Help! I've been Robbed!

The advent of social media has seen more interactivity, making communication and information dissemination among people within the global community easier and faster by a hundredfold. When before through mainstream media, we only get hold of information as told to us by a reporter or by leafing through the pages of a newspaper, now we get our choice of information in real time through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and the like. As an added bonus, we even get to react to that particular event.

Social media has also brought people closer, albeit virtually, even when geographical distance puts them apart. A good example of this is my Facebook chat group which is aptly named Steel Bogambilyas (Bougainvilleas), not to be confused with the Hash Tag Titas of Manila -- although we sometimes have similar dramas, hahaha. This group is composed of me and four other women, all alumni of Dr. Alejandro Albert Elementary School in Sampaloc, Manila. Three of us are based here in Manila, one is in the US, and another is in Ireland. Time zones are not a problem as anyone among us can just leave a note to be deliberated or commented on by the rest later. We have actually defeated the challenge of distance and we remain friends after 40+ years. (Oops, carbon-dating myself.)

However, there is also a dark side to social media, and it's getting more sinister by the minute. It is the playground of serial killers, rapists, child molesters, pedophiles, trolls, bullies, and other lowlife characters.

Now, it's also a breeding ground for plagiarists.

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Several months ago, a former colleague of mine from my newspaper days told me to block this person from my Facebook account -- a certain Mildred Gay Manaug. It seems that this person has been copying some of his Facebook posts, and has also started to copy mine. That time, I didn't take his warning seriously, primarily because I think I was furiously trying to beat a deadline for one of my online writing assignments and didn't have time to check.

Fast forward to yesterday and he asked me again if I already blocked this Mildred Gay Manaug from my account. (Obciously, he already knew the answer to that.) Turns out that she has been vigorously copying several of my posts in the past few days -- even the shallow reposts. I finally got to check her out and lo and behold -- she had at least two of my most recent posts on her wall, WITH NO ATTRIBUTION WHATSOEVER!

It's funny that of the two posts she copied from my wall, one of them had a personal context that only those closest to me may understand: 

My original Facebook post from yesterday. Do take note of the number of hours since it was posted - 5 hours ago.

I almost fell off my seat when I saw the exact same words -- hash tag included -- on this Manaug character's wall:

Exact same photocopy -- with hash tag!

A former student of mine also checked her wall out to find even more "photocopies" of my posts on her wall. It's amazing what she did with my two posts on Leni Robredo. These are my original posts. Once again, do take note of the dates and time lapses:

Then take a look at her own "styling." This is from my former student's mobile phone:

As soon as I saw her glaring transgressions, I moved at once to curtail this intellectual property bandit. I sent her a very strongly-worded private message then proceeded to block her from ever seeing my wall again. However, I thought to myself that maybe blocking isn't enough because even if she stops copying from me, she would still copy from others. Thius, I unblocked her and proceeded to report her to the Facebook admin.

This is where the sticky part started. There is a Report button in the drop-down list pertaining to privacy settings, but the choices as to why I was reporting another Facebook user were very limited. She wasn't using abusive content. She wasn't posting offensive material. But SHE JUST STOLE MY WORDS, and it wasn't in the selection to be ticked off!

There was a link on intellectual copyright, though so I clicked on it. Then Facebook warned me immediately that to do so is very tedious -- and I didn't need tedious! She could change her settings before I could make the final report, and by then, she could be untraceable already.

So I ditched the idea of reporting this Manaug character to Facebook and instead, made screenshots and posted these in my wall with the screaming heading, PLAGIARIST!!!

And since Facebook also doesn't allow me to reblock this person immediately after I unblocked her, I still need another two days before I can block her again. Pffffft!

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While I was making that strongly-worded private message, the chat box showed commonalities between me and this Manaug character. I balked when I saw that she happens to be a fellow member of this big freelance writer group!

This group is supposedly a virtual place for sharing of ideas among freelance writers. Some even manage to get gigs through this group page. I could only imagine this Manaug character taking an online assignment, Googling for articles with a similar topic, copying/pasting, then raking in the bucks for her "very original" written work. Thus, I felt that it was my duty to warn other members of this poser.

I made two articles featuring my original work and screenshots of her plagiarism which I posted in my personal FB wall and in the freelance writers' group page. The group president immediately took notice and asked me questions about my post on this Manaug character. She was even tagged so that she can be given the chance to defend herself from my accusation. However, instead of defending herself, she immediately changed her account settings and eventually disabled it.

She was virtually caught red-handed!

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I thought that after that fiasco, my problems with that poser were all over. My friend -- the one who alerted me about this Manaug -- told me to still be vigilant. When he also sent a strongly-worded message to this person after he caught her shoplifting his posts, she also deactivated her account for around one to two weeks. Then when she reactivated it, she was back to copying/pasting his posts again. Only then did he block her.

This person obviously has a terrible psychological problem: she just couldn't help herself from copying from others!

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Before my own realization, allow me to first explain what plagiarism is. Merriam-Webster.com defines plagiarism as "the act of using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to that person; the act of plagiarizing something."

So in this case, if you publish or publicize someone else's words without the author's permission then present it as your own, you are, by all means, a plagiarist.

However, looking at our laws on intellectual property, social media has yet to be included as another venue for plagiarism to flourish. Our Constitution mentions the publication of plagiarized material, but not the posting of plagiarized material online. Ergo, online publication has yet to be discussed thoroughly and given parameters. 

This is definitely one aspect of the Constitution that deserves an upgrade to include in its scope online intellectual property. Without this, how many more Mildred Gay Manaugs would be coming out of the woodwork and stealing ideas from those who actually used their smarts to create their words?

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After this fiasco, I am not exactly sure whether to be flattered that someone is actually copying my posts, or to hunt down this Mildred Gay Manaug and bitch-slap her until she bleeds.

All I know is that I'm changing my privacy settings on my Facebook.

I used to be very generous with my opinionated thoughts because I'd like to believe that I could still inflict change in a good way, or at least keep the general public informed about issues of the day.

Now, I felt like I was robbed of something. Those were MY posts, MY ideas!

Lord knows if she's even making money out of her stolen ideas and words.

Someone terribly needs a psychological evaluation. And a Pacman-intensity uppercut.

And it's not me.

(#)

Sex, Gender, and Everything else in between

Since March is International Women's Month, let's talk about gender -- not just the female gender, but all genders.

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...which is why you need to resort to name-

calling -- to protect the world from those who

are "masahol pa sa hayop." (From a post in

Facebook)

The past month saw a phenomenal clash between religious beliefs and the slow but broadening acceptance of the third gender -- the LGBT group -- no thanks to a self-appointed bastion of righteousness and senator-wannabe who is better seen (and heard) inside the boxing ring than out of it.

As with many of my shoutouts in Facebook in the light of that "masahol pa sa hayop" gaffe, I remain steadfast in my belief that religious bigotry has no place in modern society. To accept a gender group's existence but to curtail their right to happiness in relationships is still bigotry in every sense of the word. We cannot sit in our high thrones of morality and throw stones at those who we deem are "sinful in God's eyes," for we are not God, much less, yardsticks of morality. No amount of knowledge in biblical verses can hide the fact that some of us are blind to our own prejudices, or simply refuse to understand the struggles and aspirations of those with a set of beliefs different from ours.

After all, it's much easier to say, "Ah, basta!" than to allow the mind to expand its understanding of the world and the beings sharing it with us. Ah basta, babae at lalaki lang ang alam ko. Ah basta, walang bakla sa mga hayop. Ah basta, hindi pwedeng magsama bilang magkatipan ang dalawang babae or dalawang lalaki. Ah basta...

Ah basta...all of these are merely Man's rules. Have we truly considered if these are also God's rules? Truth be said, we have nary a clue as to the extent of God's acceptance and love for everything He has created. Only we mere mortals are shrewd enough to mold our view of the world according to our puny understanding -- then decorate these with divine undertones to make them sound all big and holy like God's word.

Tsk. The Pharisees are still very much alive up to this day, so it seems. Pharisees -- concocting religious shit to keep "unholy ideas" in check since many centuries B.C.

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The past few years have also seen an even more heightened awareness of gender bias and how to eliminate or at least, mitigate it from all sectors of life.

There are still those who do not recognize gender bias, though -- not because they do not want to but because they are not aware of what it is. Some are even unaware that they are guilty of causing gender bias.

Before the problem is tackled, first, there has to be a definition of terms.

The primary question to be asked here is this: what is the difference between sex and gender?

ReachOut.com provides a good definition of sex as being "generally assigned to a person at birth, usually based on external and internal reproductive organs (whether you have a penis or vagina), hormones, and the genetic makeup (known as sex chromosomes) inherited from your parents."

Technically, sex is the physiological makeup you get to have as a default.

Every color, every hue...is represented by me and you. (From

WatermarkOnline.com)

Gender, meanwhile, presents distinctions that go beyond the physical orientation. It presents whole new dimensions to the bland male/female molds by integrating the mental, emotional, psychological, and even spiritual and cultural aspects of a person's identity. By doing so, a person can now choose to be male, female, both, or neither. So if you're still quite clueless as to why the LGBT pride flags come in the colors of the rainbow, this is why.

Now, if you feel that choosing one's orientation is tantamount to inviting God's wrath, then stop reading this, go back to the Middle Ages, and thump your Bible.

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Now, about women empowerment.

I'm your boss. Fear me. (From The Richmond Standard)

Recently, results on a study conducted by the International Labor Organization (ILO) became a hot topic in many news outlets. It talked about the Philippines ranking fourth among countries in terms of women holding middle- to senior-management positions in private firms over the last two decades.

This could be seen as a victory in the fight for gender equality in the Philippines -- but alas, this victory is watered down in the details. It turns out that while there are more women holding high positions in private companies, majority of these private firms are microenterprises. In other words, rumaraket lang si misis/ate/Ma'am, probably to augment a family income that -- if relied entirely on the man of the house -- will not be enough to keep said family comfortably afloat.

And so, it is not really a fight for gender equality being conquered here but a fight against poverty.

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Up to now, we have yet to truly recognize the value of women in the Filipino family. Traditional views dictate that she is supposed to be the "ilaw ng tahanan," but do not specify exactly how she provides the said "ilaw."

This, however, is the reality in many Filipino households, especially those in the boondocks: women are supposed to be all of these and more -- wife, homemaker, baby generator, cook, laundry person, nanny, free whore, janitor, and now, family income augmentor. All these while many men come home, sit on their rears, and complain how their life in the workplace sucks while sipping beer in front of the television.

We are still a long way from seeing women making a choice for their health's sake in family planning, especially with legislators literally shooting the bill on reproductive health down.

Wiith that in mind, all I can say is this: where religious fanaticism and misconception ends, a genuine move toward reproductive health begins.

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Earlier today, I found this post in my Facebook account about the move toward gender equality becoming tired already. "Women are not supposed to do what the men can do. Women are created to do what the men CANNOT do." Or something like that.

I dunno whether that post was in honor of my femininity or an implicit effort to put me and my fellow womenfolk into place. Funny how that post came out a day after International Women's Day.

Primarily, the only thing women can do that men cannot do is to give birth.

So...does that mean that we should just stick to making babies instead of showing the world what awesomeness we women can come up with?

Or am I just reading between the lines too much?

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Just noticing how many intelligent women I know are either separated from their husbands or are standing firm on their desire to not get married.

You see that's the problem with the female gender. You start thinking big things and making decisions on your own -- then suddenly the men around you scuttle away like frightened rats.

What is it about thinking women that men are so afraid of? I wonder...

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Wokey, before the menfolk admonish me for trash-talking them, allow me to redeem myself with this.

Women empowerment does not only involve women. In fact, this concept cannot become tangible if not for the men who contribute to the cause by acknowledging women's strengths and weaknesses and sharing the load.

That is why I am brought to tears when I see grown men playing Mommy to their children. And when I say playing Mommy, I mean helping out with the household chores, tending to the kids, expertly changing diapers, cooking for the family...and not just sitting on their respective bums after a day at work.

After all, in today's world, it's no longer the father's sole duty to provide the family's upkeep. The mother has already filled that economic gap to make ends meet. So if they can share duties in that aspect, why not in duties at home?

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E.L. James, author of 50 Shdes of Grey. (from 

ProfessionalFangirls.com)

Men in women empowerment are also aware of the fact that a woman's vagina is not their property but hers and hers alone.

So when a woman says no, she means it. It doesn't matter what the heck she is (or isn't) wearing.

And Anastasia Steele of 50 Shades of Grey fame, it doesn't matter if he is rich and drop-dead gorgeous. The freaking guy is raping you, and you are taking so much pleasure from it?! Seriously, E.L. James...

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And with that, I would like to give my love to all the strong women of the world on this International Month of Women.

To those not yet strong enough...well, remember that only you can change the tide -- not your man, not the people around you, not the Church or any other religious institution around. At the end of the day, it will all boil down to you.

Make that change.