"This is how we troll.."

Fair warning. I don't suffer fools gladly.
And also, I'm about to get on my high horse so you may want to stop here. I had actually decided to stop blogging as it is hazardous to my husband's blood pressure. But sometimes, I feel like I'll explode if I read one more ill-informed fanatical post. So I need an outlet. Hence the high horse.

Ok, you're still here. In that case...

Troll friends, please don't even go there.

For the state to require the licensure of journalists would be to allow the State to control media -- because it would give the State the power to take away the license they gave and thereby make it illegal to practice journalism as a profession without said state-controlled license.  In short, the government can potentially silence media. That's an infringement of the constitutional right to free speech.

What would be next? Those of you who are so eager to share your brilliant thoughts on Facebook, don't you realize that the same Constitutional right protects you? The same freedom you take for granted so much -- that you are actually lobbying for Jinggoy Estrada to take it away!

In the era of social media, everyone publishes his or her opinion in forums like this. Isn't that the exercise of the same freedom self expression -- just like journalists? Would we need a license to post on social media as well?  So if you repost an article you read and other people read it, aren't you in a sense reporting the news too? Would you need a license for that also?

Do you think I enjoy reading your opinions when they are patently illogical? Do you think I appreciate all the trolling, name calling, profanity (not to mention atrocious spelling and grammatical errors) that pepper your posts? Obviously, I'd rather be killing my brain cells on more worthy pursuits.  Like concentrating on cutting my toenails.

But I wouldn't require that you get a license to post about your Bora vacay, or your favorite politician or your #ootd or God help us, your pictures of your food and your comments on mediocre restaurants I would never bother to go anyway.  You have the right to post these things after all. And I have the right to not read them. Or to read them and laugh hysterically at your naïveté or gnash my teeth at your stupidity.

But I would never tell you that you can't say something, post something or have to get a license to do any of those things.

And, obviously you have the same right to cringe at my selfies, disagree with my political views or get annoyed at my shoe obsession. You can unfollow me or unfriend me or comment on my deplorable fashion sense or my noticeable lack of a discernible waistline.   As long as you don't libel me, we're good.

Thats democracy for you.

I'm not a big fan of certain people in media either -- like Tulfo or Ted Failon -- but I don't think they should be silenced -- este licensed -- it's your right to choose what to listen to or believe but it's not your right to silence others for expressing their views. I simply don't allow myself to be influenced by  certain people or journalists I feel are biased or wrong. But I don't go around telling people to not listen to them either. God gave us brains and free will -- use them. But don't tell me how to use mine. No one is forcing you read news articles that you feel are biased. Go find something else to read if you can't deal with that.

It's freedom of speech that makes democracy work. Politicians hold themselves out as public figures and therefore open themselves up to public scrutiny.  Again, no one forced them to run for office. You can't just have your Wang Wang and rule the streets and with impunity -- the perks come with consequences, just like everything else in life.

If you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen. Or go read your Archie comics and leave the adults alone.