, down the road, we realize we actually did the harm to our own self.

While Argee's moves are calculated, I'm sure; many yet fail to see beyond immediate self-gratification.  That's the kind of behavior that will give Argee a sustained living as he goes after, or defends, Internet libel.


Summer turns into the fall
Try to understand it all
I'll become a bum
Someone's gonna hold you to your words

Winter snows into the spring
Understanding's not the thing
I'm a dinosaur
Someone's gonna hold you to your words

- Careful What Ya Say from the album Bone by Tim Booth.